---Author's Note:

First things first... I forgot the whole happy disclaimer thing about how I don't own Andy, Sonja (though I wish I did! ;) ), Nell, or any other characters or concepts of Advance Wars. Nintendo and its happy little daughter companies do, and this is why they are raking in cash, not me.

Second things second... Thanks so much to Foulds and GenocideKing for their positive reviews, and especially to Foulds for his advertising me in the latest chapter of his story. In all fairness, I will now reciprocally advertise: GO READ HAWKE'S VENGEANCE AND SOARING TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN. READ NOW. DO NOT RETURN TO MY MERELY 5000-ISH WORD STORY UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED READING BOTH OF THESE EXCELLENT FICS. Thank you for your cooperation.

Thirdfully, and as always, review if ya like it, review if ya hate it, but after reading this threat you must review or else I will send my demonic minions after you to attack you in your sleep and steal your opinions of my story from your head, probably in a most painful manner!

---End author's note, and enjoy!

The hundreds of student revelrers returned to their dormitories as the wild party wound down, many falling asleep with the aid of a bit too much alcohol. Andy exited the elevator and staggered down the hall and through the door of the guest suite he had been assigned to. If he hadn't been too exhausted to notice, he would have greatly appreciated the plush carpeting and the beautiful paintings that adorned the walls of the comfortable suite. His roommate, Max, was already snoring loudly on the first bed, and Andy thought he would never be able to get himself to sleep. He was more tired than he thought, and soon after he undressed and lay down on the bed, the numbers on the digital clock by his bedside swam out of focus and his thoughts of the party, Max, Sami, and most of all, Sonja, swirled out of coherence. Everything was so peaceful... and then the harsh sound of a knuckle rapping quickly against wood filled the spacious apartment. Andy's eyes snapped open and looked at the clock, which showed it was only 4:47, a mere three hours after he had fallen asleep. Sami's voice, insistent, called out from the other side of the door.

"Andy! Open up!"

Andy threw on some pants and a t-shirt as he called back. "What's going on, Sami?"

"Trouble at Schwartzchild Base back home! Enemy commandos have penetrated the outer walls and there's still fighting going on!," she responded.

He bit back a curse as he flung open the door. Schwartzchild was a military lab devoted to highly experimental technology; when the Neotank plans had first been stolen from Flak, it had been the analysis center and initial factory for the fearsome weapons. Any enemy force that could successfully download the data in its many computer banks would hold an incredible military advantage in the following months of a war.

Sami stormed into the room as soon as Andy opened the door. She took one look at Max, who hadn't stirred a bit during the shouting. "C'mon, Andy. He's too drunk to be any use to us for at least a few hours, probably a day or more."

The duo jogged down the hall to the elevator, taking it down to the first underground level, where a large classroom that had been used for training movies had been hastily converted into a briefing room for the CO's to use. When they entered, they saw Nell and Sensei studying a large display screen. Nell was wearing her usual purple dress uniform, a bit wrinkled from having been put on in haste, and Sensei wore simple khaki pants and shirt. The battle display simplified the battle conditions by showing terrain features and units as small images and animated characters to allow the commanders to make quick decisions. As Andy watched, several infantry units were rapidly moving away from the base. Though one of them was highlighted in orange to indicate its nationality, there were at least three units highlighted in gray to show that their nationality was unknown. Andy found it impossible to keep track of how many enemy infantry there were, since they used the fog of war and forests to aid their progress, only darting into sight of the pursuing forces for a few moments at time.

"The enemy outnumbers us at least three to one on the ground there," Andy said after studying the screen, "so why aren't they attacking our men down there?"

Sami turned to him. "First, those are my own crack troops following them. Even if the attackers turned around and flanked them, they would suffer heavy losses before taking all my commandos out. Second, they have to know that air support and armored reinforcements are already on the way, and if they want to escape, they can't waste a single second. Third, if they engage my men, even for a minute, we'll have direct visual contact and know their location."

"Which we will no doubt have anyway in 53 seconds." The unexpected voice behind Andy made him jump a foot in the air and nearly fall over. He turned to see the ace pilot of Green Earth in the back corner. Eagle appeared ready for battle in his usual flight jacket and his lucky goggles hang around his neck, but even he looked a bit tired from lack of sleep. He pointed to the screen, where as if on cue, several squadrons of fighters marked in green streaked from the west edge of the map towards the darkness that concealed the fleeing infantry. Andy tried to calm his suddenly accelerated heartbeat as he continued to question Sami.

"I thought your troops were the fastest foot soldiers in all of Wars World... so uh... why aren't they overtaking the enemy?"

"My forces may be able to march quickly, but they can't keep up a double time pace for very long. They came from a military base several miles away, and they're probably starting to tire and slow down. Still, all we need to do is keep the enemy moving and in sight until reinforcements can corner them."

Andy watched as the lead group of fighters approached the spot where the enemy seemed to be hiding. And in a flash of fire and flak, they fell from the sky.

Everyone in the room gasped and Eagle raised a small com unit that had been hidden in his left hand. "All fighters, get the hell out of there right now, and mobilize Gamma Bomber wing!"

Eagle looked at the other four commanders in the room, shaking with anger. "They hid anti-air units in the forest..."

Nell opened up a comlink with her own forces in the area. "Send the 101st and 103rd tank divisions around the west side of the forest. I don't want a single infantry or armored unit escaping."

A faint reply from the local tank commander of "Roger" crackled over the intercom. As the tanks encircled the forest, Nell laid a hand on Eagle's arm and murmured her condolences for the loss of the pilots. Sensei tried to reassure him as well. "They died in the service of their country, Eagle. There is no greater honor than that."

"Yes, yes, I know... but I will make sure those cowards pay..."

Nell turned to her two subordinates and spoke. "Andy, I want you and Sami to get back over to Orange Star and figure out what exactly happened on the ground as soon as possible."

Sensei also turned to the two CO's. "There's a T-copter on the roof of the academy prepped to take you now, if you're ready to go," the kindly old gentleman offered.

Andy stifled a yawn. "Do we have to leave right now?"

"You can sleep in the copter," Sami said as she rolled her eyes. "Let's move out!"

hr

Sonja tapped her fingers impatiently against the control panel of the elevator as it descended towards the room where she heard the other CO's were gathering. A messenger had awakened her to tell her that Sensei had put all Yellow Comet airbases and naval groups on "yellow alert" and that he wanted to talk to her in room B17, which she remembered was the instructional movie theater. She shivered slightly as she wondered what had happened, and wished that she had thought to change into more suitable clothing than the white silk nightgown she wore. Though it was not exactly revealing, and she had taken a spare army jacket to wear, the air was still a bit chilly for her tastes. A soft musical tone sounded to indicate that the elevator had stopped moving, and the doors opened to reveal Sami barrelling down the hall towards her, dragging Andy along in her wake. He stopped as soon as he saw Sonja, unable to take his eyes off her and seeming to be gasping for air, and Sonja blushed. Sami, however, was not affected by Sonja's beauty and gently but briskly pushed her out of the elevator as she pulled Andy in.

"Sorry-Sonja-would-love-to-talk-but-we're-in-a-bit-of-a-hurry-see-you-later!," Sami pushed the button for the top level of the building as she tried to explain to the bewildered Yellow Comet CO. Andy looked like he was still struggling to say something, but the doors shut just as he stuttered out a hello. Sonja shook her head and sighed as she turned back to walk to where Sensei and Nell were waiting for her.

hr

The T-copter was buffeted by winds as is approached the landing site, but Sami thankfully noted thatat least it wasn't raining. As soon as she and Andy were out and walking on Orange Star soil, Sami began to survey the scene, though there wasn't all that much to survey. The theme of the day seemed to be gray, from the dim sunlight that barely pierced the sheets of gray clouds to the sheer destruction of tons of foliage being flash-vaporized. Each bomb weighed approximately one ton, each bomber held ten of them, and Gamma Wing was made up of almost one hundred bombers. Eagle told his bombadiers to make the anti-aircraft units hiding in the forest rue the day they had been born, and nothing could drive them to greater precision in their art of death than the rage they felt over the loss of their pilot comrades. No units had been seen exiting the forest before the bombing run began, so it was assumed that all units in the forest had been destroyed. 'Still,' thought Sami, 'It would have been nice to have something left as a clue.' There seemed to be nothing but fine ash and blackened trunks of trees uprooted by the force of the blasts left in the desolate landscape that stretched over several square kilometers. A single oak, tall and majestic, appeared to be the only living thing left for kilometers in any direction. Its bark was darkened and scored by shrapnel, and its wide boughs twisted and stripped leafless from the explosions, but still it stood, seeming a memorial both for the fallen pilots of Green Earth and their mysterious assailants. Sami turned her attention back to the investigation. Even though dozens of soldiers and a few forensics teams were sifting through the debris as fast as possible, no evidence had appeared yet that any units had even been in the forest when the bombardment began, much less any evidence to show where they came from. Of course, everyone suspected Black Hole; there really wasn't anyone else to suspect. But even though it must have been a failed attempt by Hawke to get Orange Star's military secrets, Sami reasoned, there would be no way Orange Star could risk a bloody confrontation with the still powerful Black Hole without solid proof it was behind the attack. Sami walked through the sea of ash to the newly set up headquarters tent where Andy had just begun to discuss the events of that morning with the head scientist, a Dr. Leon Carroll. None of the base security guards who had been on duty when the attack began had lived to tell their tale; apparently the only survivors were those who had been inside the laboratory complex. Dr. Carroll was a very boring, almost robot-like man, not showing emotion, and he looked more haggard from lack of sleep than affected by the excitement. Even his voice was almost completely emotionless.

"I had just said good night to Dr. Rand, my laboratory partner, as she left for bed, and gone back to studying our latest strains of Enteronimus Staphylococcus when an explosion rocked the entire lab. We often test various weapon components over in E-wing, so I figured that it must have been an explosives test that went off with a bit more power than estimated. I called up to the guard station to ask what happened, and I heard several gunshots before the line went dead. I didn't know what to do. Eventuall I decided to take my issue sidearm from my desk and got into a good position behind a lab table so I could shoot anyone who entered my lab." The scientist shrugged. "No one came, until the special forces arrived and told me to wait here for debriefing, and not leave the country or anything."

Sami turned to Andy and whispered, "This scientist isn't going to be any help figuring out what happened."

Andy thought, and then inquired to Carroll, "Could we talk to Dr. Rand? Maybe she'll have seen what happened."

Dr. Carroll swallowed hard, and showed the first sign of emotion, a wet look in his left eye that threatened to become a tear. "If she was walking at a normal pace after she left the lab for her apartment in the base, she would have been outside when the attack began, only a few dozen yards from the spot where the bazooka penetrated the outer wall and let them in. Every security guard in that sector was killed... I don't see any way she could have survived, though we haven't found a body."

Andy and Sami's faces, already dejected from a night of little sleep coupled with the demoralization of an attack against a base, fell a notch further. Andy dismissed Dr. Carroll and they called back to Nell, still in Yellow Comet with the others. Sami spoke first.

"Nell, we haven't found out much so far, other than we lost thirteen infantry in the attack, and we still don't have any evidence that Black Hole did it. Dr. Carroll was telling us that his partner, Dr. Rand, is missing and presumed dead. Do you know her or anything about her?"

Nell seemed shocked by the news. "Dr. Rand was one of our best researchers... she was an expert in naval design, theoretical combustive chemistry, long-range ballistics, climatology... there wasn't much she couldn't write a thesis on, if she were inclined to. The woman was an absolute genius. I have no idea how this will affect our R & D program over the next couple years."

Andy wondered, "You don't think that Black Hole might have timed the attack when she was walking outside just to kill her and stop our research, do you?"

Nell's brow furrowed in thought for a moment, but she responded, "No, I don't think there's any way they could be that precise, and know exactly when to attack. They must have been trying to steal something, but were delayed by security long enough to decide to leave and attempt to escape."

"Anyway," she continued, "There's a new sub-commander that was just promoted and would be an excellent addition to the Orange Star tactical staff. Her name is Catherine. I want you, Andy, to work with her to shore up our defenses at all our northern bases while Sami continues the investigation. She should be arriving any minute now, so get to work, and I hope to talk to you again soon!"

The screen went blank. Sami nodded to Andy and gave a half-smile. "Good luck, and say hi to that new CO for me. I need to find the chief of security and ask him a few questions."

As Sami walked off, Andy heard the deep hum of an approaching T-copter, which was already a large orange dot in the sky, skimming along over a hill as it approached the devastated plain. The copter came in and hovered a few meters over the hastily-cleared landing area, scattering charred leaves and soot in every direction, forcing Andy to cover his eyes with a hand as the copter descended. The whirring blades slowly lost speed and eventually ground to a halt as it touched down and powered off. The door opened and the first person to jump out was a young man, barely two years older than Andy, but more heavily decorated with medals than most career generals in Orange Star. Andy recognized him as Captain Stone, the Air Force chief of staff for Andy's personal forces during Sturm's second invasion and a daring pilot who had led bombing runs against the black cannons and superlaser during the final confrontation, making him one of the most famous officers in all of Orange Star after the war. Andy was happy to see him again and talk about old times, but his greeting was stopped dead in his throat by the sight of the transport's other passenger. Stunning would have been an understatement in her description, though it did accurately describe the effect she had on men. From the way that her full blonde hair waved in the light breeze, reminiscent of a commercial for shampoo, to the way her curvaceous body filled her uniform, she seemed utterly without imperfections. She smiled, revealing the rows of shining white teeth, and addressed her new superior. Even her voice was melodious, the lilting notes seeming to dance in the air.

"Commander Andy, I presume?"

"Uh, er, uh, y-y-y-es, that's me. You're, uh, uh, Sub-commander Catherine?"

"Pleased to meet you! You can call me Cathy, or just Kat, if you'd like. I guess you and Captain Stone have already met?"

The dashing young pilot seemed to be under Catherine's spell as well, nodding as he answered without taking his eyes off the ravishing woman. "Uh, h-hi Boss!"

Andy didn't take his eyes off Catherine either as he mumbled some sort of friendly reply. Catherine assumed a more formal tone as she suggested, "Maybe we should get started with assessing the security at the local bases?" Andy nodded dumbly in assent and the three walked back toward the provisional headquarters, the bombshell blonde being trailed by two battle-hardened generals who followed blindly like ducklings after their mother.

As night fell across the continents, the warriors and tacticians who had changed the course of history all prepared for bed. Eagle sat at a desk, stone-faced, as he tried to compose the letters that would be sent to the families of each of his downed pilots. Sonja listened to classical music, letting the complex rhythms and crescendos wash over her mind, calming her. She sneaked a glance at the picture of Andy she hid in a drawer of her bedside table/desk, sighing as she turned out the lights to go to sleep. Nell pored over the data that had been compiled on the time of the attack, the nature of the attackers, still very sketchy on numbers and description, and the preliminary findings of the forensics team at the site, which happened to be that they hadn't found anything yet. She shook her head, took an aspirin for her headache, and tried to go to sleep. Andy lay in bed, awake, unable to think about anything but the beauty of the officer he had met earlier that day. As he slowly fell asleep, he dimly realized that it was the first time in longer than he could remember that Sonja's face hadn't guided him to his dreams. Max, having recovered from a nasty hangover and being appraised of the situation, was making up for his absence earlier in the day by taking over the night shift at central command, watching out for any further attacks and being ready to respond. There were two other Wars World CO's that weren't interested in sleep either.

"Checkmate, tee-hee!"

"This game was unfair from the beginning, you little brat. You only won because you got to play as black."

"Silly Adder! In grandmaster games, black only wins 43.7 of the time! I let you have white to give you a chance, and it was only your poor strategy that cost you the game!"

Adder flicked a rook in anger across the small tent where it landed in the accumulated leaves on the forest floor where the tent had been set up. He could hear the sounds of Black Hole special forces working to pitch other tents in the clearing. They had figured that the chances of any spy planes finding a group of only twenty elite commandos and their modified transport copter in such a dense forest were small enough to risk setting up camp so close to the spot where Orange Star was studying the bombing site, as long as they didn't start any fires or use powerful flashlights. Adder turned his attention to his younger companion.

"Speaking of poor strategy," Adder retorted, "how do you plan to explain this morning's failure to Hawke?"

"We didn't do that badly, Adder... nearly two-to-one infantry losses in our favor, and they still don't know anything about our other forces in the area. Besides, with the 132nd tank corps out near the coast, I'm sure they'll be far too busy over the next couple days to notice anything we do right here under their noses. We should have another chance to complete our objective."

Adder slouched yet lower in his seat, narrowing his eyes. "I hope you are correct, Lash, but hope is the emotion of fools. Our situation still does not look good, and who knows what could happen tomorrow..."