Eagle ran, fleet-footed, through the labyrinth of hedges and bushes that were at least fifteen feet tall and four feet thick. This training exercise was new to him, being that he had never really bothered training his tracking skills. In the air, you don't need to be able to hear an enemy's footsteps, breathing, or heartbeat; that's what radar is for. His knee-boots skidded slightly on the grass as he turned, following the light footsteps of his prey.
His hearing wasn't as trained as his laser-like eyesight, and at times he found it difficult to focus on the heavy breathing of his target. She was trained for infantry battles, whereas he was a pilot: in the air, above it all, you could always see your opponent, either visually or on the radar. Eagle didn't have his instruments, and he was surrounded on two sides by plants, so his vision and radar that he so needed otherwise.
Suddenly, he saw a clearing ahead. I'll head for that, he thought, pushing his long legs harder than he had since basic training. His faithful shotgun swung at his side, ready for use, but he couldn't shoot his prey. He couldn't bring himself to that.
The clearing loomed upon him faster than he had expected, and he turned a hard left, putting his left hand on the ground for balance and pushing off hard. He dashed along the hedge, looking for the opening where his opponent would come out. He ran for at least fifty yards before he found it, but she wasn't there yet. Good. he thought. I can surprise her. He pulled his shotgun off his belt and held it by the muzzle like a baseball bat.
Then, he heard the footsteps. Eagle tensed himself up, ready to swing as soon as he saw her explode from the path. The steps got louder, louder... then, as if from a cannon, the girl exploded from the opening, as she sped past eagle without noticing. This, as it turned out, would be bad for her. Eagle swung.
The butt of his shotgun collided with the back of Sami's head.
After giving a short cry of pain and surprise, Sami flew through the air, landed hard on her stomach, and fell still. She lay sprawled on the grass, the wound on her head from the gun bleeding a good bit. Eagle was suspicious at first. He couldn't see her eyes, as they were partially obscured by her hair, so he had no way of telling if she was unconscious, or setting a trap. His concern got the better of him.
Eagle knelt beside her, hesitating to touch her. Sami's smooth skin glistened from sweat, and the thought of reaching out and touching her while she was vulnerable. He imagined the way the skin on her back would feel when he rolled her over... He faltered, shook his head to clear it of those thoughts, and again reached out to roll her onto her back and check her pulse and breathing.
He found himself staring down the barrel of a machine gun.
"Oh, damn it." he muttered. "I had you there, you know."
Sami grinned at him. "Yeah, well, it's hard to beat an infantry specialist. I could hear you crashing through that clearing the entire time, and all I had to do was wait till you stopped, come through, and let you bean me."
They both began to laugh between pants. They were exhausted, having been chasing each other for at least an hour through the labyrinth that Drake had raised from seedlings. It was his pride and joy, besides his fishing schooner, the Mallard, and he took very good care of them both. Drake had let them use it as a training ground, because the need for tracking skills was becoming more and more important.
"You know..." Eagle said, sitting back, panting. "If we were in fighters or b-copters or something, I could have taken you down."
"It's hard not to shoot me in a fighter. I'm sure you wouldn't want that." Sami smiled at him, not a grin, but something that sent shivers down Eagle's spine. He felt himself blush.
"Heads up!" a familiar, loud voice yelled from nearby. Eagle and Sami both turned, saw a projectile flying at them, and shouted in surprise. The thing impacted with the ground, sent the two of them spinning though the air, and kicked up a huge amount of dust.
Eagle landed on his head and flopped over onto his stomach. Dazed, he looked around and heard Sami yelled, "Max, watch it next time! You nearly hit me!"
Eagle looked up to see the big man helping Sami to her feet. Max, like the idiot he tended to be, was laughing. "Sorry, Sami, I couldn't help it. 'Least I didn't use a live round."
"It still hurt." Eagle snapped, standing and dusting off his pilot's jacket, wrapping his scarf back around his neck, and picking up his shotgun, which had a small amount of Sami's blood on the butt. "Try not to hit so close, assuming of course that we let you have a chance at that again."
"Yeah?" Max turned to look at Eagle, who walked up to him. Eagle wasn't intimidated in the least, even though Max was taller than him by at least 10 inches. Eagle certainly wasn't short- he was about 5'11"- but Max was absolutely huge. "I'll take you on now."
"Try me." Eagle said, staring up at him. "Lightning Strike." Eagle saw everything slow down, although in truth he was speeding up. He dashed around Max twice, grabbed the bazooka that was Max's weapon of choice on the second time around, undid Max's belt, and finally came to a halt behind him. This was all done is a split second. "Not so hot now, are you?"
Max's pants fell down, and he angrily pulled them back up. "Well, whatever. Just don't get too touchy-feely with her, bird-boy."
Eagle snorted. "I'm hardly a boy; I'm at least a year your elder. In any case, who was getting touchy-feely? I was-"
"Let it go!" Sami said hurriedly, getting in between them. "I'm sure that Drake has something cooked up for dinner, so we'd better go get some of that." She led them both towards the exit, where Max had come in. As Eagle passed Max, he gave a slight "Hmph!" and kept going.
"Conceited people. Feh." he heard Max muttered before following.
"...And then, I sent in my medium tank, and it tore his rocket to shreds. I just walked right in and took his HQ. It was so easy!"
Andy set down his fork and knife, which he had been using to demonstrate. Grit, who was sitting across from him, ate his food quietly without looking up. Andy and Grit had been training in a war room simulator, and apparently Grit's indirect combat units hadn't stood much of a chance when Andy massed tanks.
"Ha!" Max laughed. "I bet you never fought Grit while he was at his prime!" Grit made a sound of protest at this, but Max steamrollered on. "He was a match for me, and when we fought each other, we'd get nowhere."
"Whaddaya mean, 'in my prime?'" Grit asked. "Like you've gotten any better, big dog?"
He and Max began to argue, their respective accents quickly getting on Eagle's nerves. Eagle slowly and politely worked on his food, having been brought up around the upper echelon of Green Earth society. The others all seemed to be wolfing down food for no reason, and they were messy. Eagle, in many ways, couldn't stand it.
After a few minutes, Nell walked in. She walked in with a sort of finalizing grace, and even Max and Grit fell silent. Drake came in through the kitchen door, frying pan in hand, to watch and listen. All of Orange Star's and all but one of Green Earth's CO's had been assembled.
"We are gathered here," she began, "as you all know, to discuss.. this." She took a remote control from her coat pocket, pressed a button, and the lights went out to reveal a projection on the far wall. There were a large number of gray-colored dots to the north and west of the Green Earth coastline. "These are unknown troops massing in the north. It is likely that they are preparing for an invasion of Green Earth. This simplified map was created on a computer."
"What are the numbers?" Eagle asked.
"500 landers." Nell said, glumly. "Each lander has at least a medium tank, and either an anti-air or a rocket. That means we're dealing with a very large force, and probably one that has been training for this situation." She pressed another button on the remote, and the picture changed, a few arrows being added here and there. "WE think that the main force will divert around this way," she indicated it with a pointer, "and that the diversion will attack from the northern coast, on this city here." She again pressed a button, and this time the picture changed to show a number of orange dots as well, with either an M, an S, or an A above them. "Orange Star forces, namely Max and Andy, will attack the main force when it comes aground from the west. Sami will attack the diversion with a legion of mechs and rockets."
"I can send my air force to assist against the diversion." Eagle said, standing. "Drake can have a fleet of battleships waiting near the main force's landing site, where he can attack the landers until they unload, and then the troops. Jess can remain around the capital to defend that, should either line break."
"We don't necessarily know that they're after the capital." Nell said. "They could just be after outlying territory. Either way, we need to be prepared. The double-line will help us hold them off. I'm sure, Eagle, that with Sami going after the anti-air and you taking care of everything else, that front will last. With Max and Andy in tandem, there's no way the other can lose."
Eagle was still worried. How did Nell know that that was the only force? Eagle had a natural knack for sensing hidden danger, and he sure sensed it now. Though, as he told himself, 1000 units was an awful lot to waste on a distraction... He couldn't be too careful, though.
"Regardless." Eagle shot back. "This is my nation that I am protecting, and I say that Jess should protect the capital. I don't care what you have to say, what logistics and intell and common sense you provide. I will be cautious, and I will make sure that every base is covered." He stared at Nell for a long moment before continuing. "When do you think they will move?"
"Within the next week." Nell replied, slightly coldly. "It will take about that long for the majority of the landers to move from the north to the western coast."
"Then my air force will be ready in three days." Eagle said.
"My fleet in two." Drake said, speaking up for the first time. "Max and Andy don't need to send much, lass; twenty battleships is a force to be reckoned with. I don't think that this main force will last too long."
"I'll send as many of my neotanks as possible." Max said. "Nobody can stand up to them."
"And I'll tune up my rockets and medium tanks, and take them for a spin." Andy said.
"I'll make sure the Bearded One knows that there's somebody out there after land." Grit said. He stood, tipped his hat at Nell, and continued, "Well, I'm on my way. Thanks for the feedin', y'all. I've gotta be back to Blue Moon, y'know, and Olaf'll want a report."
Everyone murmured their goodbyes, and Grit departed. Everyone else, taking his lead, made excuses to leave, until only Eagle, Sami, and Nell were left.
"Eagle, you must take logic into consideration." Nell said quietly. "There's no way that anyone, whether a nation or a private owner, could muster a force of one thousand units and still have enough money left to have a large enough force that could take a capital. It' just-"
"I will take no chances." Eagle said, his eyes blazing. "I have been instructed by the President that I am to defend as much of Green Earth as possible. Not only that, but I will not allow people to die needlessly. If I put Jess on the coast, and our lines are broken and the capital stormed, what do I say then?"
Nell was silent. Eagle turned and left, his boots clicking slightly on the floor as he walked. He got into the hall and noticed that Sami had followed him.
"She has a point, you know." she said, coming up beside him.
"I know that." Eagle replied. "But I will take no chances."
Sami sighed. "Being stubborn won't help."
"Since when has covering all your bases been a bad thing?" Eagle asked rhetorically. "I just want to protect my countrymen. Saving human life has never hurt before, so why is Nell so opposed to it?"
Sami gave no response for a moment, but after thinking, said, "Well, I guess she wants the extra force. If they have that many-"
"Then why isn't she coming?"
"She's a strategist." Sami said. "She is a CO, but she's a thinker, not a fighter. She'd prefer to be behind the scene than on the front lines."
"I find it suspicious." Eagle said, rubbing his chin. He was silent for a second. "Perhaps I should contact a few confidants in the north, near Black Hole, about all of this. Yes, I think I will. I'll take my b-copter up there tomorrow to see if they have anything on this." He turned to Sami. "Well, I want to be off early, so I'd best retire. Good night."
Sami murmured, "Good night," then, after a second's though, hugged him and said, "Be careful." Turning, she walked down the hall.
Eagle found that, suddenly, his head hurt and his face burned.