Return to Crusade

By Sarge11

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just B-Day, Inferno squad, the Galactic Civil War, and Sarge11.

Chapter 3: A Helping Hand

The ramp extended and Ratchet ran out of the Dropship, the sound of explosions, gunfire, and officers shouting orders reached his ears. Ratchet got bumped in the back and turned around; cowering behind his Tesla Barrier was his entire squad of Rangers. Before he could tell them to spread out, there was a loud bang as the artillery behind the bunkers opened up on the dropships. There was a loud screaming sound as the shell headed for the dropship he had just left.

"Everybody hit the deck!" Ratchet shouted.

The Rangers ran back into the Dropship and started smashing the deck.

"Not that deck!" Ratchet started running away from the Dropship, hoping the Rangers were following him.

Pssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The explosion knocked Ratchet off his feet and depleted his Tesla Barrier. A piece of white-hot debris branded the tip of his ear. Ratchet howled in pain and started sucking on his ear. As he was about to get back up, a Ranger's head fell and landed right in front of his face. He was so surprised that he fell back over. And not a moment too soon, for as his head hit the beach, about thirty bullets whizzed by his head.

"Must…find…others," he rasped. He must have broken his arm or something because it wasn't responding.

He crawled into a crater where he found Sarge11 and a medic tending an organic soldier, whose entire front body was covered with blood.

As Ratchet crawled up to the group, he heard the soldier gasp, "My gut's been torn out!"

The medic tried to comfort him. "It's O.K., you're gonna make it."

This made Ratchet pause. He thought, Maybe I shouldn't distract them.

However, before he could crawl away, Sarge11 saw him. "Hey Ratchet! It's nice to see you're still with us. Where's the rest of your squad?"

"Wiped out," he rasped.

"Oh," he replied softly.

Bang!

The soldier suddenly went limp, a bullet hole through his head.

"Take cover!" Sarge11 yelled.

They scooted lower in the crater.

"Who was that?" Ratchet asked, gesturing towards the bloody mess that was the soldier.

"He was the last of my squad not including the medic. His name was Corporal Jerry Adams," Sarge11 looked at Ratchet with sadness in his eyes. "It's a shame such fine young men have to be wasted like this."

"What's going on with all the rest of the troops?" Ratchet asked.

"It doesn't look good. We've already lost about 200 troops, and we've only been in Hell for 5 minutes" he answered.

"We need more men, or at least some decent air cover," Ratchet said.

"Tell me about it!" Sarge11 said.

All of a sudden, Ratchet's Helpdesk link piped up.

"This is Inferno Lead. Looks like you could use some help down there boys!"

That voice. Ratchet thought. It sounds so familiar.

Then, he realized who it was. He raised his wrist up to his mouth and spoke into it. "Angela! Is that you?"

"Ratchet! You're down there? So, I see you're roughing it with common soldiers."

"Sure, whatever. Look, we need some air cover. Think you could take out that artillery and those bunkers, so we can get to the Barracks?"

"That's what I'm here for." she said. "All wings report in!" she ordered.

"Inferno 2 standing by!"

"Inferno 6 standing by!"

"Inferno 3 standing by!"

"Inferno 4 standing by!"

"Inferno 5 standing by!"

Six Megacorp starfighters flew into view. Weapons popped out of slots all over the bodies' of the starships.

Ratchet shouted, "Fire in the hole!"

They heard several huge explosions and the ground shook.

When it was finally over, they all stood up; there was no longer anybody shooting at them.

"To the Barracks!" Ratchet ordered.

"You're welcome!" Angela sighed, agitated. "Oh, and, Ratchet.?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"We need to talk when you're done clearing the Barracks," she said.

Ratchet gulped. "Um. Sure thing." He was more afraid of her than he was of the Tyhrranoids he was about to kill.

WAHOO! This chapter came out even better than expected! If I were you, I would do the smart thing and review, then wait for the next chapter.

-Sarge11