Chapter 16: 28,000 Kilometers per Hour

And so our scene must to the battle fly;
Where-O for pity!-we shall much disgrace
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
Right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous,
The name of Agincourt. Yet sit and see,
Minding true things by what their mockeries be.

- Henry V, Act IV, Prologue

Col. Ishihara dived out of the way as the LAV went screeching back through the South Gate. Around him, soldiers rushed to the base walls from every direction as vehicles began thundering out of the motor pool.

Ishihara rushed over to the LAV and asked, "What happened out there? Where's the rest of your team?"

"Dead!" The driver shouted back, "There were too many, they were on the other vehicles before we could do anything."

Above him, soldiers on the wall were already firing, and he heard a loud bang as one of the tanks hurled a shot at the approaching army the approaching army. He scrambled back into his Type 82 Comms vehicle and keyed his radio set. "Hold these positions," he called. "And if you notice that something is working against a specific monster, say something!"

It wasn't a point that needed to be repeated, and the fire intensified, along with an increasing roar as the 5th Combat Group's seven remaining helicopters raced to form up with the orbiting Cobra.

The first enemy was on the South Gate in seconds; one of the centipedes from earlier which yanked a JSDF infantryman off the wall before the other soldiers reacted, rushing to the sides as they pumped the creature full of bullets at alarmingly close range. Even as the bug began to shudder and slide off the wall, a second one took its place, this time attacking from further along the wall and catching the bunched up soldiers before they could dodge its sharp legs or pincers.

As it rose to make a final jab down at its prey, a soldier from below launched a rifle grenade at the centipede, ripping its head from its body and showering Ishihara's vehicle with bug paste.

Before the soldiers could react to this, there was a roar from above, and they scurried in all directions to dodge a shower of ice spikes spewed by the giant Ice Dragon which had appeared overhead. The monster flipped and maneuvered so that it was facing directly at the window of Ishihara's Type 82, its armored scales shrugging off the light arms fire of the men on the ground. It bent its head, preparing for a second blast when an even louder roar and air pressure wave knocked the beast to the side.

The Colonel didn't need an explanation for what had just happened, and was more than satisfied to see the dragon rise into the sky, leaving the Colonel's ground team aside, and pursuing the escaping F-4 instead.

"We've got his attention." Kurihama pointed out.

Major Kamikoda usually rolled his eyes the blasé speech pattern of the Radar Intercept Officer in the seat behind him, but today it was almost calming. The blue Ice Dragon had similar dimensions to the Flame Dragon that he had dueled with months ago, and while the two baby dragons had been a sweet prize, he still somewhat resented Itami Youji for taking down the larger beast before he'd had a chance to engage it in direct combat.

He pulled up lightly on the stick to avoid Alnus's hilly terrain, then banked the F-4 Phantom around for another pass… but was shocked to see that the beast was keeping tight pursuit, and was somehow staying inside the jet's turn radius. "Don't you remember!" Kurihama shouted, "These things are unnaturally fast, and can pull tighter turns than us! The science guys think that magic is boosting it along."

And this was why Kamikoda had told Greta about wanting one of those F-22s. What he wouldn't give for a thrust-vectoring engine then and there. "We'll get around him, hit him with a missile."

"Radar cross-section's too small!"

"Infrared missile then!"

"It's an icedragon!"

"Then we'll go in with the cannon!"

"The rounds won't get through it's hide!"

"What the hell do you want from me—"

He pulled a tight turn and a roll as a wave of ice shards went rocketing past at impossible speeds. Magic indeed. The pilot thought, then shouted back to his RIO, "Just its hide is armored, right?"

"What are you planning?"

But Kamikoda didn't have time to explain. He yanked back on the stick, pushed the throttle to the firewall and felt the afterburners kick in. Between the two, the Phantom may as well have been one of Carol's rockets as it forced its way up into the sky. "Is he still following?" he asked.

Kumihara said, "He is, but we are gaining distance. Give me your plan."

"We're going to push towards the service ceiling, get some distance, flip before we stall out, close, and ram the Vulcan down the bastard's throat."

Even as he said it, he cut down the engines and, for a moment, he felt the G-forces on him drop to zero. He floated up against the strap of his seat as the plane hit the peak of the maneuver, then the pilot pushed the nose of the Phantom down again, and started his dive.

The dragon was a few thousand feet below them, struggling to continue upwards through the thinner air and making it an easier target. Come on, Kamokoda willed the animal, open up!

But it didn't and the distance was closing rapidly. "Major!" his RIO shouted at him.

And then, there it was, the dragon's mouth snapped open as it drew breath. Kamikoda yanked down on the trigger.

The M61 Vulcan beneath his feet leapt to life, spewing a 20mm hell onto the dragon below. He didn't have enough time to check for results, rolling right at last second to avoid a head on collision. "How about that!" Kamikoda shouted!

"GROUND!" Kumihara shouted back, and the pilot yanked back on the stick again, causing the blood to rush from his head as the aircraft shuddered through the high-G turn.

Even though he was inside a tank, Sergeant First Class Nakano, found himself reflexively ducking at the noise of the plane roaring over their head. He recovered quickly though, returning his attention to the Type 74's imager and searching for another target.

There, one of the golems was bearing down on another of the LAVs, and the gunner of the armored car was firing wildly up at the four-story monster, hoping to halt its movements so the vehicle could keep out of reach..

"Gunner HEAT Golem!" Nakano called.

"Identified," his gunner called back. "Range 120 meters."

"Up!" his loader warned, prompting Nakano to finish the sequence:

"Fire!"

"On the way!"

At such close range, the shot blasted off the golem's right arm, and a decent chunk of torso, but instead of crumbling, the monster turned in place and raced for the tank.

"Target!" is gunner called, confirming the hit, but no one felt the better for it. Their driver already had the tank in full reverse.

"Almost!" Nakano called over his loader, who announced the next round. "Make it count! Fire!"

The next shot hit the Golem dead center at uncomfortably close range, blowing off the head and more of the torso, but the remaining arm continued to move, and, now in range, swung down at the tank.

The force of the impact was enough to throw the back end of the tank up into the air, before the vehicle settled on its treads again with an uncomfortable thud.

Nakano could hear his driver swearing and shying away from a dented metal panel that missed his helmet by centimeters. "Keichii!" the Tank Commander shouted at him, "Get us out of here!"

The Type 74's engine roared as the tank dragged itself out from under the golem, which was starting to lift its arm for another swing. Assuming the next round was ready, Nakano called, "Fire!" again.

"Gun's fucked!" his gunner called.

"What!?"

"Main gun's fucked!"

Nakano pushed himself up just enough to look through the tiny slots in the commander's copula, and, sure enough, the golem's strike had landed clear on his main gun, bending it out of shape. From the position, it was likely the one thing that had saved his driver from getting crushed.

He dropped back into his chair, pulled out his radio, and shouted, "You in the LAV whose ass we pulled out of the fire, it's your fucking turn. Do you have a LAM on you?"

The sound of the explosion echoed as far as the Alnus Settlement and joined the cacophony of explosions erupting from the Base.

Carol and her group had rushed to the roof of one of the buildings overlooking the amphitheater. From here they could see the bright flashes as heavy guns blasted at the invaders, and trails of orangey-red tracers lanced across the southern field from the walls or the collection of attack helicopters orbiting over the chaos.

Beside Carol, Schumer and Takagi were both on their radios, reaching out to their command posts in hopes of getting information, while Foster pulled out a set of field binoculars to get a closer look at the action. He gave a low whistle.

"That bad?" Carol asked.

"Looks that way."

"I don't understand," Greta said, trying to get a better view. "You said we had a guest, and now we're under attack? Wouldn't Zorzal have learned his lesson?"

"It's not Zorzal's army," Schumer clarified, putting the radio away. "It's Hardy's."

The girl's eyes went wide and she dropped to her knees. "We're going to die, aren't we?"

For a moment, none of them said anything, then Carol looked to Schumer and said, "Do you think they'll… you know…"

"Not my call," Schumer said. "But if I was Hazama or Mullan, I'd be trying to rush in reinforcements right about now. In the meantime, Foster and I are still under orders to get you back to the hangar, but there's no way in hell that we're driving through that mess."

"So we'll stay put," Takagi said. "None of them are coming in this direction, right?"

Foster adjusted his binoculars and said, "Well… not quite."

"What do you mean?"

"We've got something moving down the road to the settlement, and it doesn't have headlights."

Schumer looked to Takagi and said, "Get a hold of your CO and tell them that we need support. Now."

"Not possible," a Major told Hazama as he relayed Takagi's request. "All of our air assets are tied up right now."

The building shuddered as something, somewhere outside either exploded or took a big explosive round to the face. The operations room had no windows, so he had no way of knowing if it was one of Giselle's monsters being driven back, or one of his vehicle crews going up in flames. "ETA on the 4th?" He asked.

"About an hour"

"That long?"

"We have spotty contact with Colonel Kengun in Italica. They were rearming after a late-afternoon raid against Zorzal, but they're rushing helicopters out to us now."

The General slammed his fist down on the table. "Ishihara doesn't have time for that, and neither do I."

"We put out a call to the other side of the Gate, but moving armor from the bases in Hokkaido would take longer than Kengun's helicopters."

Just then, a phone on Hazama's desk started to ring, which was when he realized that he had forgotten about a separate group. He picked up the phone and knew who the caller was before they said a single word. "Mullan," he said, "To hell with the Diet's rules. What resources can you spare?"

"Without risking cover for the HML?" Mullan said. It was like the Japanese General had read his mind, and the Colonel had been working out a plan from the instant that the frst alarm went off. "I've got two Hawks, a few Humvees, and about two dozen Special Forces including pararescuemen and Air Combat Controllers."

A pause then, "We were told that all your combat troops were security forces."

"Hines and the 94th Security Forces is assembled from members of the 24th Special Tactics Squadron," Mullan said. "So, officially, you are right. We only brought security forces, and in no way, shape, or form did Secretary Clayton sneak Special Forces into Falmart without Japan's knowledge. These are extenuating circumstances, however, and I'm sure that you're willing to let this slide—"

"Fine! Fine! Whatever you can spare! I'll alert my men, and Colonel?"

"Yes?"

"We are holding for now, but I want all options ready for use, understood?"

The Colonel glanced over his shoulder at the nuclear-armed vehicle and said, "We are ready to launch on command from STRATCOM, and no one else."

"That's all I can ask for." The General ended the call.

Mullan returned the hangar phone to its cradle, and turned to face Captain Hines and his fully-outfitted men. With all of the plans made, he only had to say one word.

"Go."

Colonel Ishihara couldn't believe his eyes.

One of the large horsefly-like monsters had flown directly into the tail rotor of one of the UH-1 helicopters, which was succumbing to the counter-ration as it sank from the sky.

From his vantage point, the battle seemed dead-even. JSDF armor and infantry were holding the line against Hardy's monsters, but at a clear cost of men and equipment. Some monsters, like the giant bugs, were easily pushed back. Others, like the lava monster, had forced JSDF forces to retreat deeper into the FOB as squads tried one scheme after another to repel it. Colonel Ishihara and Hazama were trying their best to coordinate everyone, but the nature of the surprise attack and makeup of the opposing force made things horrendously difficult—they had trained to fight what had come through the Gate, legionnaires with the occasional ogre and lightly-armored dragon mixed in, not the demonic onslaught which continued to rush their walls.

As such, he was immensely thankful to hear the rumbling of more vehicles approaching from the other side of the base, and shocked to see that they weren't JSDF green, but desert-holdover American tan.

The half-dozen M1116 Humvees disgorged soldiers in sophisticated equipment, but what amazed Ishihara the most was not the top-of the line gear, or seeming stacks of communication equipment some of them carried, or even the insane destruction wrought upon the latest centipedes and ants as the lead Humvee opened up with its Mk19 grenade launcher.

Rather, it was the way that they so calmly waded into it, as if they had done work like this every day of their lives.

Ishihara heard a rapping out the outer door of the command vehicle and opened it to admit an American officer. "Captain HInes, 94th Security," he said. "Where do you need us, Colonel?"

The Colonel gave him some instructions for the Humvees, but added, "What I could use most, though, is another medic or two, and more helicopters."

As if in answer to his call, he heard a roar from outside and glanced out to see one of the two USAF Hawks bearing down on the field beyond the wall. "I've got a Combat Controller out there directing air traffic," Hines said, "And most of my men are Pararescuemen. Tell me how many medics you need, and you'll have them."

"And one more thing," Ishihara said, "Have you anyone to spare for the Alnus Settlement?"

Hines grinned. "Already covered."

Author's note:

I meant that Shakespeare quote in earnest. If you found any significant technical errors with the above, please PM me so I can clean it up. Later chapters will still be the priority for me, but I feel that combat should be done right, brief as it may be.