This was a fast update and I'll tell you why, I had started writing this awhile ago, but never fully got around to finishing it. (Both this one and the prologue). So, that's why this is such a quick update.

Okay, this part of the story is written from the perspective of Captain Hiro "Thunder" Thompson. Since you all gone taken a liking to the guy, I thought I'd give him some screen time...nah...but, you're more than welcome to think that. Again, this does the tim flops, so be prepared for that.

Thanks to those that reviewed the last chapter: Happy Anxiety, Denisen, baanKAAAAIIIII

Without further-a-do, I present to you:

Chapter 1 - Struggle for Survival

Sometimes, I wonder how things turned out the way they did. How we mercenaries, the dogs of war, became the hunted.

But little can be done about that now. The bulk of my crew and my ship are now held captive in that god awful place of a cave. And the remnants of my free crew are on the run. Those that were captured, I don't know their current condition, or the condition of the Hiradechi for that matter.

Regardless of that issue, the few men with me and a small band of anti-federation freedom fighters are planning to storm the place. In hopes that we may get the Hiradechi back and, hopefully the rest of my crew.

We just got a mission from some unit within the Intelligence Department of the Federation Military. The strange thing was that this unit, one I had never heard of and quite possibly one that has no official designation. But, what it lacked in name, it made up for in the bounty for the job. The unit had already paid in full, up front at the moment we got the transmission. Not many clients within can do that, and employers within the Federation Air Force are usually stingy with the payments, always trying to grab every dime they can.

The mission seemed easy enough, considering the mission type and the other specified units in the area. Though, in all likelihood, this meant that there would be a lot of cleaning up for us to do. But, I still had my pilots ready their KLFs for combat.

The mission itself was inherently simple, so much so that it seemed I could give the crew some good R&R with a break from the fighting and the missions. But, what had me worried was a particular stop after the mission.

Combat Pilot Trap had gone to ready his KLF unit for combat that was likely to occur in less than a day. I hope that everything won't go a wrought.

"Captain?"Questioned the Advice Officer, trying to understand something.

"Yes, Advice Officer Maria?"

"You seem apprehensive about something, you mind telling em what it is?"

A slight pause before I answered her, "It's nothing...just a feeling." I replied, trying to find a way not to show my fears,

"Alright, Captain. But remember this, my title was shortened from "Command and Strategy Advising Officer" down to just "Advising Officer" aka "Advice Officer". So, it's not officially out of my job description to address personal problems, anymore.

True as it was, I never shared those gut hunches with anyone except the KLF pilots. They were a steady and stern bunch, and they were the ones that needed it the most.

I keep thinking, "Could I have prevented what happened to us, by simply informing the crew of my suspicions that day? Could they have at least been spared the fate that befell them?" No matter how much I think, I cannot say that the outcome would have turned out any different. For that, I'm sorry. I let down my crew when they needed me most.

"Captain, 23 minutes until operation, You know there's no turning back now. Our crew is counting on us to get them out." Whispered a woman next to me, even though I couldn't see her face, I knew it was Maria. The same Maria that had asked me the question no one else dare ask, the question that might have spared my crew of this horrible fate.

"Yes, that's right, Maria."

"I'll remember that in the future, that your title did change."

"Please remember a little more than that, sir." Advice Officer Maria walked over to the briefing table and turned on the holographic display. It came to life with a green aura that quickly faded from the room and a hybrid map of the target area appeared.

"Isn't this...?" Maria questioned in subtle horror and shock.

"Yes...Bellforest," I replied.

"But why there?"

"The higher ups must be going crazy to send us there, no?"

"That didn't answer my question!" Maria nearly shouted in fury, but kept her professional demeanor.

"That?" I handed her a copy of the mission file sent to us by the Intelligence Department.

"...A start..." She opened the file and looked as the list of targets. There was a single reason listed for every single one of them, "The people and facilities are suspected of either harboring or assisting a radical anti-government group."

"I know the feeling, judging from your expression." I said after glancing at her face, then back to the holographic table.

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't have any objections, but...in Bellforest!" That tower state has always been a calm and peaceful place...

I replied before she could finish, "I couldn't believe it myself. So, I had them decode the message four times...And these are our orders we have to obey them. From her reaction, I knew she was displeased by this fact...And for that matter, so was I.

Maybe if I hadn't obeyed that order, we might still be flying around on the Hiradechi, doing work for the Federation, instead of ending up as some disbanded and disorganized mercenary mob. Bot, I know that dwelling on possibilities is never a good things. It makes one wonder at times; why he does something, he knows isn't the right thing. I wondered that when I first pulled the trigger and I continued to wonder, up until this circumstance. The answer; he can't help it.

In that same regard, what're doing isn't right, but we must survive.

"Captain, 5 minutes till the window of opportunity," Maria stated.

"Alright, men; don't lose sight of your objectives. And remember, no one leaves the cave until we have secured the "Toy Box," got it?"

They all nodded and the mob moved up to the edge of the treeline.

Okay, that's that. More later.

Please, read and review again. Please tell me what you think of the chapter.