Alrighty then, to uhhh the like 20 people who have "looked" at this story, and shoutout to DownTownAlpha for giving drunk me the motivationto write instead of passout on my keyboard. No really, as I stated way back when that Ill only write this story when drinking/drunk. Unfortunately this chapter took the course of 3 different bingers, and I think it shows pretty bad. So if you see anything that looks TOO fucked up hmu in da dm's and ill fix it. I do hope you guys like it for what its worth though, and dont worry. For anyone wondering if my 'dirt eaters' will meet some main chars, oh they will.

Ch.2

"And LO the darkest angel moved forward, and where others had brought mercy, he brought pain."

US, Louisiana, 3July14, Inside city limits of Baton Rouge

"All CONUS based units. All CONUS based units, this is Mother, be advised Martian invasion underway, I say again, Martian invasion is underway. Landing castle is inbound to New Orleans ETA fifty nine minutes. Landing castle support units are currently on unknown bearing. All CONUS units are to take up defence positions immediately and are to repel invaders at all cost.

My god have mercy on our souls, Mother out."

The news came down hard, in all truth not a single person had bet on the Martian princess being assassinated Earth side. But no one was surprised what came next, full engagement and invasion via landing castles. Nearly all of the members in James's squad were affected by the first martian invasion in some way, and all of them wanted revenge, but when faced with the reality of what was going on, even the oldest veteran couldn't help but be worried.

"Landfall in 5 mike, standby to receive contacts." One of the Kataphrakt pilots voiced over his external speakers.

There was a quick callout over the squad comms, was making sure every was loaded and ready to engage. James had ordered all of his squads back from assisting civilians trying to evacuate 10 minutes prior. Now he found himself sitting in his MATV checking the map of fallback areas on his tablet. and had set their squads up at a choke point on a intersection that had been cleared of civilian life. In support of their area were two M1A3 Abrams along with their MATV's. 's squad was formed up around the 'temp' HQ that was James's MATV. and were formed up a block behind them boxing out the intersection there with the support of 3 M2A3 Bradley's and 2 Kataphrakt's of the "Fallen Angel" Platoon.

Most of the area they were in had been abandoned, expect for the one or two occasional civilians trying to flee the area, or even the random looters. There wasn't anything more James could do to prepare his men, everyone had been ordered to hunker down and wait for the landing castle to touchdown. They knew the casualties from the blast caused from the touchdown alone would be in the millions, but the civilians would have to wait for support efforts from someone else to arrive. Those were James's orders atleast, and he knew too well that when the fighting started he would have to help his own before even beginning to think about trying to calm down and evacuate more scared, riled up civilians.

Suddenly the door to James's MATV opened, breaking the intense stare on the tablet. "Hey LT, you good in here sir?" James looked out into the dark to see looking at him with a grim smile on her face. "Monika go find a place to fucking hide we got like two mike before that fucking flying dildo crashes down" James said in a slightly harsh manner. She scoffed and slammed the door on him. James turned his attention back to his tablet but soon after was distracted yet again by Monika opening up the right side door, hoping in, and closing it. "Fucking harden shelter right?" she said and she tapped on the metal frame. "Good enough, your squad ready?" James asked, not taking his attention away from the tablet. "You already know they are, I gave you a report five minutes ago James, lose the fucking tunnel vision will you -sir-?" At this point the James's gunner, a Private First Class Swanson, moved around, "Yall need a moment down there?" Monika slapped his leg, "Fucking keep eyes up Swanson or i'll beat that ass again." Swanson responded with a weird sexual noise. James turned to Moika, as he was about to speak the pilot of Fallen Angel 2 came over the comms, his voice unsteady. "Touchdown in 5...4...3...2..1… standby!"

The blast only equivalent to the Tsar Bomba shook the entire earth beneath and around them. Comms cut out and came back quickly. The shockwave struck the area next, windows busted and car alarms started going off. Tanks and Mechs alike shook violently as small debris smashed into them. In the distance, nearly an hour away, a ungodly mushroom cloud stood over where New Orleans once lay. There was an intense moment of disbelief for all the soldier's, none of them had seen distruction like this in a long time. As the initial shock faded, James heard his green gear, his command level radio, spit alive as Navy and Air units started to engage the landing castle. As soon as the chatter started, it ended, satcoms, DAGR, Blueforce, even his connection with UEHQ went dark, all that was working was Squad comms, and that was full of chatter.

"All stations this is 1 Actual! Give me a setrep starting with 1-1!" James shouted into his comms and he checked to make sure his gunner was still alive, "Swanson you fucking good up there!" his only response was a thumbs up as he continued to wipe dust off his face. Squads started to call in their statuses one by one, only forth squad came up with a casualty. Monika had already left the MATV and was checking on her squad. "1-4 this is 1 Actual did you report a casualty on status?!" James waited for several moments then repeated his question, "1-4 this is 1 Actual did you report a casualty on status?" "1 Actual this is 1-4, sir be advised we have one KIA." They hadn't even engaged the martians and someone was already dead. "Fuck!" James said under his breath as started to run over to position.

By the time James arrived to the building where both Smith's and Young's squad were set up, two soldiers were already carrying out a litter with what appeared to be a body with a cover on top of it. James waved the two men down before they could offload the body at the designated CCP, "Specialist, who uh...who is it." James asked, placing one of his hands next to the body. The male in the front spoke up, "It was corporal Diaz sir, he.. a piece of fucking roofing sliced his throat, nothing we could do." There was a long, uncomfortable pause between the three men. James hadn't known Diaz for long, in fact he was a fresh face to the platoon, just came in from Turkey. But within the month and some change he had been with them, Diaz made a name for himself as one of the most well liked people in the Platoon.

Once again James's comms snapped him back to reality. But it wasn't his black set that was going off. His green gear, the radio that let him talk on a command level, was alive again, this time with calls for help and fallback orders. The Specialist in charge of the litter heard everything and was about to speak before James cut him off, "Get Diaz to the CCP, then get back to your fucking post, shits about to get bad by the sound of it." Then, as if on cue, as if it was a badly written story being re-written by a worst writer, a bright and long red beam filled the sky above them, followed by several explosions.

WRITING STYLE CHANGE INBOUND, SORRY GUYS.

"One actual this is Angel lead, we have an unkown martian mech in the fight, my guys are gonna be moving up to assist, how copy?"

James keyed his mic as the kataphracs assigned to his area started to speed off towrads the fight.

"Good copy Angel, leave some from the rest of us."

"No promises One."

With the kataphracs gone, James made his way into the building where Young and Smith were set up. Traveling up two flights of stairs to get there, only stopping to notice the large amount of items left behind by the civilians that were lucky enough to escape.

Once he reached the second floor, James made his way over to the two squad leaders.

Smith was attempting to comfort a female Private, a member of his squad who was leaning against a wall, quietly sobbing.

Young saw her platoon leader and quickly jogged over to him, her rifle bouncing on her plate carrier as she did so.

"Sir, about that situation over there.." Young pointed to Smith and the Private.

"She was standing in the open when that blast went off, Diaz pushed her the fuck out of the way and took that hit."

James gave her a quick nod, "Rog, we can grief later, make sure your people are fucking ready to engage or fallback, shits kicking off out there.

Another series of bright red beams filled the sky, followed by more explosions. Judging by the net traffic James assumed the Air support was getting literally vaporized.

"Break break break, all units this is Colonel Kirkland, standby for fallback orders."

James green gear was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, something he instantly regret.

"All units this is Colonel Kirkland callsign Vader. Be advised anyone South of line 210 is now considered KIA, all units are ordered to fallback to-"

James radio cut out as the air in the area instantly became violently hot. One of the red beams that had been shooting towards the sky suddenly pierced through the street the two Abrams had been sitting in, cooking them off before nearly deleting their entire hulls. Everyone inside the building was in a state of shock, seeing some of the most advanced armored units in the history of man be destroyed in the blink of an eye did that.

"Out! Everyone out now! We are getting the hell out of here!" James yelled, shaking a still dazed .

"1 Actual this is 1-1! We have casualties!"

As everyone inside the building started to follow his orders, another beam blasted into it, exactly two rooms over from where James had been standing. The Beam's heat evaperated some of the soldier's trying to leave, anyone caught inside it's direct path simply stopped existing. Next came it's concussive wave, which blasted James and several others into the wall. It all happened way to fast for a person comprehend. One second James was pulling Young towards him, the next second he was nearly stuck in a wall, his left arm burned. James ears were ringing, his vision was blurry. He lifted up his burnt arm and looked it over, he noticed he was holding something in his hand. It was part of Young's gear, specifically one of her shoulder straps. Then, as quickly as it started. Everything went to black.

James awoke to a equally badly burned firemen carrying him into his MATV.

"St..stop...i'm good Smith..let me down…" James said as he patted him on the chest.

Smith looked at James, a little startled. "Fucking shit sir I thought you died too."

Carefully, Smith helped James back on his feet, letting him lean of the armored truck. "Sir we need to get out of here now."

The burn pains on James arm were non existent, most likely due to the adrenaline that had just hit him."

"Get in, get the fuck out of here, last known fallback point was Delta 18, remember the brief?"

Smith nodded, "Yeah, it's uh, like 40mike north of here right Like near Ethel?"

"Give or take yeah, get your squad ready to fucking bolt… and Luke… Jessica's dead isn't she?"

There was a pause between the two men for a moment, members from James platoon ran back into their MATV's and readied themselves.

"Ya James, yeah she's gone, most of my squad and nearly all of hers too."

James tapped Smith in the chest, "we'll make the bastards pay."

Smith nodded and pulled himself into his vehicle leaving James to mop up the rest of his units.

"1 Actual to 1-1, 2 and 3, incase you already haven't figured it out we are LEAVING, get back to your vics and standby to rollout."

The three squads all responded and confirmed. James made his way back to his MATV, passing by a burnout Bradley. This wasn't good, his platoon was out of the fight, he had lost way to many people. How did the martians have this sort of firepower? Nothing on this level had ever been reported, if anything Earth was suppose to be years ahead of the bastards in military tech. For fucks sake the only thing the Martians had on them was the damned alien landing castles. How could they mount a resistance to this invasion if this was their enemy? It didn't matter, none of it mattered. What mattered now was getting the rest of his men the hell out of this slaughter.

"Any units this is Warrent Officer Warner, callsign Angel 3. My kataphrakt is down, ejection fucked my legs. Current grid is 0191927810. I got a Martian dropship pushing on me, if anyone is out there please god help me."

James had just reached his vic when the call came through. Ignoring his gunners calls, he pulled out a grid-map that was stuffed into a random bag and started searching for the specific coordinates he had heard over the net.

"1 Actual to all units, fallback as necessary, 1-1 is in charge now, whoever had that Mk.19 needs to form up on me now, got a SAR request, leave no man behind. 1 out."

James pulled himself into the MATV and took his seat, slapping his gunner and driver on the shoulder and leg respectfully. "You boys ready to save someone?" he asked, a odd smile on his face. Once again his gunner gave him a thumbs up, his driver just shook his head and scuffed, "No man left behind eh?" James was about to key his mic and ask where the Mk.19 was when both the backdoors on his MATV opened. He turned to see Stay and her squads medic, hop in and close their doors.

"Stay, way the fuck aren't with your squad, your medics nice but the fuck?" James asked, fairly annoyed.

"I already had them push out with Martinez and Rodriguez sir, so with all due respect, fuck off."

This wasn't the time to blow the fuck up on his old friend. But James made a mental note to deal with that attitude later.

"Scratch the attitude Sargent, it's been a shit day for all of us."

James turned back front went the MATV with the Mk.19 on top rolled up beside him.

"Lt it's Smith, got that HEDP loaded, ready for that SAR shit sir."

"Good shit Smith, roll out on me, stay frosty." James said before switching to his green gear.

"Angel 3, Angel 3, this is 1-1 Actual, you still alive out there?"

"Oh thank god, yeah, yeah i'm still good! I'm pinned down in a building, I got Martian infantry trying to grab me. That dropship doesn't have weapons it looks like, you copy?"

"I copy Angel, be ready for egress, we're inroute, unknown timeframe."

"Right..right..easy as not dying...ok…"

James hadn't notice it the entire time, but it finally hit him that the voice coming through the radio was feminine, but also sounded scared as hell. It was understandable though, the enemy had just basically kintecticly striked one of the only major US cities left, so whatever rules of war existed in the past didn't anymore. POW's captured by the martians would probably be killed, or tortured, or at worst, raped, these were all hypotheticals though. The journey to Angel 3's position was quiet, the gunners being only ones making noise as they swiveled their turrets to cover roads and roofs. Not even James green gear was picking up chatter anymore. Even the damned lasers that and hit his position earlier had died down.

The silence didn't last for long though, after three and a half minutes of traversing blown out buildings and destroyed cars the SAR team came into contact. James gunner didn't even notice the overtly large aircraft hovering around 150 meters in front of them until the Mk.19 on Smiths MATV opened up. The martian aircraft, what was assumed to be the dropship. Was quite literally caught with its pants down. Large bay doors had opened on its rear, leaving what looked like a total of two platoons of Martian infantry completely unprotected. "FUCKING KILL THEM ALL!" Someone screamed into their comms. James watched in a state of awe and primordial happiness as the soldier's inside the aircraft were shredded by the combined fire of a 50' and 40mm. Whatever advancements the martians had on the UE Forces didn't matter at that point, as the HEDP exploded inside the aircraft, secondary explosions occurred outside on it's wings, causing it to list forward and plow into a moderate sized apartment complex, soon after it exploded completely.

Once that primary threat had been dealt with, James, Monika, her medic Keenan, two members of squad hopped out of their MATV's and started to secure the area. The Mk.19 gunner kept his weapon down range towards where the dropship had been. The 50' was scanning rooftops and windows to the 9 o'clock. James pushed his body into a piece of rubble and kept his M4 pointed towards another building, soon after he keyed his mic, "Angel 3, this is 1-1 Actual, given area is secure, status?" No one came back over. Just as James was about to try and contact Angel 3 again, one of 's men, , yelled out. "Fucking movement right to our 5!" The two men next to him quickly turned their guns onto a blue sedan that's door opened. "F-fucking hold fire! Friendly!"

"Warrant Officer Warner! I'm Angel-3! Don't fucking shoot!" The Female kataphrakt pilot tried her best to show her hands as she slid out of the car and grunted in pain when she hit the ground. Benson lowered his weapon and ran up to the warrant officer. "Lt we need that fucking medic sir!" He yelled back to the rest of the dismounts. Keenan had already made his way over there by the time James had turned around. Once he did get to the downed Pilot, Keenan was injecting her with morphine. "Sir her legs are kinda fucked, not completely broke but fucked all together, not to mention the other problems she has going on, i'll spare you the medical mumbojumbo." James got down on a knee and started to look her over, not like he would catch anything the medic already didn't though, "Righto, can we just carry her back to our vic and you help out from there?" the medic shrugged, "Might as well, she's out cold now, best get outta here before more shit comes.

As quickly and carefully as they could, Keenan and James carried the wounded pilot back to their MATV, having Monika and Benson help pull her in as best as possible. As soon as the wounded personnel was secure, James ordered everyone to mount back up. Once again they found themselves navigating the runes of Baton Rouge inroute to the last known designated fallback point. WO Warner was moaning off and on in the back of the MATV as Keenan fixed her up as best as he could. "Atleast we know we can kill some of the fucking bastards now." James said to no one in particular. He was met with several affirming grunts. In all reality, if this first engagement was what the Martians brought to the table every fight, he was pretty sure humanity didn't stand a chance unless they started to fight extremely dirty, hell even nukes would have to become an option soon. The rest of the ride to the fallback point was uneventful and silent, but it wouldn't be long before the surviving members of 1st Platoon learned that the event was worldwide, and that they and lost even more of their own.