Keeper of the Scarf: Yeah, I spaced out your screen name. Deal. hehe. Anyway, I went through the 'obvious' parts and made sure that the reader would know about all the details as well, mostly because that's what Andy's there for. AW1, for example, who was the first CO you got to control and have everything explained to? That's right. If you noticed, he was also the one who asked the questions, and like in the original, Sami was the one to answer them. 'Course, Nell answered most of the time, but every once in a while (like in AW2) it fell to Sami to answer the hyperactive kid. Besides, in no fanfic or game have I seen that Andy deals with someone willing to put their neck out on a line to try and make peace rather than start a war. How's he supposed to know what to look for? BTW... Sheila going ballistic? Good idea!
Foulds: Thanks again for another review. I understand what you mean about the Andy/Sonja pairing being done to death... Don't worry too much though. I plan on a fairly unique pairing in this fic, if I can possibly fit it in. I kind of doubt it, to tell the truth, but if I can get fully into the story, well... Anything's possible. As for changing perspectives, it's kinda become a trademark of mine over the course of all the fanfiction that I've written. I've actually toned down quite a bit, to tell the truth. I'm still working on it, but it ain't easy. And just another, relatively minor detail... I did, in the first chapter, have Arik use something called 'Defensive Might.' That was a CO Power, though certainly not one of the grandiose ones that we see in the AW games.
Genocide: Thanks for the offer of dealing with Tron in exchange for your muse... but no thanks, I'm not that pissed at her. -glances to the side where Tron is busy torturing Servbot # 11 in their own damn game- Besides, we do get along now that I've begun work on that particular fic, which I will NOT give an unfair commercial viewing. I hardly had anything dealing with Jess in the last chapter, so I think I'll add a bit more with her into this one. I only bring out the muses on special occassions... or to force myself to work on a certain fic that I've neglected for over two years. ehehe... .
Anyway, thanks to everyone! I hope this chapter turns out to be as well liked as the others.
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The day started with a bang. And another, and another. Then there were some explosions. The battle had begun. Shells from a battleship's cannons wrought devastation upon the coast. Oh, sure, they couldn't see much of any actual military units, but it wasn't difficult to imagine that the units that would be around would be hidden inside of forests. Mobile artillery, missile launching units, and rocket units alike were bombarded, and though they didn't take near as much damage as they would if the had been fired upon directly, several units were demolished. The landers landed, and several tank and medium tank units rolled out. Hover tanks were sent out to work through the non-rough terrained areas of land. More landers were sent forth, and then the cruisers moved to keep cover for the tankers and carriers.
Then the aircraft were launched. Battle Copters set forth from the Cruisers, and Bombers set forth from the few carrier units that only Sheila could have created. Three units each burst from the carriers until nine bombers were sent forward, forming three seperate 'V'- formations. But then the counter attack commenced. The remaining units of artillery sounded- the last remaining missile launching unit was out of range to sound off towards the bombers that slowly made their advance forward. The Rocket launching units were all gone. Shells slammed into fully unprotected tanks and medium tanks. The lighter units were demolished by the fire and about half the medium tanks were wiped out by the first volley. A legion of tanks came out of the woodworks, almost literally, and proceeded to decimate the remaining few tanks.
Sheila's hover tanks, however, found their way deeper into Orange Star territory. Their maneuverability was considerably higher than a normal tank, though they could not really use the cover provided by forests very easily. Anti-aircraft units came out from the forests as well, attempting to box in the hover tanks as they weaved closer to the field HQ.
"Take the battleships closer to the shoreline! Ready the missiles for launch, and fire!" Sheila cried, and her order was quickly carried out. On her submarines, hatches opened and then there was a plume of flame and smoke that rose from them. From each submarine, a single missile launched. The commander of the fleet couldn't help but to smile as she watched the plumes rise. Oh yes... now, the fun truly begins! "Missiles target the area around their field headquarters, but not directly on it. Provide cover for the hover tanks, and have them fan out to find the missile units. Bomber squadrons, begin your attack run. Target the remaining artillery and tanks. Battle copters, go after the tanks now as well."
In her mind, she had no doubts that they would be able to defeat any of the units that Orange Star could send their way. Tanks and indirect units were all that were known to have been used so far, and there were sightings of anti-aircraft units as well. No medium tanks or neotanks had been seen yet either, so it was rather tlikely that either the enemy didn't have any available or they were simply hiding further inland.
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"Our rocket units have been taken out! Down to 20 of original artillery units. We've taken out several tanks and caused plenty of damage to their medium tanks, but now there are battle copters and bombers on the way. Our tanks are already damaged, and... What the hell?" Sonja said, a loud piercing whistle falling from the sky as a trio of powerful missiles landed all about the headquarters. Equipment, recon units, and personnel all flew as the ground was rocked all around them. Powerful blasts of fire landed all around the headquarters, causing the CO's within to lose their footing.
"Andy!" one of the girls cried, and then fell. At hearing his name, the boy sprang towards her, even as a heavy monitor fell from where it had been set up. The monitor was heading straight for the girl who had cried his name, and he grunted as he found himself ramming the heavy machine. It fell to the ground beside her, but he was very nearly knocked out from the attempt to keep the girl he had protected from being struck by it. The boy was vaguely aware of his surroundings as he felt someone either claw at his uniform or pull at his arm- both, perhaps?
"Wake up! Andy, come on!" the same voice said to him, and then he did, of course, the only intelligent thing that he could at that point. He passed out. "Oh great..." came another voice, and then he didn't hear anything else at all. Sami stood up from beside the fallen young boy and looked around. Jess was knocked against the wall of the tent, and was issuing orders into her own commincator with her troops. Sonja was close to Andy, not quite sure about what had happened. However, when she saw Andy sprawled out on the ground, she moved beside him and checked him over for wounds- he had no visible wounds, but one could tell he had taken quite a hit from that blunt monitor that had very nearly taken out Sami.
"Alright... Tanks, advance on theirs! Anti-Aircraft units prepare for bombardment, get under cover! Recons, go after those strange flying tanks that are moving in on us. Mortar Infantry, fire on the tanks that are on the shore!" she called out- the few remaining officers still standing immediately relayed the specific orders to various units that were left to her. They hadn't expected such a heavy attack by the ships, and now there was a large number of bombers and battle copters ready to take on her remaining ground troops. There were only two bases near enough to be of any use at all, and quickly she had the officer in charge of supplies have those bases begin training new mortar infantry. Now that Andy was out of it, they couldn't rely on his special abilities to actually effect repairs on damaged units. Her own abilities extended to infantry, after all.
Sami had to spare a moment to admire the fact that the person in charge of the fleet that was off their beaches knew just what he or she was doing. Of course, there was no way to know what had happened to that transport copter that had been on its way towards their field HQ last night. No one knew what had happened to it. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach- as if there had been someone onboard that copter that could have prevented this battle from occurring. But she had to shrug that aside for now. Her forces were losing, and she'd lost one of her best friends for the time being.
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From concealed locations, her infantry launched their lethal barrage. Not of rocket fire or machine gun rounds, of course, but of Orange Star's newest weapon. Not even Max's clumsiness could ruin the range of these weapons, actually, as large plumes of fire escaped from the tubes that had been set up upon the ground. They weren't even immediately in front of anything. In fact, they fired from mortar cannons that had been aligned just right upon the ground itself, and the 'shells' launched skyward in an arc that led them into the air... and then crashing down from the heavens and into the tanks that still remained upon the beach.
It was from between firings of indirect attacks that a squad of recon units leapt from the HQ. At the controls of the lead vehicle was the CO from Green Earth. She alone had known anything about Silver Mountain, here in the closest continents of Wars World. The others had either been shattered or were so far isolated that informing anyone of them would do no good to anyone. She was the only CO to have traveled the world, at the expense of Eagle's respect for the red haired woman. The slender CO was driving quickly towards the last known location of the Transport Copter that had been on its way last night. There was no knowing what had happened, at this point...
But Jess had a hunch. She had been to Silver Mountain, for only a short while, before returning to Green Earth for the second war. She had seen what had happened, and from the information that she had uncovered, learned of the return of Black Hole just before they had invaded Green Earth, Yellow Comet, Blue Moon and Orange Star. Unfortunately, it took her a bit longer than she had expected to return to her homeland, and by then Hawke had taken over. The rest, as they say, is history. She gritted her teeth as she drove, barking orders to her units to cover more ground and find that transport, whether it was intact or in wreckage, she didn't care!
A loud whistling sound came from above, and she knew instinctively what that meant. "Move out!" she called out, and the recons dispersed quickly, the shell that had been fired from a battleship creating an explosion of dirt and rock behind them as a crater formed in the place where they had been but a few seconds ago. "If I know Silver Mountain... they aren't here to start a war with us." she told herself. Indeed, she had visited their shores for a brief while, hiding in small villages along the coastline from Black Hole forces. But then the Black Hole was being defeated, one battle at a time, by the rising millitants of the once peaceful nation. In all of Wars World, Silver Mountain had never risen in war against any enemy until now.
It had been horrendous, what the Black Hole CO's had done to the land. Sturm had set his strongest CO's out to 'train' in the relatively peaceful confines of this continent. One could only imagine the world that they carved out of this land with their brute force and military might. Indeed, each CO from Black Hole enjoyed their time here, or so it seemed. Jess had had to hide from the Black Hole troops as they kept the people in their place. Five out of seven days a week they seemed to stage some sort of 'show' to amuse themselves, and the horrors that had been done on these 'stages' would likely remain as memorials for all time.
Of Sturm, she had seen no sign- he had been busy elsewhere in Wars World, from what she had learned from Drake. He'd been using the four continents as pawns, utilizing the forces of other countries to wage wars against one another until they were so demolished that he could take them over without lifting a finger. That was what he had been doing while letting his CO's test their strengths and weaknesses against the people of the least militarized nation of Wars World. Why he had chosen to invade a land that had, at one time, few to no weapons, was beyond her ability to discover.
Jess smiled, remembering that history lesson that Drake had provided her while Eagle was out with his flyboys. Not even Eagle had managed to be the one to defeat Sturm in the end. But Sturm was defeated- that was the important thing, more important than anything else... for it caused the overlord of Black Hole to call his CO's to him. They left the country, and that was when Silver Mountain managed to claim it's own land once more. She hadn't been there for about a year and a half now... it had been a beautiful country once, perhaps it was again, but the people there had been forever changed.
It had been peaceful, one time, she thought to herself. Her gaze fixed on the country ahead of her as she plunged into a forest... and then the entire vehicle was stopped immediately, coming to a halt as the vehicle commander managed to avoid a near hit on something that she hadn't seen until she had attempted to enter the forest. "We've found it. All men, spread out." she said evenly. The transport was a complete wreck. "Search the area and the wreckage. If anyone survived... I don't think they could have gotten far." she called to her troops, and she got out from the recon vehicle. At least there wasn't any shelling being done in her area, she thought to herself, as she surveyed the wreckage. The remains of the copter were amazingly intact...
"Some sort of better armor than we have." she muttered to herself, before going to where a pair of her men were carefully digging the transport's sliding door of the copter out from the wreckage- it was completely off of its hinges, and according to another man up at the front, there were a pair of people up there. She blinked, her heart racing somewhat for a strange reason as she walked around to the shattered front 'windshield' of the aircraft to look inside. Usually, she was only this way when in battle or when arguing with a certain brash pilot who never seemed to give her credit for anything other than being around right when she was needed most to try and get all the glory.
Inside was a man wearing a uniform that she recognized from her time in Silver Mountain. Gray, with a white lining on it. The man that was obviously dead in the pilot seat wore the same uniform, but it was rather unlikely that the stain of blood could ever come off of it. "Check the other man. If he's still alive, somehow, we're taking him with us. I don't care if it's probably a bad idea to move him. And get me the APC on the phone, now! I want contact with the CO in charge of that fleet, and I want it an hour ago!"
---
Finally, with her ground forces in dire straights, the CO in charge of the fleet set her bombers into action and the tide of the battle swung heavily into her favor once more. Sheila ordered her forces into an attack pattern that she had rarely had the need to use before. "Blitzkrieg!" she called into the transmissions sent to her troops, and before a single shot could be sounded from the anti-aircraft guns, they were permanently silenced from the roar that often escaped them. Bombs flew from the open hatches on the underside of the bombers that had been sent in, and death rained down on Sami's parade of tanks and infantry, cutting gaping swaths of damage among anti-airs, tanks, infantry, even her mortar infantry were demolished by the bombardment.
Such was Sheila's strength in aerial combat- bombers and aircraft that could take on practically anything. Her battle copters swept through the shattered defense line and proceeded to decimate what few remaining targets there were- even the anti-aircraft units couldn't do enough damage to stop her copters' advance. The few copters unneeded for the attack swept in after the recon units that had attempted to surround her hover tanks, and those too were annihilated quickly.
From the bridge of her carrier, Sheila smiled slowly. With her powerful bombers and copters in the air, the CO (whoever it was) that opposed her on the land obviously had no suitable action. There were no missile units left to defend against her bombers and battle copters. "Send in the infantry." she said simply. With that, each cruiser emptied out a single transport copter, and two landers that had remained behind were set forth. Her hover tanks, untouched thanks to their maneuverability and the fact that their cannons did massive counter-damage to the recon units that had been sent after them, unloaded a squad of infantry as well- all three units relatively close to the field HQ that Orange Star had set up before this had all begun.
In Sheila's mind, this was only the beginning of the war. Arik was likely dead, despite her bravado last night that she had displayed to her crew. It was all too plain to see- she had seen the flock of missiles as if they had actually been a pack of lethal lions that had waited until the right time to pounce on a zebra. They flew from someplace on the mainland, and had struck the transport copter. There had been no time to warn them of the attack, no time to get them to escape the flightpath. And then the copter was off of their radar. She could see what must have happened in her mind's eye, and she began to count to ten as she felt her anger mounting. "1... 2..." she muttered, the rage still growing within her. Her body became warmer. "3... 4..." she continued, and then she sighed, relaxing once more.
Her first officer was now standing behind her as she stood at the window, staring out at the devastated land that was before them. He had news to give her... but, what was he to say to his commanding officer, now that she was so angry? She saw her shoulders slump down after a few seconds and he brightened before finally saluting his CO. "Ma'am, we have an incoming radio transmission from the mainland. A woman named Jess would like to speak with you." he tells her, and Sheila turned immediately to face the man that had the gall to actually talk to her before she was no longer angry.
"Someone wants to talk to me, eh? Well, this lady better be important, or I'm just gonna have to get into a battle copter myself and do a flyby over her head!" she said slowly, with about as much anger as she could muster. The officer's face went pale as she walked past him and over to the radio. She nodded to the communications officer, who immediately patched the transmission through to the console. Sheila listened to what whoever this was had to say, trying to calm herself by being patient... not something, she realized, that happened all that often.
"Attention commanding officer of the Silver Mountain fleet!" came the woman's voice. Sheila blinked in surprise as she heard the name of their country from a foreigner. Only Black Hole could possibly know it was them! Therefore... "My name is Jess, and I am from Green Earth. Cease your attack on Orange Star's forces at once! I have located the remains of the transport copter that you sent here yesterday, and there is a man here that is unconscious. The pilot of the craft is dead. Unless you want to lose him for good, I repeat, stop attacking! He needs medical attention ASAP!" the voice said.
The Silver Mountain CO had to consider her priorities first, now. Her troops were already involved in a costly attack on the mainland forces. They had the upper hand at the moment, no less. And this could just as easily be some sort of Black Hole trick, possibly even a trap. With a sigh, Sheila shook her head. But... what if her fellow CO still survived? It was something that she had to consider, even if it was a remote possibility that whoever this person was could actually be telling her the truth. "Dammit!" she yelled, fists raised for a second before slamming down onto the console.
Now, she felt like she had swung with such force that she could have left dents in the metalic console, but no. All that had been left was the sharp stabs of pain in her fists as she winced and tried to make sense of things. First- that hurt! Second... she couldn't take a chance with the life of her fellow CO in the balance. "Get a line to this Jess. Tell her that I'll be over soon to negotiate with her. I'll meet her on the coast. Have our bombers and copters return to the ships. All remaining ground forces, pull out to the coast." she said flatly, and quickly she strolled to the carrier's single remaining bay. She had not dedicated all of her forces to the blitzkrieg attack... just the vast majority. Never lose all of your offensive capability, despite overwhelming odds. An ounce of caution, Lance had told her once.
---
Sami was still in the field HQ when the sound of massive explosions took place not too far away. They were not defeaning, from this distance, but if they had taken place any closer than this, perhaps they might have been. Reports had diminished to only those that she could receive from units back at the bases or just outside the HQ. A massive bombing run had taken out all the available units that had been in place to stop the enemy's bombers. Recons, tanks, anti-aircraft units, infantry... even her mortar infantry units were gone, save the ones that had remained near the base.
"What in the hell..." she whispered under her breath. How could they have lost their main force so quickly? Some sort of trick, or was the enemy CO actually that good? Then, with a quick glance about the HQ, she noticed something was missing. No, strike that. Someone was missing! "Jess is gone? Where did she go?" she asked Sonja, who had been making sure that Andy was made as comfortable as he could be while on the ground. The yellow comet CO stood and looked to Sami before speaking up- her friend was on the ground, still out like a light, though he wasn't badly hurt.
"She went to locate the transport that we should have had here by now. Remember, the one that launched from that fleet last night?" she explained, and Sami nodded slightly. She hadn't been able to spare a thought as to doing that, during the battle that had just taken place. And she had lost, obviously. Infantry couldn't do anything to bombers, and if the bombers could do that kind of damage to anti-airs... well, that left missile units. "Wait a sec..." she said, and pulled out the walkie-talkie that Jess had given her in case they needed to contact one another. "Yes? Uh-huh. You did? Excellent. We shall be there."
Sami looked at the CO incredulously and frowned. "We shall be... where? We lost. There's nothing more we can do, at this rate, other than tell Nell the bad news." she told the queen of intel, who just shrugged slightly before looking to Andy.
"Call Nell and tell her to get your medical teams out here. It seems that we have two patients who require help at this time." she said to the Orange Star CO. When Sami looked at her blankly, Sonja sighed as she realized that the infantry specialist obviously wasn't following too well. "Jess found a survivor from that transport copter. She's contacted the CO from the Silver Mountain Fleet, and has arranged a meeting with them on the shores. Jess wants us all there for this. It is rather important. We have an hour to arrive in time."
With a nod from Sami, the two CO's put their differences aside as Sami gave a call to Nell to tell her about the outcome of the battle. With Andy out of it, and her relative incapability with anything other than infantry, she blamed herself for the outcome of this. If only she hadn't cried out to Andy when she saw the monitor falling from where it had been after that missile strike, none of this would have happened, and he wouldn't be hurt. But no, it seemed that it was all her fault. She had gotten Andy hurt, and now Orange Star had lost a battle for the first time since the beginning of the first Black Hole War. Dejectedly, she sat in the back of the jeep that was now being used to take them towards the beach. Never before did being home hurt so badly.
Elsewhere in Wars World ---
"Well now, splendid... Simply marvelous." that sinister voice announced. Once again, he had remained in his place, not having wanted to miss any of the action that had been launched by Silver Mountain. That had been begun by himself, truthfully, but would anyone ever know about his action? For, after all, all evidence pointed to Orange Star and certainly not to himself. The missile unit had been destroyed with the first barrage of shells from the battleships, after all, and all personnel with it. Ah, what some of these pawns would do for the promise of money...
"Delicious." he commented, as he watched the action die down. But then, the fighting stopped completely, and Silver Mountain's forces began to retreat. "What is the meaning of this? My pawns... do not think you can deny my will. You will fight each other!" he exclaimed, to no one in particular, as he stood. He wore a dark robe, with some certain designs upon it that he had had made in Silver Mountain over two years ago, when he had been nearly a god in that country. None had known of him, but all had known of the grasp of Black Hole as a result of his manipulations. He had been third in command before- and now, he was second in command. Not even his own comrades were able to escape the ministrations of his dark mind... Not even the one that had put him in such a seat of power.
"All in due time..." he said, and the wiry man known as Adder calmed himself, a slow, seemingly evil smile etching onto his face slowly while he sat back down in his chair. Oh yes, he told himself. These CO's shall taste a delicious treat, soon enough. Better than feeding them missiles in the night!
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Author's Note: Yeah, a smaller chapter than the last one, but I think it did the trick this time as well. I'm trying to slowly continue the storyline here- does it show much? Hopefully, I'm not giving up too much background too quickly...
A note on the CO Powers in this fic- I'm just not going to use 'em much. The main thing about them is that many of them are completely unrealistic (Blizzard and Tsunami? Gimme a break!). Some would be fine... as long as the CO in charge was with the front line (Andy with his Hyper Repair and Upgrade, for instance, could repair the unit he's with and adjacent ones as well). That's my take on it. I don't see the characters able to use them all that much, either. I don't think we'll be seeing the direct damage-dealing offensive CO powers in this, with a possible exception of Black Wave.