A/N Welcome to my first fan-fiction. I have been working on this project on and off for over a year now. and it is now finished and ready for publication. The concept of the Defender is based upon the Cobra warriors found in Timothy Zahn's Cobra series. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first fan-fiction published on based upon this series. As a word of warning, I have intentionally avoided describing most of my OC's so that the reader is able to imagine them in the manner that relates best to them. While I doubt that I will be publishing any more of these fan-fictions anytime soon, feedback is always appreciated.
Chapter 1: Prologue
"OK company. This is the last part. We need to capture the package and then this will be over. Booker, Rundell, Clawson, Blanc, you are on decoy duty. Shaw, Trant, Gadbois, L'hopital on me to breach and take custody of the package. Synchronize your clocks… now. We start in 15 minutes," Lieutenant Weitzler tells his soldiers as they hunker in a trench 50 meters from the imposing, large gray fort bristling with weapons emplacements.
"How are we going to get inside that fort? Those defensive lasers will rip us to shreds," Private L'hopital asks.
"Decoy team will keep those lasers busy and hopefully take them out. Any other questions?" Lieutenant Weitzler responds.
"No sir!" The other Defenders shout.
"Then to your positions," Weitzler replies
As 15 minutes passes Weitzler reflects on their progress. These cadets have learned how to harness the power of their soon to be implanted nanocomputers with their preprogrammed combat reflexes. They have mastered the use of the anti-armor laser implanted in their left leg and the cutting lasers embedded into their fingertips. They have proven themselves with their infrared and optically enhanced vision sensors. They have demonstrated their prowess for destruction with their sonics and arc thrower. Now it all comes down to this: they have to breach the fort and their training is complete and they can enter into their first deployment as Defenders- protectors of Earth.
A silent alarm goes off on all their nanocomputers. "20 seconds," Weitzler whispers.
As the seconds tick down, every soldier runs a final check on their equipment.
After 20 seconds a second silent alarm goes off. 4 Defenders rush out of the trench as the defensive lasers start spewing deadly flashes of red light at the warriors. As they twist and turn, they direct their sonics at the lasers, causing them to start spewing laser blasts randomly.
"Infiltration team GO!" Lieutenant Weitzler shouts.
The 5 Defenders leap up out of the trench and start running to the fort's large gate. As they approach it they brake hard and brace themselves against the fort wall where the defensive lasers cannot reach them.
"Trant, rig the explosives," Weitzler orders.
Trant quickly approaches the fort's massive grey door and slaps a series of round charges against it.
"Charges in place," she replies as she rushes away from the door.
"Detonate when ready," Weitzler responds.
With a massive boom and a flash of light the charges detonate, and the gate comes crashing to the ground.
"Shaw, Trant, L'hopital take point. Gadbois on me," Weitzler shouts.
Shaw, Gadbois, and L'hopital peel away from the wall and form a spearhead in front of Gadbois and Weitzler. As they enter the fort they run into a line of 30 training robots. Without requiring any orders and before the robots could fire a single shot: Shaw, Gadbois, and L'hopital curl their hands into firing position and start firing quick bursts from their bright blue cutting laser. A millisecond later, Weitzler and Gadbois join in firing in between the gaps between the other warriors. Without breaking pace they clear a path through the robots and rush past them. As they clear, Weitzler and Gadbois plant their right feet down hard and allow themselves to swing in a 180 degree turn as they stick out their left leg. Once lined up with the training robots they let loose with their anti-armor lasers and turn the rest of them to slag.
"Package team is in. Booker, Rundell, secure the main exit. Clawson, Blanc find and neutralize the power supply for the defensive lasers," Weitzler orders into his headset.
Without even waiting for an acknowledgement, Weitzler makes another 180 and returns to Trant.
"We picked up an anomaly on the IR. In the hut on the left there is a box that is cooler than its surrounding. Flanking it are 4 large masses of heat that match the profile of the training robots that we just encountered," Trant says.
"Very good. You will lead Shaw, Gadbois and L'hopital to take it out. I will assume a sniping position on the opposite building. Wait for my signal before entering," Weitzler orders.
As the Defenders prepare to kick down the door and enter the hut, Weitzler turns, casually strolls over to the opposite hut, places a target lock on the roof, bends his leg down and jumps the 4 meters to land quietly and smoothly on top. From his vantage point he can see Clawson and Blanc taking turns with their arcthrowers to deliver devastating currents of electricity into the control panels that regulate the electrical flow into defensive lasers. He can also see Booker and Rundell crouched behind chunks of damaged door as they scan the area for any threats. Returning to his position, he readies the anti-armor laser in his heel and signals his troops to begin the assault on the hut. With a crash Gadbois kicks down the heavy door to the hut as L'hopital and Shaw smoothly rush in behind him. After a quick series of blue and yellow flashes the team rushes out carrying a large blue box that vaguely resembles a cooler. At the sight of this, Weitzler leaps from the top of the hut, and executes a smooth landing onto the ground.
"Sitrep," he calls out.
"Package is in custody. Gadbois took a hit from 1 of the training robots but is still in fighting shape," Trant responds
"Let me see that hit," Weitzler replies
Gadbois shows him a bright red patch on his left shoulder.
"That does not look too bad. Once we are out of here I will bandage it up for you," Weitzler reponds.
With that, the 4 Defenders form up on Lieutenant Weitzler and start moving towards the gate. Once clear of the gate, the 9 warriors set up a formation with Trant holding the package at the center.
"Very well done team," Training Commander Green says.
"Based on the results of this exercise you 8 trainees have all been cleared to receive your implanted nanocomputers. Report to the medical bay immediately for surgery. Once done you will have a day to recover before being deployed to your new base: Paris," She continues
"Sir, thank you but I was wondering, our unit is missing a medic and a squad Sergeant," L'hopital asks.
"Ahh L'hopital always asking questions. Let me ask you one of my own: have you ever wondered why a Lieutenant has been leading you over the last few days?" Weitzler responds
"No sir, I guess I had not," L'hopital replies meekly.
"To answer your question, I have just been appointed as the commander of the Paris garrison. Seeing as we are short on medics right now, and the Paris garrison is so small, it makes sense to have me serve as your squad's commander, medic, and the Paris garrison commander. If that arrangement does not suit you, I can always have you assigned to one of the counterterror squads in Syria so that you can be part of a proper squad," Weitzler retorts.
"No sir, I think you will do great in your role," L'hopital responds
"Any other questions?" Training Commander Green asks.
After a short pause, no other soldier replies and they are dismissed to the medical bay for the final step of their conversion to Defenders.'
"I can't believe what happened last night. We lost the Skid," Jeremie, a blond teenager in a blue shirt says meekly.
"I know, I'm really concerned about those battle robots that we encountered in the Siberian research facility," Aelita, a teenage girl with short bubblegum pink hair continues.
"Those things pack quite a punch," Yumi, a slightly older Japanese teenager dressed in all black replies
"Why can't you just reupload the Skid's programming?" Odd, a teenager with tall blonde hair with a purple streak in the middle replies.
"Odd, it's not as simple as that. When XANA destroyed the Skid it also deleted the Skid's program. It could take us weeks to reprogram it," Jeremie responds.
"And in the meantime XANA is free to continue building his army of combat droids. I wonder what he plans to do with them," Ulrich, a teenager dressed in a green military jacket, responds.
"World domination," Aelita replies coldly
"I think the only thing we can do now is reprogram the Skid and then try to destroy the Siberian computer again," Jeremie continues
"But what about the other supercomputers? We'll never be able to destroy them all," Aelita retorts.
"I know but it's our best chance," Jeremie replies.
"What about William?" Yumi responds
"Once we have rebuilt the Skid than we can start trying to free him," Jeremie replies
"And with that we have to get class. Don't even think about skipping gym again Jeremie. You can't do us any good if you're sitting in detention for skipping class," Odd says as he stands up
"Right. I guess I'll just have to start pulling all nighters to reprogram the Skid," Jeremie says as he starts walking towards the gym.
"We lost over 100 combat robots at Union Base. The manufacturing equipment is intact and is continuing to build new robots," William, a black haired teenager controlled by XANA says coolly.
"What about our other facilities? Do they know that they exist," XANA asks.
"They know of the existence of the supercomputers but they don't know what role they play in our plan for world domination," William responds.
"The Lyoko Warriors must be eliminated," XANA says.
"Sir, the only way that they were able to defeat our robots was because they were in their spectral form. My recommendation is we should send 400 combat robots to Paris to take out the Lyoko Warriors and secure the Lyoko supercomputer so that no one can gain access to it," William replies.
"How long would it take to set this plan into motion?" XANA asks
"We should be able to launch the assault in as little as a week," William answers.
"Do it in 10 days. Let's give them some false hope about that little Skid of theirs. Then, we will let the world know who we are and that we mean business," XANA says.
"Yes sir! Those Lyoko warriors are finished," William replies.
"I hope so," XANA finishes.