Hello people, been a while, I know, but things have been pretty busy around here, and my latest bout with writer's block most certainly has not helped. Little unsure about how to proceed with the next chapter as well, for reasons I shall explain at the end.
Many thanks to all who have read this story, especially to those of you who have reviewed.
Lawyers: I own nadda, so don't bug me.
Without further ado, here's the chapter.
&
The Retaking of Haven
In the Industrial District, chaos reigned.
Elves and robots clashed among each other, Eco bolts and explosions filling the air as one side fought desperately to retake their home, while the other fought with equal tenacity to repel them once again.
The battle had started some thirty minutes ago, with a coordinated attack between the Freedom League soldiers and Vin's maverick army. It was difficult to say who was having better progress out of the two. The rogue Death Bots fought with the same egoless determination as their foes, though their combat protocols had been slightly tweaked and upgraded by the AI that had commandeered them, making them far more effective in battle. However, the elves fought with a ferocity that could only have come from a biological organism that was determined to win at any cost.
Regardless of which one was the more effective fighting force, the Death Bots were having a harder time repelling this attack than they had with the first one. This was due in part to several reasons. First, the elven attack was far more concentrated and swift this time around, as they weren't trying to retake the whole city in one fell swoop. As a result of the defensive action from the West side, meant simply to keep the Metal Heads bottled up until they could remove the Death Bots from the picture, the battle droids were having to deal with an enemy force of nearly three times what had been launched at them last time.
Secondly, the Death Bots had lost the element of surprise. The elves were aware of their tricks, and were ready for them. They also now knew of the Hunter Killers, what they were capable of, and how to deal with them. Vipers were dealt with through the use of plasmite RPG launchers, flue rod cannons, and vulcans, which Ashelin had made sure that every platoon had at least a pair of. As for the Firestorms, the soldiers typically just called in air strikes on them, or left the slow moving behemoths for the scorpion assault tanks to deal with.
However, this was not to say that the battle droids were going down without a fight.
Torn let fly an oath and threw himself around a corner, barely dodging a torrent of energy fire coming from a Roller bot. The Revenant commander snarled, reaching up to his bandolier and yanking out a grenade, before pressing the button on it. The plasmite explosive burned as he ignited it, and he leaned around the edge of the building, before throwing it like a fastball right at the mechanized soldier. The grenade hit, and stuck fast to its target. A moment later, the grenade went off, and he smiled grimly as he heard the remains of the droids falling to the ground.
He came back to the street after that, crouched down and moving forward slowly. His morph gun was set to its assault rifle mode, and he quickly sighted up a Hawk that was trying to take aim at him. A three shot burst flew from the barrel of his gun a moment later, striking the machine right in its visual sensors. Blinded and suffering from a partially fried motherboard, the Death Bot spun out of control, before falling from the sky and impacting upon the pavement.
"Move, move!" he growled over his comm., and order that his soldiers were quick to comply with.
Jinx was out and moving as fast as he could, eager to catch up to his old commander and get some payback on these machines. His twin submachine guns rattled as he sent streams of blue Eco bolts at an enemy formation. The platoon was composed of Rollers for the most part, and the barrage scythed through them like wheat. The pyromaniac smirked behind his helmet, snickering at the destruction that he had unleashed before retaliatory fire forced him to seek cover as well.
Tess and Cody were pinned down as well, and it quickly became obvious to Jinx that they had run into a driven attempt by the enemy to swat down the enemy offensive and send them packing once again. However, they were trained soldiers, and even though the nature of this battle prevented them from being able to make use of their active camouflage generators, they were still a very dangerous force. Even as they enemies were marching towards them, Cody could be seen priming the fuel rod cannon he'd gotten from a supply drop, ready to turn the Death Bot formation into a series of smoldering craters.
However, the heavy weapons expert would not have to make use of his trademark weapon just yet. There was a rumbling noise, and the next thing the gray armored warriors knew, seventy tons of divine intervention came barreling around the corner. The Roller bots scarcely had enough time to figure this abrupt change in the odds when the tank turned its primary cannon upon them. A beam of yellow death came form the end of the barrel, streaking towards them and exploding. A couple of seconds later, the clattering noise of debris raining down on the street could be heard, and Torn dared to peek back around.
Several battle droids were attempting to get back up, the concussion wave of the blast having knocked them to the ground. As it was, though, they would not get far before the tank's other weapons took them out for good.
Many hours had gone into studying how and why they had been so easily defeated by the Death Bots in the first go round over this sector, and Ashelin and the others had reached the conclusion that one of the primary reasons was that the tanks, although heavily armed and armored, could not defend themselves against fast moving enemies. The reason was believed to be mainly due to the massive 'dead zone' that the tank had, the region in which its primary cannon could not depress itself enough to fire. The daughter of Praxis and several of her closest officers had come up with a way that they could, at least in theory, counter this flaw.
Upon each of the tread pods of the M808's was a mounted machine gun that faced either forward or to the rear, depending upon which pod it was on. They were capable of rotating up to a hundred and twenty degrees in order to provide the maximum amount of covering fire for the weapons platform. However, the elves were also not stupid enough to believe that those operating these weapons would be able to do so without risking harm to themselves. Thus, a two paneled metal shield, which covered the range of the machine gun's rotation, provided cover for the soldiers to duck behind when they came under fire.
The soldiers manning these weapons were swift to eliminate any stragglers who tried to rise, their rapid firing weapons turning the Death Bots into hole-filled scrap within a matter of seconds.
That scorpion was quickly followed by two other assault tanks and a small battalion of regulars, and it only took Torn a signal glance to realize that this area of the sector was well on its way to being under their control again. Thus, he decided that he and the others would probably be more useful in another region of this conflict. A single order over their comm. links was all that was required to spur the Revenants into action. They moved out from behind their cover, and ducked into a back alley, their blood pounding in their ears and their adrenaline screaming for some more action.
Battles raged all over the Industrial district, the sheer ferocity of the elven and maverick droid attacks forcing the Death Bots into a slow but steady retreat. However, there was one exception to this, and that was the central part of the elven attack, the area in which Jak and Keira were to be found. They were the front runners in the spearhead of the strike, cutting down and destroying any battle droids that tried to stand in their way.
As it was in the case of the Revenants, the two Ascended Channelers had forgone any manner of stealth in their attack, and were currently in their combat forms.
A Viper came shooting down the street on its override boosters, careening towards its target at more than four hundred kilometers per hour. As it approached striking distance, the Hunter Killer activated its plasma claws and reared back to strike with them. However, as it went to land the blow, the demon that had been the target of the attack snapped up a shadowy blade and blocked the strike with ease. Before the advanced battle droid could even begin to bring its submachine gun up to fire at the Dark Eco demon, Kage sliced the weapon in half with Kitetsu.
Not wasting a second, the oni, a fanged smirk upon his face, reached up with his left foot, and wrapped his taloned foot around the Death Bot. With a burst of strength, he dug his claws into the machine's cranium, shredding the vital circuitry located there. Even as the machine spasmed and twitched, Kage twisted himself to the side, and wrenched the head clean off of the droid's shoulders.
It was rapidly becoming apparent that the time that he had spent observing these machines from within the mind of his host was paying off, if the trail of destruction behind him was to be any indication of his battle prowess.
A series of clanking noises reached the Dark Eco demon's ears, and he knew instantly that another squadron of Rollers was on its way to try and drive them back. Not two seconds later, they came barreling around the corner, before unrolling and getting into an attack position. In response, the oni spread his wings and let fly a roar that seemed to come from the very depth of his soul. Such was its power that any organic creature would have more than likely turned and fled then and there.
However, Kage knew that he wasn't facing organic opponents, and that droids could not be intimidated like that. His showy response to them had another purpose besides a futile attempt at frightening them: it had set him into the proper position to unleash an impulse attack.
His powerful leg muscles coiling like springs, the guardian devil leapt up into the air, dispelling the shadow blade in his off hand and releasing Kitetsu, leaving the dark katana to hover beside him. Once he was a sufficient distance off of the ground, he balled up, drawing his wings in close and crossing his arms over his armored chest. Dark Eco pulsed and flared within his palms and with the trio of talons on the tip of either wing. With a roar that equaled the first in power, Kage unleashed the attack.
Four spheres of Dark Eco sped downwards to the battle droids, hitting their formation and exploding with devastating effect. The twenty combat machines were reduced to scrap before they'd even been able to sight the oni back up.
Landing, Kage summoned another phantom sword, before charging ahead, a grim smile upon his muzzle at the thought of what he was doing, of all the deaths that he was helping to avenge.
Off to one side was his host's soul mate, who was also tearing a path of destruction through the enemy ranks. Both Kage and his host had to admit, that though Keira was not truly an arch angel, her resemblance had certainly aided with the moral off the troops. After all, it was pretty hard to feel pessimistic if it appeared as though the heavens themselves sided with you.
Masamune held easily in her right hand, the Ascended Channeler charged forward until she was even with Kage. The two of them looked ahead, and saw more droids coming towards them, before exchanging a glance and nodding.
The girl paused for a moment, bringing up her left hand and focusing inward for a second or two. A bluish white glow began to emanate from it, and she clenched her hand into a fist before drawing it up behind the right side of her head. Images of the last battle for Haven churning within her mind, she snarled, and threw her hand out. From her palm came ten blasts of energy, each was long and thin, resembling a beam of light, and they streaked unerringly towards their targets.
These did not cause any massive explosion or the like when they connected, just a small hole within the armor of the chosen battle droids, though it did prove sufficient enough to destroy the rank and file ones that had been hit. However, the true power of the attack was revealed when one saw that two of the targets had been the aerial Hawk units. The support craft were able to use their engines to quickly zip out of the way of the beams. However, Keira saw this, and with a slight twitch of her eye and a subtle gesture of her left hand, the beams changed course, and impacted upon their targets. The light in the droids' visual sensors died, and they fell to the ground, breaking apart when they hit.
"Nice shot," Kage muttered in his distorted voice, before focusing and preparing to charge up a dark spear.
What he was about to do was not something that he or his host had ever done in battle before. Indeed, it had taken quite a bit of practice in their free time for the dark elf and his guardian devil to start getting the hang of it. Normally, calling upon their Channeling powers had required a free hand from which to summon the Dark Eco. However, rather than wasting the Dark Eco that was kept within Kitetsu's crystal by dispelling yet another shadow blade, Kage merely stuck his index and middle fingers forward. It required a little extra concentration than normal, but he was nonetheless able to launch the attack, firing it off towards the encroaching enemy.
The spear shaped blast of Dark Eco slammed right through a Viper, causing the Hunter Killer to stagger, though it did not fall despite the fact that there was now a good sized hole in the right side of its abdomen. The spear continued, destroying three more Death Bots before it finally dissipated.
This new manner of Channeling held promise, though they still had much work to do before they could start calling upon the higher level powers in this manner.
By this time, the mechanized soldiers were within firing range, and both of the oni and the angel were forced on the defensive as a barrage of Eco bolts came screaming in at them. Keira was able to hastily raise a shield of Light Eco around herself, but Kage lacked such defensive capabilities. Instead, the Dark Eco demon was forced to fall back on his blade skills, furiously working Kitetsu and its dark twin back and forth, deflecting bolts left and right, all the while moving about, at one point going so far as to throw himself into a sideways roll in order to dodge a particularly vicious torrent of blaster fire.
As a creature used to being on the offensive, this was not a position that exactly pleased Kage, and he snarled as he continued to deflect the shots being thrown at him, while both he and his host tried to figure out a way to turn the tide.
A loud booming sound from behind them would turn out to be the solution to their problem, as a shot from a scorpion tank exploded in the midst of the enemy ranks. It was by no means a battle ending shot, as most of the Hunter Killers in the formation were either able to dodge out of the way or put up with the abuse from the shockwave. However, it did throw off their aim, buying the Dark Eco demon the time he needed to retaliate.
As he charged towards the currently disoriented enemy, he let fly a blast of dark lightning. The bolts surged over a pair of Firestorms to the rear, eating through their armor and destroying the circuitry of their primary systems. The two heavy weapons platforms toppled after that, practically shaking the whole street as them impacted upon the tarmac.
An instant later, the oni hit the first of the enemy battle droids. A pair of Rollers were the first to go down, pieces of them falling to the ground as the twin blades Kage wielded sliced through them with deceptive ease.
The Dark Eco demon leapt forward after that, having noticed that a Viper was charging at him from one side. Kage hit the ground in a roll, coming up and twisting about, preparing to engage this newest foe, only to find that his host's soul mate more than had him covered.
Keira had taken to the skies, and then decided that dive bombing her adversaries was apparently the best course of action. Now Masamune was stuck through the chassis of a Viper, while her wings were wrapped around its arms, preventing it from bringing its weapons to bear upon her. Her features twisted into a grim smirk as she yanked her Precursor forged weapon out of the Death Bot, before spinning around and using her silvery wings to throw the dying machine into the ranks of its comrades.
Even as it was flying forward, the angelic Channeler was again charging at her foes, whirling her weapon around before falling upon them.
Behind her and Kage, the Freedom League forces were coming up behind them. Infantry and armored forces were providing what covering fire that they could, while at the same time trying to be certain that they were not about to accidentally hit one of the two Ascended Channelers. Despite all of this, they were able to deal with the Roller bots and any aerial Hawks with relative efficiency, while the heavy troopers or assault tanks did their best to take down the more dangerous Hunter Killers.
However, the droids were not the only ones taking causalities.
Off on one of the flanks, in a region where the two Channelers were not present, even the vindictive fury that Haven's finest were throwing at the Death Bots was not always sufficient enough to drive them back. Indeed, the third infantry division was getting bogged down as the battle droids attempted to mount a counter assault upon them. It wasn't mobilized yet, but there were some Hunter Killers that were trying to buy time for it to get under way, and everyone knew that it would spell very bad news for them if it did so. As much as could be spared was being diverted to that location, but the initial squadrons were dying in droves, as the second generation battle droids took out their heavy weapons specialists before moving onto the lighter infantry.
Sergeant Davis found himself knocked to the ground as a Viper launched a grenade at his group, where it promptly detonated and took out no less than ten soldiers. Crawling to where he was out of the direct line of fire, the blue armored soldier leaned around and took a few potshots at the one ton killing machine. However, if the Death Bot was bothered by the fire of Davis' assault rifle in any manner, it did not show it. Instead, it turned its lethal submachine gun upon him, and the elf only barely managed to get back out of the line of fire before the Eco bolts ripped through where he had been moments earlier.
"Mother of the Ancients!" he swore, gulping for a moment and trying to think of something.
He knew he had to think fast, as he could hear the rhythmic stomping of the machine drawing closer, and the rapid firing of its primary weapon, with the death cries of elves mixed in with it. Knowing that it was an almost futile gesture, but realizing that he had to draw the mechanized monstrosity attention away from his troops, he leaned out form around his hiding spot and fired off a couple of rounds at the Hunter Killer.
As expected, the large battle droid turned its aim upon him, and Davis was forced to duck back around the corner and retreat backwards a bit as a flurry of blaster fire ripped apart what he had been using for cover. Gulping once again, he pivoted back out, only to find that the machine's attention was taken up with another one of his soldiers.
A plasmite grenade came sailing in, burning like a small star and sticking to the Viper's chest. It exploded a couple of seconds later, rocking the machine back, but not doing much damage other than that. In retaliation, the Hunter Killer fired its submachine gun, and Benton closed his eyes as he heard the elf cry out, before going silent.
"Command!" he growled into his boom mike. "Where the hell is our armor support? We're getting ripped apart down here!"
"Roger that, sergeant," came the voice of an unnamed tech specialist on the other end of the line, "we've diverted a pair of scorpion's to your location, they are inbound and ETA is one minute twenty seconds."
"We don't have that long!" he snarled over the comm., having to speak up to be heard over a sudden explosion.
Still, there was nothing that could be done. With the street's grid like designs and whatnot, the scorpions could only move so fast, meaning that they were effectively on their own. Cursing his luck, but vowing that if he went down, he was going out fighting, the blue armored warrior leaned out and fired another pair of shots at his opponent. As luck would have it, his rifle shots were able to connect with the machines left elbow joint, and in a one in a thousand shot, penetrated to the primary servo motivator. An instant later, the Hunter Killer lost all control over the limb, and it fell limply to one side.
The shot had only removed the left arm, meaning that it could no longer use its plasma claws and that it would have a harder time bracing for the recoil of its shoulder mounted grenade launcher. However, it would at least stop the thing from rushing in and carving them all up like it had with his last platoon.
Nonetheless, Sergeant Davis in no way deluded himself into thinking that he had managed to cripple the machine, as its other two weapons were still capable of tearing through them, given the opportunity.
He checked his HUD clock, looking to see how much time he had left before those assault tanks arrived. Still a good minute to go and he swore under his breath.
It was then that he would spot the instrument that would possibly be the salvation for himself and the rest of his squad. Off on the other side of the street, still clutched in the hands of the now deceased elf that had wielded it, was a vulcan.
"Guys!" he called to his troops over the comm. link. "Try and keep that thing busy for a couple seconds, I've got an idea."
"Not like we've got much of a choice," one elf responded in a sardonic manner, but Davis could tell that they would do as they had been instructed.
Almost every surviving elf of the squad opened up a few seconds later, trying to draw the attention of the machine away from their leader. Throwing down his assault rifle, knowing it was all but useless against the Viper, Benton sprinted across the street.
The Hunter Killer saw the movement, and it paused just long enough to slot an elf that had made the mistake of leaning out too far from behind his cover, before it twisted about and tried to assess this new threat.
By this point in time, Davis was already halfway to his goal, willing himself to move as fast as he could, knowing that the killing machine behind him was more than liking already sighting him up. Sure enough, as he got within thirty feet of the vulcan, he heard the first staccato noises of Eco bolts being sent his way. Desperately, he lunged forward and tried to throw himself into a roll that would carry him the rest of the way to the weapon he frantically sought.
However, he did not move fast enough, and he felt pain explode through his legs and his back, before the force of the impact carried him past his intended goal, and he slammed painfully into the wall behind it. He knew he couldn't cry out and let the Hunter Killer know that he was still alive, as that would merely bring a second volley of blaster fire at him that would surely end his life… assuming that the wounds he'd just gotten were not already fatal in nature.
Slowly, praying he did not draw the Viper's attention, he rolled over and crawled towards the vulcan, trying to force himself not to think about the blinding agony that was surging through his body at the moment. After a few seconds of moving like this, he finally reached his goal, and after carefully prying the massive weapon out of the hands of the dead soldier, he braced the gun against the ground, lined up with the Hunter Killer, and squeezed the joystick like trigger.
A whine split the air, and moments later, the multi barreled weapon went into action. Hundreds of rounds flew from the end of the vulcan, where they impacted upon the Viper. The Death Bot was knocked backwards, but its armor held for a time, and it turned around, leveling its submachine gun to take care of this pesky biological once and for all.
However, as it lined the sergeant up in its crosshairs, another noise reached its audio receptors. The one ton machine turned just in time to receive a round from an assault tank right in its chest. A gaping hole was torn in its chassis, and it staggered, before its power systems overloaded, and the Viper went up like a firecracker.
"Now you guys show up…" Davis muttered to himself, dropping the vulcan and summoning up the courage to look and see what was left of him.
If he wasn't running on an empty stomach, he likely would have vomited…
The shot he had taken in the back didn't feel so bad, no doubt the heavier armor had protected him, but the same could not be said for his legs. One, his right, had been chewed off at the kneecap, and blood seeped out around the partial cauterization of the injury. His left leg wasn't much better off, as it was literally only attached by about half an inch worth of muscle and sinew.
He knew that shock was rapidly setting in, even as he faintly heard his troopers calling for a medic. It was entirely possible that he might live through this, but he knew that even if the medics managed to stabilize his condition, it would be weeks, perhaps months, before he returned to the battlefield.
His role in Haven's liberation was over.
The maverick battle droids were pressing their foes hard, despite their small numbers. Among the ranks was one unit in particular that was special. There was nothing to truly identify this Viper from the rest of its Hunter Killer brothers, as that would merely have presented a 'hey, look at me' style target. However, what was so usual about this one was that in a way, its overseer directly controlled it.
Though his memory core was still back in the relative safety of the power plant, and under heavy guard just in case something should go wrong, Vin had, for lack of a better termed, spawned off a copy of himself, and placed this separate yet connected consciousness within its central processors. This would allow for him to get a better 'look' at how things were going for his troops without having to directly risk himself. As a matter of fact, this would not have been the first time he had performed such a maneuver and had the shell in which the copy was housed be destroyed.
The first time it had occurred was with the Viper that had given Keira the chance she'd needed down in Phoenix's Tomb, though the girl did not know that, and likely never would, as the construct had no intention of boasting of its accomplishments.
So far, this unit was holding up fairly well, though it had taken a bit of battle damage, and Vin sincerely hoped to keep it that way. He did have a bit of an edge here, considering that his copy could make decisions and commands far faster than the standard battle droids could. However, he still had limits, as the machine's servos and limbs could only move so fast.
At the current moment, he had just reached the central rendezvous point to find that the group that Jak and Keira had been leading was already there and waiting for him.
"You've made good time," he said, his voice coming out slightly distorted over the external comm. system that he'd had installed onto this unit.
"You as well," Kage said with a nod of his head, while the nervous tapping of his foot talons against the dura-crete indicated that he wanted very much to return to the fighting.
There was the rhythmic marching of boots against pavement, and all three of them turned to see Freedom League soldiers come pouring past them, a sea of blue with a rare gray speck mingled in amongst them. One particular speck, his steel colored armor tinged with black, made his way towards the trio, pausing to salute Kage as he came up.
"How's the situation with the West Side?" Kage inquired of Torn, cocking his head to the side and staring down at the hardened commander.
"Rather well, for a change," was the Revenant leader's response. "The Metal Heads are trying their damndest to break through our defenses, but the Hellcats and Scorpion's are holding em back so far."
"Good," Keira said, tapping the butt of her Precursor made naginata against the ground. "Right now, we're just waiting on the third division, and then we're going to be ready for the final charge."
"How far out are they?" Torn asked them, a little bit uneasy at the delay, memories of the attack on the Metal Head Nest returning for a brief moment.
"They encountered an attempted counter attack, from what Command has relayed back to us," Kage said, his crimson eyes narrowing behind the visor of his helmet. "However, while they suffered some causalities they were able to get enough armor and air support to them in time to stop the offensive in its tracks. They should be here in about five minutes."
"That's a relief," Torn replied, and a faint sigh could be heard in his voice. "This is almost working out better than I'd hope."
"It's amazing what can happen when you have competent military leaders running things," Keira replied in a somewhat sarcastic manner, a frown on her face as she remembered all that had gone wrong last time.
After that, they went silent, and the soldiers the few minute breather that they had to either reload and check their weapons, or to apply med kits and the like to those who were wounded but still fighting.
Right on time, the third division came up to the plaza that they were in. They were also given a moment to pause and catch their breath, as Kage, Keira, Torn, and Vin made their way to the front. As the group passed the soldiers, they could see men and women giving them thumbs up, pumping their fists in the air, and generally rallying around them.
When he reached the front of the ranks, Kage paused and looked about, and determined smile upon his muzzle as he stared at the troops. Not all of them would make it though this final rush, that he knew. However, this time, they would be lives that had been spent, not wasted.
With a roar that caused the elves to take heart, the oni spread his wings and thrust both Kitetsu and its phantom twin into the air, before rushing forward, charging at the Death Bot lines that he could see trying to get set up in the distance.
His host's soul mate was to his side, while Vin's Viper used its powerful thrusters to keep up with them as well.
Behind them, thousands upon thousands of elves ran, battle cries upon their tongues and their weapons locked and loaded. This time, they knew, they would win back their home, no matter the cost.
Meanwhile, in a floating fortress a hundred miles to the north of Haven, another construct watched the battle unfold with a very different emotion. Grendel was rather upset with how the battle had been playing out, and though he regretted to think about it for even a nanosecond, he knew that he had miscalculated the aggressiveness that the elves were capable of. Truly, he would have never expected them to launch another such attack upon his forces, not after the bloodbath that had occurred the first time. Yet they had, and they were beating back his mechanized soldier's at almost every turn.
He was also relieved, and at the same time, curious, to have his earlier suspicions confirmed. It would appear as thought he elves did indeed have an AI construct working with them. But how, was the question that plagued him. Though his calculations as to the technological capabilities of these elves in relation to the rest of their kind indicated that at some point in time they'd had assistance from Precursors, he did not believe they were of sufficient capabilities as to produce artificial intelligences.
Furthermore, the way that this one operated, it didn't act like a Precursian AI, and that puzzled him even more. Against all possible odds and calculations, it appeared as though the blasted elves could make their own constructs. Furthermore, that left him with a lot of unknowns, and that made him nervous. He knew how to fight Precursian AIs, he done it before, and deleted quite a few, but he had no idea what to expect from this one. However, he knew that he would face it, and soon. It knew where his base was, and these elves didn't look like they were about to relent until the Death Bots were no longer a threat.
Growling, he opened up a comm. link to the Day Star, directly to Executor Kerrog's meditation chamber.
Sure enough, his leader was there, his eyes slowly opening as the beeping signal awoke him from the depths of his meditation.
"What is it, Grendel?" the Fallen Archon asked, a look of concern coming over his furry visage, as he knew that it must have been important for the AI to contact him like this.
"My apologies, my Excellency," Grendel's holographic self replied with a bow, "but my forces have been attacked, and we are unable to hold onto the Industrial District."
Kerrog's eyes widened slightly, but then they narrowed.
"Show me," he said, his voice neutral.
Grendel's image faded, being replaced with a map of the Industrial District, complete with diagrams showing enemy forces and their progress.
For a few moment's Kerrog watched, and the AI knew that his leader was carefully calculating what to do.
"Pull your forces back and guard the factory," he said after a time, "if we can hang onto that, we can create another army, and take the battle to them once more."
"I'll do my best, My Excellency," Grendel responded, before hastening to carry out his orders.
Without pausing, Kerrog stood and walked over to the control panel in his chamber. He pressed a few buttons, and a moment later, a holographic image of Dao'Drac appeared. The large Hora-quan was apparently discussing something with several Crab Head lieutenants, but as soon as he became aware that his master's eyes were upon him, he quickly turned and executed a hasty bow.
"Greetings, sir, I fear that you might have caught us at a bad time," he said in an apologetic tone, frowning slightly as well.
"How goes the battle?" Kerrog asked, correctly guessing that the enemy had lowered their protective Lockdown.
"Not as good as it might, my lord," Dao'Drac muttered. "We've attacked their lines four times, but they're too heavily entrenched, and they keep throwing us back."
"Grendel's forces aren't doing much better, and after they're doing forcing the Death Bots out of the city, the rest of their forces will turn and head for you," the Fallen Precursor said, his eyes narrowing while he rubbed his chin. "I want you to pull your forces back."
"What?" the Hora-quan leader said, unable to believe that he'd just been told to retreat.
"Yes, get your people out of there, our enemies have won this round," the Executor said. "I need you and your fellows to head to the production factory, we need to hold it if we're to mount a second offensive."
"As you wish, my lord," Dao'Drac responded with a bow, before shouting out orders to his subordinates.
As Kerrog killed the feed and reflected upon this sudden change, a bitter smile came over his face.
"Bravo, Jak," he muttered to himself, "you are proving to be a most worthy adversary."
&
Okay, and I have once again managed to remove an OC from the lineup, though in a slightly different manner this time. Hope you found it enjoyable, though I fear for the next chapter, as that's going to be the AI battle between Vin and Grendel…
As per usual, all forms of comments are welcomed with open arms, especially ideas on weapons and possible computer styled fighting techniques, as it is, the only real info I have is a brief scrap from the Halo: First Strike book between Cortana and a Covenant AI… provided I can find where my blasted sibling has hidden the book…
At any rate, I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you next time.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention this earlier, but my beta reader, animedragongirl, is in need of an editor herself for her Naturo fics, so if anyone would like to help her out, please let her know.