Author's Note: Hehe... did I really come off as that depressed in the author's notes in the last chapter? No worries. I think this'll come off as my 'anniversary' fic, since I just passed the four year mark here on I'll have to work on another fic as well, I think... a one-shot. I just have to decide what fandom to write it for. Anyway, I hope that I manage to keep the narrator's voice and the thoughts of the different characters away from one another this time... this'll be the first time I'll be using wordpad to work on my fics, since I'm used to working with textpad to get the job done.
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On the 'deck' of the hovercraft, there lay a single body. Three others stood nearby, looking back in comparison to the direction that the tank was heading. Dry land was fairly closeby in comparison to where the fleet was... Of course, the flying water from the shells that flew past and into the ocean near the ship washed up along the hull of the craft, and splashed on the people that were on the deck as well. There was a yell, and then a shuddering as a shell fell far too close to the hovertank for comfort.
Jess was impressed by the craft's maneuverability and the way that the tank was taking practically no damage from the near misses. She stood near the edge of the tank- she was comfortable on vehicles, not ships or aircraft. This was a wonderful vehicle! She couldn't help but grin as she watched the battleships far behind the tank that she was riding on top of. It was very strange... How could such a fast vehicle possibly have the firepower that it boasted? And then be able to hold infantry as well? A powerful, versatile vehicle, but the infantry was definitely as exposed as the hovertank was... and the armor didn't seem nearly as strong as a tank's was.
"Hurry up, men! Get us onto land fast, we don't want to be in range of those cannons anymore!" came the voice again, as the hover tank crested a large wave. There was an unusual feeling of near-weightlessness that made itself known for a mere moment before the tank slammed down onto the surface of the ocean again, causing a rather powerful jolt that nearly forced everyone who was standing to fall down. As it was, the three who were standing only nearly fell down, having to clutch the railing about the deck to keep on their feet. "Sheesh..." Arik muttered. He wasn't one of the ones standing up, of course. He'd been tossed up onto the deck of the hovercraft by Sami and Jess.
And that toss had hurt his already hurt legs quite a bit as a result of the landing. The salt water that splashed up onto his body, still clothed in his gray uniform, stung almost unbearably. "Why me?" he muttered to himself, and then closed his eyes slowly. It seemed, from the lack of thunderous explosions nearby and afar, that they'd finally moved out of range of the battleships that Sheila commanded. Damned woman! She was far too simple-minded for his own good, he knew. Why didn't she see the larger picture, ever, outside of battle?
"Damn... Get us back to their field HQ, quick!" he yelled out, pain evident in his voice as he opened his eyes and propped himself up enough to look over his shoulder towards the crew pit of the tank. "Radio our troops, and tell them to get away from Sheila's fleet if they can." he told his crew, who hurried to comply with their commander's orders. One of the crew yelled back to him- telling Arik that they'd already done that. He grinned- his troops were far from the drones that he'd known Black Hole to use. They at least siezed the initiative if they could. Sheila hadn't noticed that his fleet was now nowhere in sight, and the young Silver Mountain CO nodded slightly.
"Whew... we're safe!" Andy's voice came as the sound of the fans underneath the hovertank changed from forcing air against water into air forced against sand. Andy started laughing and Sami smiled. Jess looked relieved as she wiped at her mouth, and Arik winced slightly. Somehow, he was able to guess that they'd have to wash off that section of the tank soon. He heard a sigh from behind, and he looked back towards the one that had been sitting fairly nearby- she had known better than to stand during this whole time, at least. Unlike her friends, he thought to himself, and he chuckled softly. At the sound of his laughter, Sonja looked to Arik, as if to ask a question.
"You don't need to worry now. There's only so much Sheila can do on land, and she doesn't have the fuel to remain here much longer. She'll have to go back to Silver Mountain now." Arik told Sonja, grinning slightly. That was, of course, only a little information that he had to give her. He knew more about the Silver Mountain CO's than anyone else did, after all. She nodded simply and smiled a little. Cute girl, he thought, but as he watched her look over to Andy, he couldn't help but to smile a little bit. Was there more between them than he had thought earlier? No way to know now, he told himself. If there was something there, perhaps he'd actually see it. In due time.
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The hovertank came to a stop after a while, having gone far enough inland that the battleships not only could not be seen but could not fire upon them, and the craft landed on the open plains as the sound of copters overhead and the rumbling of treads on the ground came from all around. Arik blinked and looked around- definitely not Silver Mountain's troops, he could tell, simply from the sounds of the machines. Their machines were quieter, and had a different quality from their rotors and motors. "Oh boy..." he sighed, watching as Neotanks came into sight, along with smaller medium tanks. Battle copters surrounded the hovertank, and infantry unloaded from concealed positions in the woods.
"Heh... Good 'ol Max. Always knew he would be here if we couldn't win." Sami commented, waving off to a Neotank that was lined in a light blue, though it was still orange for the most part. It stopped and a hatch on the top popped open, and a rather big man came up from inside the tank. Arik watched as the man jumped off the tall tank, and he just shook his head. Damn... He was as big as Flak, if the profiles were at all correct about the size of the Black Hole CO. Maybe even bigger, he thought to himself as the man walked up to the hovertank. Jess jumped down from the tank, and staggered to keep on her feet as she nearly fell to the ground. Sami was helping Andy to get off the tank as well, and Sonja was over there also to help Andy get off the tank.
"Phew. Now..." he muttered, and began crawling over to the crew pit of the tank. A hatch opened on the hovertank, and the crew got out- they knew what happened, what was supposed to happen, when was outnumbered thoroughly on the field. Two of them walked over to the invalid CO on the deck and helped him to his feet, holding him steady between them as the crew supported his weight. The third of the crew waited near the hatch, hand positioned near his firearm. Arik heard voices, and looked past his hovertank to see Sami, Andy, and Sonja speaking with the one that they'd called Max. Jess was leaning against the tank as well, watching the proceedings.
This would be interesting, he thought, as he waited either to be captured and his men disarmed. Infantry came up between the tank units with their rifles raised, aiming at the crew of his hovertank and himself. When one of the men ordered him to stand up, Arik just rolled his eyes and sighed softly. Stand up? "If I could stand, I would already. You'd be luckier to just pull my finger and getting a response than I do from telling myself to stand by myself!" he told the infantry man, who just stared in shock at the CO's words. Arik chuckled softly as he saw the bewildered look on the soldier's face, and he could tell that his own soldiers were grinning as well. "Come on, let's get down on the ground. I'm sure they would prefer us where we will be eye-level, after all." Arik told his men, and they immediately prepared to move their CO from the deck as the Orange Star CO's came over to help.
The first one there was that big bruiser that he'd seen get out of that first Neotank. "Here, hand 'im over. Don't worry, I'll be real careful with him, okay?" he told the soldiers. Arik nodded to them as they looked to the big guy warily- trust someone they'd never met with their commander? Why would they ever do that, hm? Except when ordered to by their commander, and the two soldiers who were holding Arik between them nodded in return to Max. They knelt down and carefully let their commander drop down over the edge of the tank as Arik winced at their grip. That was a tender spot they were holding onto! Then he felt both of Max's hands under his arms, and was surprised at how careful the big man was as he was set onto the ground.
"Hm... Looks like we'll have to find some sorta wheelchair for ya." Max commented, smiling a little as he stood back up from having to kneel down to set the enemy CO on the ground. He didn't know this kid much, but according to Andy and Sami, he was actually a good guy from what they could tell so far. So far, though, the big man of Orange Star wasn't impressed. The kid wasn't even someone who was physically daunting, and he didn't project an air of superiority. He was kinda like Colin in that regard. But then, he knew that sometimes, despite his hopes, there was often more to people than what meets the eye. Kinda like war, really, he thought to himself as the kid just nodded slightly. The gray uniformed soldiers who had exited the strange tank unit now stood behind their CO, and the two who had carried him a moment ago quickly knelt down to pick the kid up.
"Thanks." Arik said to the big guy before looking around slowly. "Ya know, don't you think that such a large force is almost over-kill against a single hover tank?" he asked, a sly grin appearing on the wounded CO's face as he looked back to Arik. There was some talking near his tank that Arik could hear, and he made out the voice to be Jess's voice. Probably on the radio with someone, he figured, as he watched Max shake his head slowly. Somehow, Arik could guess what this man was good at. He was pretty direct with his words so far, and with what he had done by bringing his small army out into the open field like this. "My name's Arik. Sorry I can't get around on my own feet right now, but things have been a bit busy these days, and my legs are dead tired."
There was a burst of laughter from nearby, and Arik looked around Max to see Andy, Sami, and Sonja standing a ways away behind the big man, obviously listening to what was going on. He looked back up to Max's face, who was grinning as he watched the smaller CO. Definitely sarcastic and unafraid at this point. Max approved of this guy as a CO already, even if he had commanded the fleet that had torn up Andy and Sami's forces a while ago. "No need to worry about that, kiddo. I mean, Arik." he said. Damn Grit, Max thought. Now I'm giving the kids nicknames! Arik's face just clouded over at being called kiddo, and Max didn't feel so bad about calling him that. Least, now I know he's human and not some drone. "We'll get ya something to relax in... probably a cell or something, if I know Nell."
Arik frowned slightly for a second before shrugging slowly. He hadn't thought that far ahead, actually, but realized that the bruiser had a point. There would be a holding cell with his name on it at this point, after all. He'd attacked Orange Star, in their eyes, and he'd likely be brought up under some sort of charges for war crimes at peacetime as a result... even if I hadn't been the one who attacked them, he told himself. "Well, hopefully my men and I won't be in the brig for too long. I personally hate not being able to move about when I want, ya know." he told the big man, who shrugged slightly before turning to bellow an order at his troops.
Then there was an explosion behind them, and then another. Ranging shots! Arik groaned slightly as he felt the shudders of the earth nearby from the impacts of cannon shells fired from battleships. "Dammit. Sheila's not about to just give up!" he said aloud, looking over his shoulder to check out what was happening behind them. There were plumes of fire and smoke, remains of the shells striking the ground not too far away. "We gotta get outta here... And, I'd like to keep my tank, if you don't mind." Arik told Max, who nodded and bellowed at his troops again before actually speaking to the assembled CO's.
"Alright you guys, let's go. Those battleships will be dealt with soon enough." Max told his friends- he'd taken the advisor's words to heart, and followed up on that advice. His subs were already on the move, to wipe out the battleships. Once they were gone, the enemy would send out subs and cruisers to locate his units... well, most likely. With a grin, Max waved his troops back inland, to where the battleships couldn't continue to fire on them. Wherever they came from, they'd probably have to be going back soon- not even Eagle could span a distance like they had without running low on fuel! Andy grinned as he came up alongside Max, arm still in a sling, as Max headed towards his personal Neotank.
"Just like old times, 'eh?" he asked, and Max grinned in response before nodding in agreement. Old times... yeah, less than a year ago! he told himself, even as he climbed the ladder up along the Neotank's side and back onto the top of the tank. The other CO's were gathered around that strange hovering tank as its crew got back into the tank's crew bay and started it back up. Andy grinned before heading back slowly, clutching at his arm. A rough trip, hm? Well, there were plenty of doctors back at the base, and if that Sheila person that the new kid had said wasn't going to give up, then that woman would have a nasty surprise waiting for her. But that was only if she decided to follow them all the way inland. According to the previous battle's reports, she had only sent the hover tanks and aerial units in to land, with the landers landing on the beach only very late in the battle.
And if she was to do the same thing here... hehe, she'll be very surprised by what I'll be bringing into the battlefield, Max thought as he slipped back into the Neotank. I'm the king of direct combat! "Move out!" he yelled, and Max was satisfied when he heard the rumbling of the tank's engine roar into life once more, and the spinning of treads on the ground beneath the nearly 'walking' tank. He heard a high pitched whine as the tank turned around, and recognized it as the whine that had caught his attention when they had caught up with that hovertank. Now, that'd be a fun ride, he figured, and with a grin Max sat down in his seat and let his driver do his work as he buckled up.
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"That went well..." Arik considered, as he sat against the front of the infantry bay on the deck of the hovercraft. He had little to do and no one to talk to, at this point, other than the other commanding officers who were huddled near each other not too far away. Jess was always by herself though- why, he asked himself, as he watched the woman for a moment. A glance in his direction from her forced his gaze away from the redhead, and Arik sighed softly. She hadn't even come all the way into my room, back on the lander, he thought. Again, the Silver Mountain CO had to wonder why that was? He looked to the group of three who had huddled with each other- Sami, Andy, and Sonja. Sonja was on Andy's right, and checking on his arm to make sure that it was still set correctly and such. Sami was on Andy's left, watching their back by looking straight ahead. Andy was speaking with Sonja, of course, and they smiled to one another briefly.
Arik sighed as he watched them do that. It was nice that their countries were so well liked by one another that they could get along as they were. He envied the two for their closeness, and wished that he could afford to do the same. The few times he'd ever managed to go out, after the 'incident'... well, they'd all ended badly, so why dwell on it, he told himself. How much longer until they reached the base that Max was leading them towards? That bruiser's Neotank wasn't actually all that slow, but it was compared to this hovertank. He smiled a little, remembering his little part in ensuring that this particular unit got placed in active duty after the prototype stage. Too bad it was so expensive, he thought, even if it is cheaper than Neotanks are.
Arik closed his eyes and attempted to relax, though it was certainly impossible to do so. The explosions were getting closer, especially since the lay of the land forced their group to follow along parallel to the beach. Mountains made it difficult to traverse back to the base for quite a way to the north, and to the south there was no base available. To the west was the ocean and to the east there was a mountain range that made it impossible to get to the base in that direction... Unless it was infantry, anyway. Of course, he didn't know where Orange Star's bases were, especially since he'd never been here before.
Never been here before... his mind echoed, and unknown to himself, Arik's shoulders slumped a bit. Of course he hadn't been here before. Orange Star was a new country to him. He'd left his homeland to come here, and now look what's happened! I'm a wanted criminal at home now. Probably branded as a traitor. Damned Sheila. She never did stop to think about things sometimes. Arik just wished he could jump himself off the hovertank at this point. It would be easier on the paperwork for all sides involved, wouldn't it? I'll never have a real life, here or in Silver Mountain, he told himself. It was the truth, too. For the longest time, he'd wanted only several very basic things. To protect people, and to try and live his life, all at the same time.
But now...
"Hey, Arik!" came a voice that snapped him out of his reverie. Arik opened his eyes immediately and looked around slowly, only to find Sami, Andy, and Sonja to be watching him. He blinked in surprise as he watched them for a second, trying to determine who had yelled at him.
"Ah... yeah?" he asked quietly. Then he realized that he hadn't spoken loud enough for them to hear him, and then he repeated himself, much louder now. Sonja seemed to peer at him strangely, as if noticing some piece of food on his face after a dinner. Damned inspections.
"Are... are you alright, Arik?" came her voice, just loud enough to be heard over the whine of the fans beneath the hovertank. Arik shrugged a little, blinking once more- and squeezing out a tear or two as a result. He didn't feel the moisture or the cold this time- both were sensations that he hadn't felt for quite a while now, save for hot water anyway. He swept a hand up to brush beneath his eyes, along his cheeks, and then blinked as he saw the streaks of water upon his fingertips. When did I start crying?
"Um... yeah, I'm okay." he said in return, even as a particularly close explosion came close to throwing them all off the tank. It had occurred right in front of the tank, no less, and the whine of the fans beneath the craft strained as it had to come up with enough air to churn in order to get them over the impact crater that had just been formed. As a result, the rocking of the tank got much worse, and he had to grasp the rail to stay in place. The others seemed to be doing fine, including Jes, he saw, as he looked back over towards her. She was staring off into the distance, as if trying to see the battleships that were firing at them. There was a pair of explosions, just a second later, out over the water as Battleships were attacked, likely by submarines, and sunk as a result of Max's attack. "Damn... That's a lot of firepower!" Arik thought to himself, as he turned to face the same direction.
"How in the hell did that happen?" he asked aloud, though far too quietly to be heard by any of the others. The amount of firepower requried to down one of Sheila's battleships must have been overwhelming. Even he'd be hard pressed to provide enough defensive counter to keep his troops safe from that kind of a blast. With a shake of his head, Arik sighed slowly. Max must switch his firepower to some sort of explosive in order to cause extra damage... or something. That kinda firepower was unheard of back in Silver Mountain. If Sheila survived, then Lance would learn of it. And that would cause extraordinary problems for Orange Star in the future, he knew. "But, when would Sheila attempt to give up on me?" He asked himself.
The cannon shells stopped flying a moment later as the attack lessened, and then died down finally. With a blink, Arik looked around, attempting to watch the sea even as they passed by forests between them and the ocean itself. He closed his eyes slowly, and smiled a little as he let himself drift away. This day had been immensely draining, and with darkness creeping up on him, sleep itself sounded better than being home. He curled up on the deck, somehow managing to fall asleep despite the pitched whine of the fans beneath the craft. The four CO's soon saw him asleep, and at least one smiled.
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There was one CO who was not smiling in the slightest. The scowl on her face showed her rage as her beloved battleships were sunk from surprise attacks that must have been from torpedoes. Obviously, Orange Star's submarines were on the prowl, but what really pissed Sheila off was the fact that they sunk her ships so easily! Her navy was without peer in Silver Mountain. Superior firepower was her trademark, as well as her use of aircraft, but how had the submarines managed to sneak up on her ships so effortlessly? "Dammit..." she said from between gritted teeth. The urge to defeat the enemy, so close and yet unable to be struck yet, was overwhelming, but she didn't have the ships to do it with.
Arik had his troops trained well, she reflected. At the first sign of attempting to stage a coup of the second fleet, the younger CO's men immediately dispersed towards the northern Orange Star sectors, towards the ports that had been reported before the attack had happened upon the transport copter. They'd been forgotten during the powerful bombardment that had taken place afterwards on her part, of course. One defeats the enemy's ability to to defeat infantry before moving in to secure the facilities, after all. She knew this all too well, for her people were trained to be in the air and on the ocean, but the land was her one main weakness. That was the reason for Arik, Lance had told the older CO.
"Damn! Lance, why didn't you tell me he was a possible security problem." she muttered to herself, staring out the window towards the beach that she had been upon not too long ago. Who would've guessed that her friend would turn traitor after the attack that he had barely survived? It made her seeth- made her hate Arik more than she hated anyone, including that damned brat Net. He'd have a field day, she realized, when he would finally hear about what had happened here. No one defected from Silver Mountain. No one had ever had any reason to want to do so, but here was the first traitor in recent history... and he would escape! Sheila knew he would. None from Silver Mountain could possibly catch Arik when he didn't want to be. He was too tough for any sort of assault, and his troops were trained to be just as tough. Sheila knew all this, and turned away as the last explosion of a battleship nearby caused the carrier to rock.
"Prepare to depart. Leave the traitors be. We'll return later to deal with them." she told her first officer. He looked incredulous as she walked away from the bridge. The entire compartment was silent as he turned around to relay the order to his fellow shipmates. Sheila sighed softly and began taking mental notes about this campaign. She'd never suffered such losses before, in any campaign she'd ever been a part of. She smiled a little bit as she considered the role of these last two battles in the grand scheme of things. She felt better now that she thought about it. There will be another time, she told herself. It won't end like this, not by a long shot. I'll be back, and you won't enjoy it then, traitor.
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In a hidden base (of course)
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"Ah, the simple things in life that spice everything up... Dear me, Lash, are you bored already?" came Adder's voice. He smiled slowly as he saw the young girl attempting to keep herself awake only moments after the destruction of the Battleships. She looked at him and grinned slowly. Of course she was, the lanky man told himself. Unless she was playing with someone, or planning to do so with some new toy, she never really managed to stay interested in anything for long. The battle was over now, with that fleet escaping from Orange Star now as Orange Star's convoy continued northwards. It had been merely hours since the beginning of the battle, and now it had already finished. These Silver Mountain blokes certainly couldn't last long sometimes, Adder thought. Unlike Black Hole, who had managed to keep battles going for days on end all the time, no matter what.
"Well, you have to admit, only using ships to fight with is pretty dumb, Adder. Whoever's in that fleet sure doesn't like to use other units, huh?" she said to him, and then grinned slightly. She'd like to meet that person, Adder realized, and he smiled slowly as a plan came to mind. A delicious plan that even Lash would enjoy, he decided, and then motioned his young 'friend' closer to him. Whispering ensued, despite the fact that they were alone in the room. A squeel of delight erupted from the young girl with the afro as she jumped up from the bed and clapped her hands once or twice. "That's a great idea! And we have just the toys to play with that fleet with, now don't we?" she asked him, to which Adder nodded simply.
"Indeed we do, Lash. You'll need to move fast to catch them, though, or else they might escape even my range before it's too late." he told her, and she just winked at him before dashing to the door. She slowed as she neared it, and with a hand on the doorknob, she turned to face the wiry man as she smiled slowly. Adder watched her, amused, as she watched him for a few moments before opening her mouth. When she did, he had a rather good idea as to what she was going to say to him.
"I'm taking my two new toys today, 'kay?" she informed him, and Adder smiled to her before nodding in acknowledgment. She jumped up and grinned maliciously as she turned the knob of the door and walked out. The door remained open just long enough for him to hear the sound of gasps as she ordered the two guards to go with her. At the closing of the door, Adder raised his cup of coffee and smiled grimly, as if to salute the two that had just been taken by the craziest CO that Black Hole had to offer these days.
"Goodbye, my little pawns... and good luck." he said, almost fondly, before taking a sip of the coffee and smiling again. The television would be boring for the next few days... at least for now, he thought to himself. At least now, he'd have something to look forward to. Thursday would be the day. Then, all hell just might break loose. And the next phase of his plan, long in the making and now with a little twist, would finally begin. It was always good to hold a long lasting chance to change the path of people who didn't know him... and even of those who did, too. "And now, my pawns..." he murmured to himself, turning to the television set that he'd had stolen not too long ago. "Now, you are mine once more." he said, the camera man showing the convoy of tanks and such units on Orange Star's land as they moved north. With a small grin, the arrogant man just watched for a moment, a single word forming in his mind. Delicious.
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Author's Note: A little short, I know. And I've yet to bring in any more Black Hole CO's. But, though I'm not too sure about this new format that I'm trying here, I hope you guys enjoy. Pointers and reviews are always welcome, of course. One question though: Did I scare some of you guys off, or was it just the Christmas/New Year's holiday? Suggestions taken as well, and I've yet to include that pairing, too. I haven't decided if I'm going to bring it in yet or not, either. I may have to cut this series up a bit, too, in order to fit everything (and everyone) into it. What would you guys think about something like that happening?