Kistune of the Federation

Chapter Three

***FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK***

"General Dienes, in light of your removal as Sky-Marshall are there confirmed reports of the Spec-Ops actually Sustaining Causalities on Klendathu?"

A dozen or so microphones are thrusted into the face of the former disgraced leader of the Federation. The camera panels outward to capture the pale and stern face of the man as he prepared to answer the reporters that the News Network sent to his person. Inhaling deeply the man speaks with the tone of man who knows his son is in deep peril on the front of war. Everyone leans for anticipation of the man's response to the facts leaking out from the internal government affairs.

They weren't disappointed at the least.

"I can confirm that one battalion of Spec-Ops Soldiers had indeed lost several of their ranks. Mind the fact, that only one battalion out of five was sent to that planet to complete an objective not even ten thousand conventional troops could ever accomplish!"

The reporter who spoke pressed the issue.

"So its true the Spec-Ops had a significant amount of deaths in their battle? Can you speculate as to what caused such infliction?"

You didn't need to be a psychic in order to feel what the former Sky-Marshall was feeling. Anyone could feel that anger and downright rage at the political gains of the men and woman of that operations unit had stung the pride of the Federation! No humankind itself, had felt the hammer drop on the best soldiers on the theater of wars in galactic conquest.

"I will comment about such details, they are classified."

Yet another question arose from the reporters, as Dienes shifted at the podium he was stationed at.

"General Dienes, is it true that Liberal Military leaders are pushing for the Spec-Ops Brigade to deal with Colonial unrest as the war progresses?"

Dienes looks away for a moment, as if taking a moment to answer or reject the question itself.

He looks up eyes hard and steeled as a soldier could be when under fire from an enemy he truly despised.

"My son, his unit and my blood will never stain themselves with the blood of humanity until placed under death. In this Galaxy now and always that he will continue to fight the Arachnid menace that threatens Earth. I swear this, believe it with my soul and life at stake!"

Reporters scramble to their feet asking various questions, the proud stance of the former head of the Federation not backing down from the spotlight. Only he and his son knew the details of such a mission in that sector, he wouldn't speak of it.

Not until hell itself came to his door and demanded the answers in blood.

The camera zooms in as the feed cuts off...


(Klendathu Atmosphere Entry, Lancer: Transporter)

"Fucking pieces of rust and bolts, they never get these things ready for drops sir."

The most senior of enlisted men, Rex commented with a cigar in his mouth while slapping the magazine into his Morita Rifle. He carefully held the shotgun attachment also fully pumped with the maximum amount of shells. Every motion echoed the rounds being chambered with that prominent 'clack', sometimes that last pump could save your life or end it.

The Sergeant major wore the standard set by the Colonel ever since it was fully formed.

Spec-Op's standards were so far out of regulations that the average soldier in their Unit was worth more alive than ten standard troopers; who wore Federation regulated uniforms. Those were the poor bastards or cheap meat shields in some cases.

The Standard M.I trooper wore some sort of body armor, which practically sliced into plastic pieces from Arachnid warriors limbs. Sharp jagged points were on every Warrior Bug's carapace, which was hardened where bullets merely slowed them down instead of finishing them off. This was where the comparison from Conventional Federation Forces stopped with the Spec-Ops, only a few things were the same that was that.

Everything single Spec-Ops soldier: save for all the Alpha Companies who had updated but, had an experimental Exo-skeleton Suit that stuck to their skin with nano-robotics which helped the suit to harden itself. Fiber optics included this skin tight exo-skeleton worn under the standard M.I trooper's armor plate which barely held against Arachnid attacks, cheap fiber.

Small steel particles was also injected into fiber strains, across the chest and hip areas able to slow down Warrior Bug's from slicing humans in half at ease. It wasn't fool proof but it gave enough time for a trooper's squad mates to kill the insect instead of the human life at stake, one more weapon available to combat the arachnids.

These suits were called: "Iron-men"(1), the versions varied from Mark I to III's; since the R&D Division of the Federation could only upgrade or enhance so many based on the budget of the joint Spec-Op's and Scientific teams in the field. Although, the suits were greater for survival, it didn't mean they were able to die easily as well.

All humans were vulnerable to be killed from any Insect warrior, flyer or tank with no guarantees.

Considering it took almost ten million Federal Credits to create one suit, five thousand became quite the figure for a budget to manage pending on Council Funding alleviated towards them. Thankfully more had been allocated when the Meteorite struck Earth, so the research teams felt the relief swarm in when more credits pooled together at end of the work weeks.

Of the five thousand suits in active service, nearly all were still Mark I suits with the basic hardening 'feature' as Iron-Men; the process to make steel flexible had its dangers to the human body. The most basic of them was the crushed chest cavity from taking too much pressure that the suits used to protect their users; not always the most pleasant way to die. However it served the purpose to make sure a human had longer survival odds on the battle field.

So the Federation's insane or brightest Scientist decided to push the limits again; with approval from the Spec-Op's leader himself, to upgrade the Mark I's as soon as possible. They did, but at a much slower interval due to so many unknown outcomes and such.

Technology was as only good as the people who dreamt of it, limits were set regardless.

Only a couple of hundred suits had the ability to enhance a human's natural 'running-speed' (2), the process as expected had been difficult and tedious to undertake. It involved using the same Nano-robotic supports as injectors of some sort of Steroid-Adrenaline for humans to move at speeds of 25 mph pending the user's ability to maintain breathing control, tests were conducted for a maximum 40 mph running trooper with full battle loads, which was a standard Morita Rifle/Ithaca 37 attachments.

Impressive for such deadly parameters injecting the soldier, whose side effects varied from instant bone or muscle degradation if overused for long periods of time. Mental effects that this 'drug' caused to Spec-Op solders border lined insanity which affectionately dubbed as 'Berserkers Syndrome' made any soldier literally go into fits of rage randomly attacking anything before dying from a warrior Insect or comrade's bullets.

From a medical stand point the brain practically, couldn't handle the amount of strains the suit pumped into the user. Every person had a limit, eventually one way or another the person goes insane or becomes crippled from the degradation of muscle mass the user bears. The Spec-Op's had documented several cases since the Suit's development, co- developing levels of the drug with the Federal Scientists to 'lower' the amount a human could handle.

However that theory or hope in where that was possible hadn't been attempted due to the lack of time per shipment of suits.

A necessary danger that all men understood, hence the Alpha Companies of the Spec-Ops always went in first, the men who were always ready, always to die so that humanity lived on. These men and woman were the Spec-Op's spear-tip before going headfirst into battle, Colonel Uzumaki often walks among them to give his utter thanks with no or less pride to them. Success had its negative effects few knew about: yet in this case the best soldiers were dying because they did their duty for all others.

In the present all of the Alpha Company soldiers, the Scouts never once would fail their commander because of the undying loyalty they held to him even to death. Not once did Alpha Company in any battalion lose ground because they were that determined to hold the line for the rest of their comrades to wipe the enemy off the face of any planet they were on.

All of the Spec-Ops fought for each other, for brother, for each sister that one Insect takes down: ten of them die before another goes down. Spec-Op's soldiers never went down alone, period.

Yet to be back on point: the Mark II's were fitted with this at the cost of another fifteen million credits; so maintenance costs sky rocketed as well for the Users/Creators alike. But still, among all of this danger and irreversible damage only one Mark III ever had been created, created because one man could handle all of this on a medical level no Federation Scientists or Doctor could give light too.

Naruto Dienes Uzumaki had the only Mark III suit whose interface matched its diversity to its other models; deadly, powerful and most of all…

Most of all the 'Iron-Men Mark III' (3) had been an Icon: for every single scientific tampering genius who wanted to push humanity into a tier of godlike abilities. A dream represented the man who piloted that suit only to crush the dangers into his greatest attributes.

Mark III suit's that was in development: strengthened their users to the point of human imagination. They were not the fictional man who could move a planet, but they could move a ton of weight though slowly, could do it. The suit made a man, or woman fast, strong and had a defensive armor hide that made the soldier the deadliest target on the battle field for the bugs to counter.

Reason being why these suits strengthen Federation Soldiers had been decided to be field tested if they could be implemented into Conventional forces. Ironically Conventional Forces would be the better field testing since Spec-Op Operations were only on need to know basis for Federation R&D personnel. So getting documented accounts had been sketchy until Colonel Uzumaki had 'acquired' several of these Scientists to accompany the Brigade across the Galaxy.

By acquired he meant 'contracted' or 'volunteered' to go into their warzone's from the Sol System, the Spec-Ops could've detained people permanently at Federal High Command's assurance but chose not to pursue that type of action against civilians.

Naruto made it clear; they were high end soldiers but not privateers or rebellious insurgents.

Even Civilian Arachnid specialists in their own fields had been invited into the Spec-Op's A.O to be cataloging battle fields to see the Insects form Hierarchy when directing massive waves of their own kin. While their lives were in more considerable danger than ever, the scientists actually could hypothesize that taking out key Arachnid Warriors could turn the wave of warrior bugs into a chaotic territorial dominance for leading, confusion among the ranks as it were.

Risky at the least, rewarding for all intents and purposes if conducted right.

The Spec-Op's commanding Officer placed a finger to his Kevlar helmet to hear the communications device that was being paged by the Pilot of their 'boat.'

While bumpy at times entering the atmosphere for the planet, the ride had been fairly smooth so far.

"ETA till Drop zone, four minutes Colonel…"

The static voice of the female pilot spoke clearly; Naruto gave her the quick acknowledgement of the update. Small things like this made or break a drop zone onto a new planet, where every terrain forced him to make decisions.

In this case, Klendathu he needed to establish an FOB as soon as possible. With nearly one thousand men and woman under his command, he needed a point of resupply, for immediate re-enforcements, building heavier weaponry to defend the said FOB all the while searching for this 'Structure' that had been forwarded from Federal Command.

One thousand soldiers against tens of thousands of Arachnids, one could say in a sarcastic tone: great odds.

Rex slapped round after round into his shotgun attachment, the Senior Enlisted went over on the men of Alpha Company who they were going in with, while Naruto himself could keep up with these Mark II suits, Rex was there for directing objectives relayed from him. Plus it gave Alpha that boost when they were being flanked or lagging behind, Rex was there for negative re-enforcement and positive confidence to get the fight done.

War went only as good as the number of men died for their objectives in the fight.

"When we touch down, expect immediate hostile presences. Use any sort of height advantage to make these fucking Insects come after you, do not chase after any of them or even go off alone. 1st Platoon, you're the spear when we touch down, sprint as far as you can and get some reconnaissance for a FOB."

One of the NCO's of the 1st Platoon supported a question, one the more experienced Ssgt. Rex looked to Naruto who merely gave a grim expression say it all, "Sergeant Major, if we encounter Tankers, will we have any air support?"

Rex sighed annoyed, "Negative, Fleet and Commands in all its infinite wisdom never allocated the resources for this. But they want us to establish a presence so Federal Scientists can be escorted in. We do have backing of the Invasion as our cover; hopefully the bugs will ignore us for a bit…"

A private scoffed, much to the colonel's mental agreement. "You know this is going to be one of those days Sergeant Major!"

The said senior enlisted in question merely let the most sarcastic scoff in the history of drop zone landings. Perhaps this sort of sarcasm was on par with the ones on Normandy during the Second World War in the twentieth century.

"Don't tell about those days son, I live them every day!"

It wasn't the first time the Spec-Ops had jack shit to support them, they had to be use their brains to fight this battle as much as they could. He didn't wait long for Rex to verbally agree with the Private as one of his squad mates gave him a pat on the shoulder, to get him ready. Naruto like those type of things, always support your comrade, believe in each other and win the fight no matter what.

The 'boat' shuddered violently as communications came to life in the blonds ear. Stray Com-traffic had been picked up by the Spec-Ops fleets that were relaying it over public channels of the officers in the attack. Every officer had to accept when situation were going bad, so that they rallied their own men into holding out or even letting them know of news.

"This is the Santa Barber, going down. Repeat we're going down…"

Naruto and Rex looked at one another, curious as to what was happening to the Conventional Forces.

"Be Alert, Bug Plasma is not fragments of Light!"

"May day, may day, we're hit! Evacuate…"

"Bug batteries? I thought we sent that information up a year ago Rex?"

The blond spoke narrowing his eyes as his mentor nodded gruffly. Once again, the Federal High Command in its infinite wisdom did not heed their warnings. What else have they been ignoring for the past year or two, seriously someone had to clean house on that Council to get information to the Conventional M.I forces to fight effectively.

Were people that stupid to not realize the bugs had their own type of weapons to fight humanity? Why did everyone think they were cockroaches or something, Arachnids had the capacity to outsmart humans. God this was such bull shit!

Growing angrily, Naruto quickly went to a trooper who had Com's to the Spec-Ops Ship in orbit; he needed to adjust for next wave once Alpha Company hit the deck. He needed some measurement that once they touched down, the next wave of troopers could wipe everything out if needed be.

"Lancer come in, this is Colonel Uzumaki , over."

Within a split second, the Captain of the ship responded.

"Colonel, we read you loud and clear, over."

"What's the situation up there, don't sugars coat it either."

That question got an answer which didn't settle with anyone on the transporters.

"It's a fucking mess up here Colonel, trust me you that don't want to see what I'm seeing right now. Don't expect high atmosphere support over."

Naruto spoke while slapping a magazine into his rifle; things were going to get hairy down there since the Invasion had already suffered causalities in the thousands. This was going to be a bad fucking day indeed; he hoped he had enough time to establish his FOB and somehow manage to check out the structure that was on Klendathu.

"Be Advised Lancer, immediately prep the 'Heavies' in Bravo Company, have them land once we touch down. Charlie and Delta are tasked to establish FOB designated as 'Spear-Head' while assisting the rest of the Brigade in Combative operations, over."

There had been a new type of Spec-Ops soldier introduced in the past year on the battlefields, the 'Heavy' trooper whose sole purpose was to use so much ammunition to shred the hordes of Insects charging Federal lines. This had been an experiment to see if Insects valued their own kin and lives against human aggression which the R&D happily went along with.

The heavy trooper basically meant an armored plated soldier who carried, literally a mini gun on his back to be brought into a fight. Physical requirements tended to make people wince or flat out believe it a bunch of insanity. The troopers needed to bench lift a minimum two hundred fifty pounds to be able to life the mini gun with its load out.

The 'Heavy' trooper were in essence the ones to turn the tide once a horde of insects charged a FOB or base, in close quarters they were the deadliest thing to shred any lone Arachnid. In massive battles a dozen of these heavies could wipe out hundreds if not thousands of arachnids that suicidal rushed them, with enough Ammo anything was possible.

Every Heavy trooper of the Spec-Ops had to lift the massive weapon by a handle grip, weighing in at roughly eighty-five pounds; nearly five thousand rounds completely packed inside of the troopers massive backpack alone staggered the man. To fight the sheer weight, Federal R&D began a project ironically called, "Mini."

This small weaponry project took the standard size of a Minigun and switched into a smaller variant made of titanium and plastic so that the Spec-Ops could lift them into a fight. Despite the upgrades occasionally the new 'Mini's' would heat up the plastic feeder that fed ammunition from their packs into the actual weapon.

Again this was another reason why Bravo Company had the peak of physical soldiers, who lugged around packs of ammunition for their comrades. Every Heavy had one supporter with a kit to replace the feeding line if something like that happened in a battle.

Hence why Bravo Companies always bench lifted past the standards, the more men that could handle the weapon were the 'pivot' to wipe out all the Arachnids rushing their lines. More than often, six of these troopers cleared waves of the Arachnids if the standard trooper couldn't hold out or the Scouts were overwhelmed from the start.

"Roger that Colonel, bravo will be inbound ten minutes over. Good hunting out there."

Naruto smiled at the remark, he spoke the Unit Motto making the soldiers speak as one. "Always ready, Always to die." God did he love that, remembering that no matter where the fight was, all you had was the man next to you to fight on the ground. Everyone within the Brigade hated, loved and built friendships with others in the battalion's, a soldier dying meant the entire Unit mourned.

The transport Shuttle violently shifted as the pilot radioed in the situation outside.

"Colonel, we got a decent sized storm forming over our LZ, winds at kicking over 30 mph. Be advised, limited visibility."

Rex snorted, letting his cigar smolder for a moment.

"Beautiful day to start out isn't it sir?" The young blond merely rolled his eyes; he looked over Alpha Company inside of the transporter. Despite the Platoon leaders hearing the Com-Chatter, they let their CO brief the lower enlisted who couldn't have heard the update.

"Go thermal, Visors up and helmets prepped since we got a storm inbound."

Little key feature the Spec-Ops had was a small circular piece of tech, which took in heat levels of the user. Basically this thermal vision range went up to three hundred meters so the Trooper had that earliest warning possible. Detecting the large Arachnids had been simple, thought that didn't mean it made easier for them to be killed.

Finally the transporter landed onto solid ground making everyone tremble, the straps of their seats unlocked as Naruto placed his Kevlar on, the circular piece went over his right eye as he inhaled deeply. Rolling both shoulders so he melded to the suit's texture, the ramp went down as the men of Alpha Company of the Spec-Ops moved rapidly out the door.

It was game time now…

Stepping outside made the blond feel as though he were in a dry freeze, the lack of moisture already starting to irritate his lips. The dust from the winds concealed the LZ that the soldiers landed in, one massive rock formation that went at least a half a mile.

Really fortified position that could bottle neck the Arachnids if they chose to swarm into the small clearing, which roughly was about a hundred or more yards in a pentagon like space. All in all this had been the perfect place to set the FOB while ideally able to send supplies to the coordinates that the Federation wanted them to explore.

"1st Platoon, I want eyes and ears on that elevated position directly east of us. You see anything that has more than two legs, start picking them off." Naurto grabbed one of the Lieutenants from his right, as Rex got 2nd on their feet moving to the entrance of the valley. Breathing deeply the rest of the Alpha Company quick got in line behind their CO as they ran behind Rex's Column.

"Sir, we'll start our suits for our speed to get a good half a click ahead to see if the Arachnids are here, over."

The static voice of second platoon got Naruto's attention the man waving his arm in a circle motion overhead, permission to move. The blond waved his arm since the lead Scout looked through his thermal to see the 'move out' motion, an index arm doing a vertical chopping motion.

"Roger that, stay alert out there. This is their turf, they know the terrain."

Second Platoon immediately prepped their Iron Men Mark II Suits; a subtle red glow skimmed the outlines of the fabric almost making them glow in the dark. A few grunts and holler's came out before literally, fifty men sprinted at speeds creating dust in their wake.

Each man, leaving foot imprints in the dried, caked earth, from the sheer amount of pressure they put up against gravity. Rex fell back towards his student who directed Third Platoon of Alpha to move parallel to firsts position, Fourth Platoon got signaled to move parallel towards Second position.

The first two hundred men were on the ground alone for ten minutes, it signaled a bad day.

Naruto monitored the Com-chatter from the Scouting Platoons, he keyed in on it as Rex quickly got in on the listening to see if the Arachnid's were active. Winds picked up, making both men strain to hear the communications. A few of them covered their eyes, feeling sand get under their visors.

"Three hundred meters…zero contac-….Sergeant Williams go take your squad break…right."

Second platoon came over the radio-net, making the Colonel frown.

"Getting Negative feed on hostile presences…wait…movement four hundred meters out…"

Rex took a drag on his cigar, intent on getting his nicotine levels ready, he was going to need it.

"Fourth, this is Second, be advis…ed, mov…ement on the right, veering, north…"

These Radios were complete shit, the wind and the sand being kicked up in the storm had pretty much made ground communications a bit hazy. Nonetheless it was enough for the Spec-Ops to operate with; natural phenomenon had to be accounted for.

"Copy that Second! Corporal Lexis, go get your rifle squad behind cover in that rock formation, enough…to establish a crossing fire."

Small ear piercing static sounds meant that the storm had been increasing to make Com-traffic sketchy. Which basically made the situation worse, not that anyone expected this operation to make headlines. Last thing the Federation needed was an extra thousand caskets of its Special Operations Unit wiped out.

Lifting his weapon, the blond moved through the Wind towards the transporters who had small lighting glowing into a pattern that signal other 'boats' to land adjacent to their position. Also it meant that this was ground zero for a FOB to be established.

Usually, with five thousand men getting this type of Operation on its feet took less than six hours. Enough able bodies, building the foundations for the base and such but Naruto knew he had his hands tied behind him. He had one thousand men and woman, on Klendathu the Heart of Arachnid Territory, with an Invasion covering them.

Sighing out annoyed, one of the youngest officers in history practically didn't feel right with this handicapped scenario. No military leader liked when someone gave them a near impossible objective with the most limited resources available, it just screamed: "Flawless Victory."

"Movement…three hundred meters, 3rd Platoon eyes up, eyes up watch you're…"

The radios went insane within a matter of a millisecond!

"CONTACT! This is 1st, launching flare from our pos…iton"

Distant but familiar sounds of weapons firing echoed over in the storm making the Solo Battalion of soldiers wince. Naruto scanned the upper skyline hoping to see some sort of maker; he wasn't disappointed in the least. Even through the darkened skies, dirt mixed with light the soldiers saw the marker.

One reddish, orange flare went up probably a mile or so out from their position. It reached directly to the right of the entrance making the Spec-Ops realize they had some time but not nearly as enough to stall to get their defenses up.

"Holy…Sh…Colonel Heavy contacts!"

Quickly the blond put a finger into his transmitter to acknowledge the info.

"Roger, evasive movements 1st."

Off in the distance rifles expended whole magazines into their targets, numerous echoes were going off making someone wonder if they were being surrounded. Automatic fire had its moments to make a soldier realize whatever required enough ammunition to kill meant a death wish, the warriors that the Arachnids sent often tanked many rounds in its death rage.

Inhaling the young blond quietly made his way over towards the entrance of the LZ in order to gauge if the Heavy Troopers could funnel enough ammunition into this pass to bottleneck the insects. They could, it was plausible but eventually once a tanker broke through the masses of corpses, things would heat up in a literal sense.

"I got contact, three hundred meters out."

One of the Scouts on Alpha reported close by, Naruto looked towards Rex to go confirm it.

The Sergeant Major flipped his Kevlar helmet's thermal vision to zoom out beyond the entrance the LZ, he wasn't disappointed. Massive thermal readings came back, as silhouettes of roughly a dozen arachnid warriors came barreling towards their position. Rex idly inhaled as his visor estimated, '14' hostile presences en-route.

Also he noticed they were in a spear formation, with the lead out in front with the sides evenly matched: that was odd.

"Confirmed, we got a dozen strong. Get your asses in gear ladies, it's time to let loose the lead."

Rex slapped the magazine into the weapon, locking it back to the rear so that the round was chambered. Breathing calmly the stern NCO took control of the platoon on the upper rocks above, jumping in almost a park core fashion to take the high ground. Several pieces of rock crumbled when the man jumped onto a rock before going crouched to get a better firing position.

Game time…

This left Naruto with the other platoon on the ground itself, he was smiling the whole time before looking over to the officers, they nodded to him before getting into three lines but the way each soldier was in the line meant something.

The first line went crouched with the second prone so that they could hit the lower bodies of the warriors essentially blowing off their legs. With the final line, standing in order to dismantle the jaws or the eyes possibly once the wave of bugs smashed into them.

With fire lines above them on the rocks, they would be able to hold with limited causalities compared to the conventional trooper tactics which was to rush in…

A loud 'screeching' drew the blond to look out again, as the Arachnids relentlessly charged into their positions. No structure, no sense of self-preservation and no mercy if they ever got within striking distance of a human who was mere food for them or an enemy.

"Fire on sight, don't let them get any closer else you'll see yourself in a coffin sooner than you'd like." Naruto spoke hauntingly amused making several of the soldiers feel shivers go down their spines, the suits couldn't hide or protect them from fear of black humor. The way their CO acted at times really meant he was insane or just so utterly apathetic to death he mocked it with jokes when things went into hell.

Screeches in front made the Spec-Op's firing lines train their sights down each rifle.

Forms barely became visible as the storm kicked up the dust, but the Arachnids were fully charging into the bottleneck like canyon that the LZ was stationed in. Every human steeled their resolves before letting loose as one warrior came within two hundred meters of their very bodies.

"FIRE!"

Naruto let loose his rifle kneeling down to cut off the legs of the multiple limbed insect, intent on slowing it down for others to wreak havoc on its body itself. Casing after casing clinked onto the ground as they toppled over one another, the heat from the ejecting rounds gave some comfort to the Spec-Ops in the windy storm.

Rex sniped a direct head-shot onto the lead insect, obliterating its eye or one of them which in turn caused the charging line to waver as it violently shook away the pain. More rounds from the rifles did their intending use, killing the insects.

"Hammer them down, boys. Leave not one of these fucks alive!" The Sergeant Major hollered over the rapid gunfire, making every man alive radiate their hatred of the Arachnid species. Shame none of the warriors could feel fear cause the amount of bloodlust would've made another human enemy piss their pants if they were in that place.

Limbs, with green amounts of blood splattered and sprayed onto the ground. The ground becoming a saturated green muddy pit of death, as the casing ventilated the bodies of the Arachnids. Within moments, the entire dozen were nothing more than helpless corpses. Expected from a small ground, but once a ground become a hundred then shit really would come down quick.

Naruto calmly got up, idly helping another Spec-Ops onto his feet before walking weapon chest high into the twitching masses of Arachnids. Several of the line flanked him aiming intently since insects often 'played dead' in order to make a kill on a human, or at least fatally injure them in order for another warrior to kill the target.

Walking towards a corpse, one arachnid warrior twitched as its half lidded eye looked at the blond himself. So one was alive, forcing the Colonel to stop five meters away just enough to back off and kill the creature if it tried to move, which it didn't…

Almost gleefully, Naruto pumped his shotgun attachment with unrestrained excitement.

"No matter how many come before us, not one of you will ever see the light of day again."

'BAM'

The eye itself exploded in which a massive amount of gory flesh and blood splattered onto the blond, who didn't eye care for the fact the creature had an aura of 'defeat' or such around it. An enemy of the Federation, no of humankind would never receive mercy from him. Not now, not soon, nor ever would anything in the Galaxy make him choose as such.

The Spec-Ops never left a fight unfinished ever.

Spec-Op's soldiers policing the bodies occasionally shot the twitching corpses intent on ending the lives of the warriors. Rex moved over towards his student and commanding officer as he got communications on some rather strange or rather, on time.

"This is Scout Team from 1st Platoon, confirmed we have found our objective. Repeat our objective has been located."

Naruto looked up before speaking into his mic to confirm their position: the structure had been found.

"Scout Team, Colonel Uzumaki here, confirm location with blue flare over."

Not a moment too soon, he got the response he wanted.

"Roger that Colonel, flare's up in three."

Within a few seconds, the blue flare lit up the sky which honestly stuck out like a sore thumb. However the distance covering from the LZ to the target zone was quite the dozy if one had to run there. Sighing Naruto would have to make time to get there and coordinate a drop zone for any Federal Scientists, along with setting up a FOB on the spot since the objective had been found.

He needed to get there on his own, to maximize his speed to reach the area and then radio back to Rex in sending the entire Battalion onto his position with the 'boats'. Man he hated doing things in the future without even planning on them in the present at times.

"All Alpha platoons outside the LZ, confirm location of 1st's Scout and proceed towards location of target, remaining Alpha platoons will hold out with Brave and then transported to location for establishing FOB 'Spear-head' confirm?" Naruto relayed his orders over the net, making sure that all Platoon leaders got the confirmation.

"Roger colonel, 1st platoon elements en route."

"3rd Platoon here, roger that colonel on our way."

Looking to Rex, the Sergeant Major have a nod knowing he was in control of the elements here in the LZ and once Bravo's 'Boats' landed they would all proceed towards the 'structure' in order to defend it securely with enough ammo to level a city itself. Moving the entire battalion was one thing, but in order to move the temporary FOB on short notice was a pain to initiate.

"Listen up boys, we'll defend this position till the word that Bravo is en-route and rendezvous with the Colonel at our target." Rex spoke out to the remaining Scouts who nodded but more than a few were lack luster in not able to fight in combat. Yet the eldest enlisted in command knew the right way in order to raise morale in the best fashion possible.

Bullshitting.

"And don't worry kids, the Colonel will leave enough for us right sir?" Rex spoke smoking his cigar amused more than anything as his student picked up on the inside joke.

Naruto just grinned, "Maybe if you behave right."

With that the blond felt his suit activate with the drug and his own way of embracing it by looking out towards the blue flare. His eyes went into red slits as he chuckled feeling the burning fire of whatever the suit pumped into him in order to ready his body to speeds over the human limits. Oh he enjoyed this sensation more than anything.

His legs moved as everything went into a blur, he was on his way towards the Scout team with the remaining combative elements to hold out when Bravo and the rest of the battalion would drop in on them. Whoever said, the best element was surprise must've meant human warfare.

Because the bugs always perceived surprises as meal cards, so giving them lead poison was the best one could do in this situation.

A lot of lead poisoning.


(Scout Team, Location: Target Coordinates, entrance)

Staff Sergeant Henry Clayton looked over the mountain face with a stern yet shocked expression. Breaking off from their platoon, the Lt. had decided to split their elements in order to cover more ground to search for the intended target. While all around their company could find features that matched the target: in this case, there wasn't one in the briefing.

All it were was some structure, unknown in origin but hopefully visible to mark for immediate entrenchment against the arachnid forces.

"Hey, Sergeant got word Colonel Uzumaki is on his way along with the remaining elements scouting. Should we bunk down inside that place?"

Private First Class Jarod Conway, could only hold his rifle at the hip while looking at whatever the hell they were scouting. He honestly couldn't relate it to anything on earth, nor in the Colonies where he was raised over the last decade. In truth both Spec-Ops soldiers had no idea as to what this place was, all in all a potentially FUBAR moment.

"I'd wouldn't want to go inside even with the Colonel but we have to secure this position. Conway get another flare up and we'll make a defensive position at the base of those stairs, hopefully those pillars or whatever can withstand a wave of insects."

Conway merely nodded before loading his flare-gun, pointing it up him shot it off. Another blue to mark their position for the others to see them if they didn't get a read on the first one. Sighing the young man moved his rifle into position to stand next to his NCO before they took off towards the structure. Both men had a cool dreaded feeling as they moved towards the inhumane like object.

The stairs were remotely human like save for the fact, that the spacing had a good nine inch gap per step, along with the rune like writings on every square inch of it. Pictograms of imagery not known to earth littered the granite planes.

Built into the mountain side, the twin towers hovering over the entrance looked like a crown of granite whose intent featured unadulterated malic to those who entered. The sand and wind made visibility practically impossible, so infrared from their Kevlar's was required.

At the top of the hundred or so steps, were six columns with spiraling architecture going from the ground to support the 'dome' of fingers overhead. Writing etched with pictograms swirled into a never ending disorienting history of whatever this place was. Hollowing winds made the spaces crawl with unearth like screams whipping inside.

Yet the column's supporting the overhead, ended into four piece triangles similar to a plant?

"I don't like this, feels like something's watching us." Clayton murmured as Conway gulped down his visible fear with a nod. They really, really didn't want to be here alone because the way this place screamed 'surprise' had been written in fine print from a distance. Breathing came in deep inhales and loud exhales as sweat built up on their faces from the unnatural way the building came out at them.

As the duo Spec-Ops soldiers forced themselves to move up the uncomfortable staircase, they flipped their flashlights on the end of their rifles. Partially revealing the inside to have a massive cavern like atmosphere. Once inside, the two were in for a shock that reverberated up their spines. Shivering from the darkened closure of the walls, which seemed to press in on them.

"Sergeant what the fuck are we looking at here?" Conway spoke lowly making sure as though his voice wouldn't echo inside, the natural fear of awakening a predator set in his psyche. Trying to break the silence took courage but it was suicidal to let anything inside now they were here, if that were the case.

"No idea, for all I know it's the temple of Zeus from Greece on earth. Shit kid, asking me is like asking what's in a black hole." Clayton retorted scanning his sector of fire, the flashlight revealing dust and many more pictograms and hieroglyphic's now, on the walls. Torches or what was once their holdings were all broken or had massive holes in them, as the debris were on the floor.

"Unworthy."

Both men jumped as they veered around to their backs simultaneously aiming at whatever spoke.

"Am I hearing things?" Conway trembled as Clayton replied, "No I heard that too. 'Unworthy' right?"

Just then a 'crunching' sound permeated from above them, instantly shining their lights to see trails of dust and stone fall lightly into their lights. Both Spec-Ops soldiers, no humans felt as though they should've waited outside for back-up to proceed inside.

Maybe they had that chance to back off for now, yeah tactical withdrawal in this case.

"Holy shit, this is some place."

Conway joked uneasily making Clayton hum agreeing as they back away towards the entrance. Maybe waiting for the Colonel had been the better idea, so they back up into the light constantly training their sights on the darkness in front.

In different angles, they saw some sort of rectangular object, similar to a tomb or a table they had missed in the darkness. God almighty they felt like they just disturbed a dragon, not the greatest feeling in the Universe. Unintentionally provoking another creature that already could make humans lower on the galactic food chain didn't appease them.

Breathing deeply Clayton nudged the Private towards the doorway, intent on having him out first so he could able bodily defend them both.

"Having fun?"

This new sly voice spoke from behind them, making the two men jump veering their weaponry towards the source. However again both Spec-Ops soldiers were spooked to not realize the familiar voice of the one who'd they follow into hell and back. Their leader and commanding officer of the entire brigade.

Colonel Uzumaki was pleasantly smiling, although there was something wrong with 'him' in a sense.

For one, both soldiers noticed the red slit eyes merrily taking in their fearful expressions. However the Iron-men suit had a subtle sheen of red waft of it, similar to steam that stung their face as the exposed skin took it in. That wasn't the strangest thing of it all, there was something more wrong with the way their CO was looking at them.

He looked: evil…

"Colonel! When did you get here?" Clayton asked shocked much to Naruto's casual shrug while lifting his rifle to check the magazine, just in case it got loose during the run here. He didn't actually speak for a moment before mentally assuring himself the weapon was in fine order.

"I ran here or did you forget that even the Scouts can't catch me at max speed?" The statement meant to be casual, turned into something more sinister if the Sergeant were to question it. So wisely, on his part, he kept silent but nodded to acknowledge the fact. However the three Spec-Op's soldiers had to turn their attention towards the interior of the 'structure'.

An inhumane like rumble distantly echoed from inside…

"Sir, are we going in there?" the lowest ranked remarked nervous as he watched the CO move a few inwards, his red slit eyes narrowing before inhaling deeply as if tracking something. It looked similar to how a wolf tracked the prey that came within its territory. Nothing more could say of the manner that the blond male was doing, it felt off compared to the average human being.

Naruto didn't respond as his vision, while being in use could see significantly better in the dark.

"Seek…seek…seek me…"

That word kept reverberating inside the Colonel's mind, Naruto felt like something had been pulling him here. It didn't seemingly affect him until stepping within ten meters of the building that they were supposed to seek out, ironic that the word was for him to speak to others yet no one could hear what was being said.

"Colonel?"

Brought back down to reality, the blond narrowed his gaze for a final time before turning towards the two Spec-Ops soldiers behind.

"We'll scout it for a bit, we won't go in too deep since first and third platoon will be arriving soon."

Clayton and Conway nodded despite the fact they were nearly scared of their wits moments ago. They trusted their CO and with him in there, they felt more so to stand their grounds as to what lay within. Breathing to steady their hearts, both men steeled their resolve in order to go in with the Colonel to find out exactly what in the hell was inside.

"Alright, get ready."

The three Spec-Ops positioned themselves into a triangular formation with the Colonel at the head, the other two flanked both sides as they moved forward. Not knowing whether the inside of the structure would harbor their objective or not.

If they only knew what lay within, if they only knew.

But like all mistakes humanity makes, it always costs the same thing in the end.

Blood.


End

A/N: This chapter just solidifies what the Spec-Ops do and how they perform under fire. Don't worry in the next update, you'll see the consequences of CQC with an Insect, which I will not say will take kindly to humans in its domain. Many will be asking, what the hell is in there?

My response: you'll find out eventually…

Federal News Network: These either foreshadow or practically summarized the events of whatever chapter or chapters in past or future, they're nice to add in as a filler bonus for everyone to see what's happening on the political/civilian fronts of war. Especially on Earth where the Spec-Ops are revered to win no matter what the situation was.

Points of Interest:

(1.) Iron-men suit's are just similar to the function of the Suits in Crysis if anyone hasn't played that trilogy of game. I found it fitting, I liked the idea of the Soldiers becoming enhanced within a suitable fashion that didn't seem to far-fetched in any case. The Federation has its R&D division in order to thank for imagination of its Scientist to implement this type of combat into field operations. These suits are just like the ones from Crysis, same types of abilities Strength, Speed, Cloaking if possible.

Iron-Men Mark i: Harden the exterior to withstand Arachnid attack, often crushed ribs and imploded internal injuries at the risks if a solider gets too close.

(2.) By Natural running speed; drugs and some sort of adrenaline are injected into the blood stream so that the body can use it to its full potential. You say, that Steroids are used with synthetic adrenaline rushes to make the soldiers run and move faster than any human. At the cost of fatal injury to the brain, body and skeleton at once. These suits make the soldiers formidable, but not invincible and have extreme risks to use in combat.

Iron-Men Mark ii: Enhances a human's body in order to run at speeds no insect can match, often prone to nervous system overload with the users going into a berserk rage before ultimately dying in the end. Mental conditions can be formed and utterly caused from overuse, prolong usage alone. Recommended for only the most daring and physical built soldiers in combat.

(3.) The most advanced version up to date, only Naruto can use the suits potential at its fullest ability. How? Cliche nit pick, that'll be known eventually. I'm sure that a few of the readers know what I speak off. Initially used for a user to move sheer weights with little effort, hence the whole ton reference in the chapter above. However this feature does not make Naruto superman or god, he's just using the tools of the trade in order to win battles. He can move things but not without effort or extreme circumstances.

Iron-Men Mark iii: Only one ever built and issued, comes with Hardened Defense, Speed enhanced and Strength of Humanity itself.

Military Slang in-use: "FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition)"

Also if anyone asks, this whole 'idea' of the Federation actually doing things 'right' in combat is just made up, I wish they issued tactics for M.I troops against Insect Warrior's. For you my readers, you'll see tactics and the occasional 'FUBAR" mission soon enough.

Oh on a side note, if any of you wish to submit a Character Creation Sheet, I'd try to implement it inside this story for the sake of everyone looking forward even more to this update. I find it relaxing if I have the time and just the right mind set to write this piece of literature out.

Have a good one, till next update.