Chapter 7: On Dire Straits

"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard."

― Gaylord Nelson

"Ok five minutes to drop jarheads!"

"You do know only Polowski and myself were actually part of the Marines right? The other's, ugh, they were actually in the army."

"Well fuck you very much Sergeant, I'll have you know that I've been in free fall for as long as you've actually been in real combat."

"All that wind resistance would explain why you're such a windbag now wouldn't it?"

I snort at my cargo's back and forth banter.

"Gentlemen please. As the Director General said, this is an island hopping campaign. Thus all soldiers to first set foot on the shore must be Marines. It's a tradition."

"For a guy who's only been awake and remembering for a year or so you seem to know more than you let on."

"I'm a fast reader. Although I'm somewhat anxious about the objective name. Did you or Polowski piss off a mission planner by chance?"

"Not that I know of. Objective Iwo Jima…that's asking for trouble."

"Well look on the bright side, maybe you'll get to plant a flag on Mt. Space Suribachi."

That get's a laugh from Sergeant Garroway.

It's been a week and a half since I was told about my past as a lab rat. During that time I've been training my teammates like a madman in Skell tactics and combat, making sure that by the time combat rolls around we can at least make a decent showing of ourselves.

And not, you know, die.

I did get a pretty nice surprise the day after all the drama however. I'd finally admitted to myself that my good ol' Lailah wasn't coming back in time from repairs and decided to just buy another stock model, using the downtime to fine tune her to my standards.

At least that was the plan until I got a call from Lin.

"Hey Big Brotherrrr….I've some good news for youuuuuuu…"

"Drop the condescending act please. If your news doesn't include a giant robot that I currently am in desperate need of, I'm hanging up."

I can practically taste her smug silence.

"…that's what this call is about, isn't it?"

"I'll be waiting in the Hangar, double time it."

I triple time it. Arriving at the Hangar in record time I look for Lin and see her happily chatting away with a few Ma-non and Orpheans. Running over I shout, "I'm here! Don't keep me in suspense sis, I've got a plan to implement and it's reliant upon me not having to walk everywhere."

She maliciously grins as the other Xenos head their own way and she happily says, "Is that a pretty please I hear? I'm pretty sure a pretty please would be pretty good at making me inclined to show you something pretty awesome."

She's welcome to her snark this time.

"Pretty please miss genius engineer?"

"Well since you ask so nicely…ta daaaaa!"

She wisks away a tarp that was covering a brand new Lailah, practically identical to my old one, even down to the black, red and green color scheme I had.

"Holy…I thought she was gone for good."

"Well your previous Skell was busted pretty bad, she got stripped down to components since it was just easier to do it that way instead of a full overhaul. But don't you worry buddy, this girl right here is a prototype."

"A what?"

"Say hello to the first of the third generation Skells big bro. This right here is the model 'Queen'."

I can't tear my eyes away.

"So whats the big jump in design that warranted calling these guys third gens? Something awesome right?"

"Oh you have no idea. You know how the Ganglion's Quos are loaded with all sorts of jamming and self-repair technology? Well we decided to go ahead and improve on that, and this is the end result."

"How was it improved on?"

"Well the self-repair functions are pretty self-explanatory. We basically stole their nanotech and reverse engineered it with better programming. Unless you actually have the limb blown off, the little guys can repair hull damage as well as basic electronic repair. It's the jamming equipment that really makes a difference though."

"How so?"

"Well the Quo's usually broadcast electromagnetic waves of varying frequencies and try to hack into our systems through brute force. It's not the most subtle or efficient way of messing with our stuff. Ours is as personal as a punch in the nose. The head portion is loaded with equipment that sends out very powerful, very focused jamming waves that can actually fry electronics if you get close enough."

I give a very appreciative nod.

"Anything else?"

"Just some minor stuff. Better ether circulation through the frame, so you don't have to worry about ether weaponry quite as much. Minor improvements to targeting systems, stuff like that."

"Lin, I think I'm going to have quite a lot of fun with this machine…"

So here we are, a week and change later, as the main thrust of our slow march across Mira.

Hopefully this campaign goes better than the last one did.

"Two minutes to drop!"

Garroway yells back, "Understood, get ready to drop Gate Crashers! And don't fuck this up! Sound off!"

"Polowski, ready!"

"Leingang, ready!"

"Ricardo, ready!"

"Alexander, ready!"

"Jelani, ready!"

"Glad to hear it, Hunters one through six, sound off!"

"Hunters are prepped sergeant. Awaiting your command."

I can't help but get a goofy grin on my face at hearing the Hunter units go through their checklist. After Tan'Celeg's and Veven's autosentries proved to be a massive success, they had continued to construct different variants of the venerable machine.

The 'Hunter' line of sentries was designed fairly recently, specifically made for combat against technologically inclined forces rather than Indigens.

The most interesting part is that Veven put a voice synthesizer into the Hunter's that sounds quite a bit like the Droids from the decades old film Elysium.

Not that I'm complaining, they're meant to be intimidating.

"Chief, I'm picking up increasing energy signatures from our target! Looks like they're getting ready to roll out the red carpet."

"Ok sit tight guys things are about to get bumpy! Minute and seventeen seconds to go!"

My squad is currently on a direct course towards one of the Ganglion bases that dot the island chain between Primordia and Sylvalum, with the aim of destroying the garrison and clearing a path for the main bulk of our forces.

To that end we're currently flying a scant meter above the waves while pushing thirteen-hundred kmh, fairly fast considering our extra baggage. Said baggage consists of three repurposed cargo containers that are being shared among our Skells, with Mia and Vi carrying the first, with Celica and myself toting the second. Julun in her Galdr can manhandle the third all by her lonesome thankfully.

The containers are carrying our backup for this mission: Garroway and his five other BLADE subordinates, with six Hunter units to back them up. AKA, the Gate Crashers as they've taken to calling themselves. Their job is to take out the two Ziggs that are currently keeping watch over this airspace so that my team can freely offer support, and then move on to take over the compound completely. Nice and simple.

It'd be nice if 'simple' meant 'easy'.

"Chief, one of the Ziggs has a bead on you!"

"Understood. Celica, overlap!"

"Already next to you."

Her machine sidles up next to mine and we both cross our Skell's appendages, overlapping the shields mounted on the forearms, hopefully blocking enough of the Ziggs salvo until we slip beneath it's cone of fire. My cockpit suddenly chimes an alert: lock-on detected.

"Hold tight down there, it's about to get bumpy!"

"Great! I was just starting to get bored!"

I smirk at Garroway's joke just as a sudden burst of plasma smashes into our activated shield with a noticeable kick. I grit my teeth and resist the urge to slip out of the incoming fire. With both of our machines dedicating one arm to carrying our little payload, our maneuvering ability is somewhere between nonexistent and a flying brick.

This continues on for a few more seconds and just as I'm starting to think we aren't gonna make it the barrage of plasma fire slips above us and kicks up gouts of steam as the shots hit the ocean. I breathe a shaky sigh of relief and focus on our target, letting the arm shields slowly recharge.

By now I can see the burnished walls of the Ganglion fortress appearing on the horizon, one of many outposts that we're gonna be bringing down in the days and weeks to come.

"Six seconds! We're counting on you guys!"

"Have a little faith, geez!"

I put my Lailah into a steep climb as we crest the walls, letting go of the container at the apex of our ascent. Our job done for the moment Celica and I coax as much speed as we can out of our machines and loop around for another run at the fortress, followed closely by the other three, their cargo dumped as well.

Hopefully the ground pounders will have those anti-air batteries out of the picture by the time we loop around, or this is gonna turn real messy real quick.

Garroway winced as the blow-away doors did their job and burst outwards, pinwheeling violently until they impacted the ground forty meters below. Letting his body fall out of the embrace of his crash seat he rotated midair and got his bearings. Back on Earth he and everyone else on his squad had been paratroopers of one kind or another. HALO, HAHO, as well as LALO jumpers had had very little to do on this planet thus far, as tactical insertions from high altitudes had very little practical use in the wilds of Mira. Today was going to change that.

He was just beginning to feel the pull of Mira's gravity as he oriented himself downwards and took stock of the situation with a practiced eye.

Cross and his buddies had dropped them exactly where they wanted to be, right at the base of the tower where one of the Ziggs was holed up. Below him a random assortment of Prone, Marnucks and Puges were rushing about, obviously disoriented at the sudden appearance then disappearance of the Human Skells.

Grinning, Garroway went into free fall for about two seconds before pulling his chute, which slowed his descent with a sharp jerk for another two seconds before he detached it, falling the rest of the ten meters to the ground.

With a practiced movement, he bent his legs and rolled, the Exoskeleton attached to his body helping to absorb most of the impact that would have shattered the legs of any fully biological Human.

MIMS did have their perks.

Noticing Jelani and Hunters one through two impacting the ground right alongside him, he brought up his gauss rifle and sighted on the chest of one of the still gaping Prone, who was obviously still in shock at the sudden appearance of a Human falling from the sky.

Not giving the poor fellow any time to get his bearings, Garroway squeezed the trigger and a depleted uranium spike screamed out of his gun and perforated the Prone's chest, carrying enough kinetic energy to physically throw the giant humanoid back almost two meters.

Polowski added his own assault rifle to the mix, blowing off the head of a Marnuck that had just started to raise his own rifle. The rest of the Ganglion seemed to recover from their shock and began to raise weapons or find cover.

Or at least they tried to.

Hunter One and Two were a little too quick on the draw, raising the massive chainguns attached to their right arms and letting loose a lethal volley of gunfire. With a tracer round mixed in every three shots, as well as an explosive bullet every seven, a sustained burst from the Hunters weapons was guaranteed to tear apart anything that got in their way, armored or not.

The Ganglion never stood a chance.

With the two converging streams of bullets tearing through them, mixed in with Garroway and Polowski's more accurate shooting, the Ganglion were torn apart within four seconds, never getting off a single shot.

Garroway was grinning like a little kid. Not THAT'S how you start off a mission.

Quickly reining in his unchecked glee he did one quick scan of the area and found no other stragglers, motioning for his team to follow and keep their eyes peeled they sprinted to the base of the tower. Garroway noted that judging by the sounds of the nearly deafening roar of gunfire coming from other parts of the compund, the rest of his squad was fighting towards their own objectives as well.

They had almost passed through the door when several shouts echoed through the yard. Glancing towards one of the entryways Garroway saw several Marnucks sprint around the corner, closely followed by a Pugilith.

Hunter One and Two alongside Jelani rolled behind some of the metal barricades the Ganglion had scattered in front of the main door, returning fire and trying to keep the Ganglion pinned.

"We got this Sarge! Take out that damn gun!"

"Stay sharp and don't get shot!"

Sprinting up the stairs Garroway gave a small sigh of relief as the interior of the fortress was deserted, allowing him to reach the top in record time. Forcing open the door that blocked off the platform the Zigg was stationed on, he wasn't sure who was more surprised, himself or the Marnuck that stared blankly at him, the two of them almost face to face. Recovering first Garroway did the first thing that came to mind, hauling back his foot and kicking the Marnuck square in the dick.

Or at least where the dick would have been on a Human.

To his macabre amusement the Marnuck gave a strangled noise as Garroway's Exo enhanced boot connected, affording him enough time to raise his rifle and put the poor bastard out of his misery.

Apparently Marnucks have sensitive genitalia just like any other Male. Good to know.

Detaching the detonation pack strapped to his armor, Garroway cleared the door and saw his target still swiveling back and forth, searching the skies for the Human Skells it had been targeting earlier.

Smirking Garroway chucked the device at the Zigg, then ducked behind the door as the magnetic clasps on the bomb adhered to the Zigg's hull. Sending the detonation command Garroway couldn't resist a boyish grin as a tremendous explosion ripped through the doorway, nearly deafening him. Glancing out the door he satisfactorily nodded at the sight of the Zigg in about a few hundred scattered pieces, most of them still smoking.

In the distance he heard another explosion similar to the one he had just caused, signifying the destruction of the last anti-air battery this base had. Music to his ears.

His joy quickly disappeared as he heard the thrum of gravitic engines starting up and sighed.

Looks like the Ganglion Skell forces were finally waking up. Getting on his comm he connected with Cross.

"All Ziggs destroyed, time for you to save our butts with those fancy robots of yours Lieutenant."

"Just Cross is fine. And don't you sweat it Space Marine, we'll be there in less than a minute."

"You'd better, I don't think the Ganglion like how we've redecorated their house."

No sooner had he finished his sentence than Garroway saw several Qmoevas and a Galdr lift off from the center of the fortress, clearly looking for payback.

A minute was suddenly looking like a long time.

"Alright team we've got a clear shot at ruling the sky! Let's make quick work of this and lend a hand to our friends on the ground. Assume flying V formation!"

"I hate that name…" I hear Vi mutter and grin, since that's exactly why I said it.

We head towards the fortress once again, but this time don't bother hugging the ground and gain an altitude of about seventy meters above the base. My sensors chime a warning as the Ganglion start deploying their Skell forces, which rise above the island and start moving towards us.

I count ten Qmoevas with one Galdr backing them up and I can't stop a smug smile from forming on my lips.

Two to one odds will make this an even fight.

"Celica, you're with me. We'll take the five Qmoevas at our nine o' clock. Mia, Vi, you two have the ones at three o' clock. Julun, you take the Galdr then move to assist our pals on the ground. Let's get to work guys!"

We peel off of each other and start moving towards our targets. The five machines Celica and I are up against accelerate towards us in a loose line and start firing as soon as they enter weapons range.

I shake my head in amazement. No discipline in these guys at all.

"Once we get within three hundred meters focus on the center machine, hold fire until then."

"Right behind you Cross."

We spend the next four seconds dodging and weaving as all sorts of munitions fly our way. Ether blasts, magnetically guided plasma shots, homing missiles, the works. Thankfully in between my machines natural sturdiness and jamming equipment, as well as Celica's frightening maneuverability, we take approximately zero damage as we charge towards the Ganglion line.

As soon as we enter the three hundred meter mark I lock onto the center machine with my L-launcher and assault rifle, while Celica does the same with her chain gun and rail cannons.

"Fire!"

At my command we lay on the trigger and tracers fill the air, drawing solid lines of light towards the lead Qmoeva. There's also a slight kick as one of the four warheads loaded into my launcher is shot out, before igniting it's engine and tearing towards the intended recipient.

The Ganglion immediately shift their fire to the oncoming missile, managing to shoot it down before it connects but the foremost pilot isn't good enough to hit the missile while simultaneously dodging our shots.

My volley goes wide but both of Celica's shots connect, with the chain gun tearing off an arm and a leg, while the railgun bullet pierces the pilot's compartment and likely splatters him across the inside of the machine.

Whoever's retrieving his remains out of that is gonna be doing it with a pressure hose.

Momentarily stunned by the loss of one of their comrades and our sudden retaliation, Celica and I fly through their formation with no further issue. I take a look at my tactical display and see that my other three teammates are just about to engage their own targets, just like we planned.

"Cross, they've looped around and are right on our tails."

I turn my attention back to our little theater of combat and see that the four Qmoeveas got their act together and are rapidly closing on Celica and myself. I smirk as they start to open fire, but none of the shots come even close.

"They've split up two on one, we'll loop around the compound and then pull a split jaw on them, you ready?"

"Whenever you are Cross."

"Then let's show these guys how we work."

Celica and I send our respective Skells into diverging paths that resemble a half-circle, two Qmoevas following us apiece. I deliberately keep my speed low so that they have time to catch up and stay interested, at which point my Skell beeps a warning at me that I'm being painted by a targeting laser.

I wait an extra second before throwing myself into a midair roll that slips me around a highly concentrated plasma blast, while several weaker shots fly by my Lailah with plenty of room to spare.

At this point I think the Qmoeva pilots are just throwing things at the wall, hoping something sticks.

A few seconds later I clear the lip of the fortress wall and bank towards where Celica is heading straight towards me. I take a deep breath and prepare to pull off a rather difficult maneuver.

The 'slip jaws' move was named after the Germivores that inhabit Mira, mostly after how their forward mandibles act like biological scissors, cutting their prey apart in a horizontal motion. The Skell version of this is fairly similar, but definitely not for newbies, maybe not even veterans.

After all, flying directly at your partners Skell when both of you are moving upwards of a thousand kmh isn't exactly easy. It takes extremely fast reaction time, as well as a certain level of intimacy and familiarity with your wingmate.

Luckily, me and Celica fit all of the above criteria, and then some.

We streak past each other with a scant meter to spare, already firing our weapons at our opposite number's pursuers. And not just firing directly at them either, we aim low so that the pilots instinctively dodge upwards.

Upwards into their teammates, who don't quite manage to figure out that we suckered them in time to avoid.

Two Qmoevas collide head on at a combined twenty-four hundred kmh, causing a very satisfying screech of distressed metal that sends the two machines pinwheeling away from each other in a spray of torn metal.

Two down, two to go.

"Cross, the one chasing me switched targets, he's after you now!"

I check my six and resist the urge to grit my teeth.

"Oh marvelous, why is it always me?" I mutter under my breath.

"Break right Cross, I'll cut across and-"

"Negative, help Garroway and the others, I can take care of these two."

There's a split second of hesitation before she replies, "Understood."

I see her bank towards the base and smile to myself.

If I can't handle two Qmoevas on my own, I'll hang up my pilot's wings and just retire.

I put my Skell into a steep climb and lay on the afterburners, ignoring the badly aimed shots that don't even come close enough to scorch the paint. I keep an eye on my sensor readout until it shows that the Ganglion mechs are directly behind me, spread out by about twenty or so meters.

Perfect.

I cut the main thrusters and flip my Lailah around, so that I'm facing the two Qmoevas in free fall. I wait another second for the Qmoevas to adjust to my new position before activating the upgraded jamming suite in my Skell.

The results are instantaneous. Both machines immediately cease firing and start haphazardly maneuvering, all coordination lost. I take advantage of their momentary confusion and disengage the E-Scythe on my right shoulder pauldron, triggering it and bringing to life a three meter beam of pure plasma contained in a carefully tuned magnetic field.

I savagely grin as I bring the blade down on the first ascending Qmoeva, burning through it's chest and cockpit, likely vaporizing the pilot before he or she even had a chance to blink.

The second machine lagged behind the first once my jamming took effect, so I hit the engines and a violent shove brings me within range of the Skell, which is only now realizing that it's in trouble.

Swinging the scythe down in a violent hammer blow, the Qmoeva brings up it's arms in a desperate attempt to block the beam. Which doesn't help obviously, merely delaying it's destruction by a fraction of a second as the scythe melts right through it's upraised arms and pierces the reactor housing, causing a violent explosion that blows the Qmoeva into next week and knocks my machine into a nauseating tumble, in addition to scorching the front of my armor.

Totally worth it though. Reactor explosions are always insanely cathartic to watch.

Halting the spin with careful bursts from my engines I take a look around the battlefield and see how things are coming along.

As I expected Vi, Mia and Julun finished off their opponents and are now in the process of surrounding and wiping out their side of the fortress, with some help from the BLADEs on the ground and the Hunter units. No need to worry about them.

Things are a little more shaky where Celica and Garroway's squad are fighting. They're facing roughly the same sized force that the others are up against, but only have about a third of the firepower available. I do a quick scan of the Ganglion they're up against and count three Pugiliths with maybe a dozen other foot soldiers to back the two walkers up.

Yah, against a single Skell with only four soldiers to back it up, that's a bit of an uphill battle. And I don't think just flying down from above guns blazing will do much, three Pugiliths can do a surprising amount of damage if you let them get a clear shot at you. I do a quick inventory of my available weaponry. I still have the Drone pods available, in fact I haven't used them once, as well as the scythe, rifle, pile bunker, shield and minigun. I also have three warheads in the L-Launcher. A thermobaric round, standard LGB and a 'beehive' missile.

Well, the 'beehive' was practically made for situations such as this, it'd be a shame not to use it.

"Garroway, you still alive down there?"

"For now. You done screwing around with your dance partners?"

"Indeed I am. You have any Hunter units still active down there?"

"Hunter One is still kicking, why?"

"That's all I need for now, brace yourself for incoming fire."

"I'll be waiting with bated breath. Now friggin hurry!"

I wince as I hear an explosion over the headset before he closes the channel. Sure sounds hectic down there.

I have my Skell interface with Hunter One's threat recognition software and start inputting targeting data into the missile, moving as fast as I can without screwing up any of the information.

I do not want to have any friendly fire accidents because I messed up a simple target selection algorithm. Regardless I finish in record time and open up a squad wide channel.

"Beehive missile away! Keep your heads down, impact in nine seconds!"

There's a small shudder as I launch the missile and it streaks towards the scattered Ganglion below. One of the Pugiliths stops firing at my allies and aims upwards, attempting to shoot down the missile.

After two seconds of missed laser fire one of the walkers shots hits the rocket's tail fin and knocks it into an uncontrolled spin.

Which then tells the missiles simple robotic brain to fire it's true payload.

The casing breaks off and fifty smaller missiles the size of two of my fingers put together streak towards the Ganglion below, led on by Hunter One's guidance.

The Ganglion completely ignore their previous targets and desperately try to shoot down the swarm of missiles bearing down on them, but they're a bit too late to get them all.

In their defense, they do manage to take down nineteen of the fifty missiles in the six seconds they have before impact, but in this case not getting the gold medal puts you in dead last, so to speak.

Twenty-four of the rockets target the remaining twelve infantry, while the remaining seven go for the three pugiliths.

Each of these missiles hits with the force of a conventional frag grenade, so maybe two for each soldier was a bit overkill, if the sudden bursts of spraying blood as the warheads tear into the infantry are any indicator.

I don't envy the janitor that has to go cleaning this battlefield afterwards, they'll have their work cut out for them.

The pugiliths fare a bit better, but the missiles still knock them around and damage their armor, making them easy targets for Celica and myself.

I go in for a strafing run with my rifle raised, while Celica's Formula hoses them down with a deadly combination of rail cannon and grenade fire. At the mercy of our weaponry and better positioning, the Pugiliths don't last long and ten seconds later it's over.

I raise Julun after making sure that all the Ganglion are down and ask, "So how are things on your end? All done?"

"All Ganglion accounted for Cross. Not much left of base either."

"You know we were supposed to keep structural damage to a minimum right?"

"Hard to honor objectives when Ganglion coward is hiding behind wall."

"Fair enough. Take Vi and Mia and start patrolling the area, make sure we didn't miss anything. The main force should be flying overhead in about five minutes."

"Understood."

With that taken care of I turn back towards Garroway's squad and watch him help Jelani along, seeing as how the guy is missing his right arm and all.

"High fives are gonna suck now right?"

I see him smirk at my joke despite the obvious pain he's probably feeling and he retorts, "Joke's on you Boy Wonder, I'm left handed. So Garroway, you gonna think about raising that flag anytime soon?"

"What makes you think I already didn't?"

He jerks his thumb behind him and I notice that he somehow found time to plant an old United States Flag on one of the towers that comprise the base.

I chuckle at his obsession with tradition and make a mental note to praise the Hunter unit's effectiveness. While it doesn't look like Hunter Two made it through the battle, Hunter One is still standing strong, despite the heavy damage to it's chassis.

Tan'Celeg and Veven really know their business.

Me and Celica spend the next few minutes taking inventory of all the wrecked equipment around the base before my comm beeps, signifying that I have an incoming call.

"Hammer Leader to Gate Crashers, is objective Iwo Jima secure?"

"Hammer Leader you're free to fly on through. The flag is raised and the airfields are open."

"Heh, I should have known you would have our path cleared my disciple."

"Hey Bozé, if you've got time to talk you've got time to fly."

I laugh at Doug's uptight voice. He's always a stickler for rules during missions.

I hear Bozé sigh and say, "Very well then, we'll have to reconvene at a later time Cross."

"I'll keep my schedule open then, good hunting you two."

Bozé and Doug sign off and I turn my Lailah's optics toward the ocean. Sure enough I see a line of fifteen Skells carrying containers full of BLADEs and Hunter units approaching our recent conquest and then they're gone, roaring over the compound on their way to our main prize of the day, a major Ganglion outpost located about eighty kilometers away from this one.

I grin at Bozé and Doug's new squads, with Bozé leading the Hammers and Doug in charge of the newly christened Doughboys. A BLADE I don't know is in charge of Bozé's old unit, Team Balmung.

I almost feel sorry for the Ganglion they're about to go up against.

Ten hours later the battle was all but over. The main Ganglion compound had been sparsely staffed, in fact initial estimates of the base's population were almost double what was actually encountered. Needless to say the assault had gone smoothly with only one Skell destroyed, two of the ground soldiers killed and five Hunter units wrecked.

Not a bad start at all.

After the fortress had been cleared out engineers and mechanics had started flying in from NLA. While the Ganglion were kind enough to provide a prefabricated base for our use, our current plan is to expand and reinforce it, using it as a sort of fortress and or repair base against any further Ganglion incursions from Sylvalum.

As I park my Lailah and power her systems down I take a look around the fortress at the controlled chaos happening. It's the usual mix of Ma-non, Orphean, Prone and Humans that make up NLA's engineering brigades, and after a few months of working together they really have this sort of stuff down to a science. The Prone do most of the heavy lifting, and sure enough I see three Tree Clan members attaching the massive barrels of an anti-air gun that would normally require eight Humans in MIMs to assemble. The Ma-non and Orpheans aren't exactly the most physically inclined species, so they handle things like assembling electronic systems and keeping track of what materials go where. Us Humans are sort of the jack-of-all-trades guys, taking care of the odd job and making sure the more specialized jobs don't blow up in our faces.

I yawn as I drop the last meter to the ground and walk to where my squad set down. Everyone's stretching their limbs with varying degrees of discomfort and I notice Mia rubbing her butt with a pained look on her face.

Well who am I to judge? Sitting in a crash seat for half a day would flatten anyones tush.

"You look like a real pain in the ass Mia."

"Oh har har Chief. Not all of us have buns of steel."

"In my case quite literally."

She rolls her eyes and settles on merely ignoring me. I turn to the non-cybernetic members of our group and pose a general question.

"So how was your guys's first Skell battle? You lived through it so c'mon, hit me with the details!"

Julun grins like a kid and immediately replies, "I refuse to leave Skell for combat ever again. Had feeling of invincibility."

Vi snorts and says, "Don't become so overconfident that you actually end up losing one day. Because all I will have to say is, 'told you so'."

"Hmph. Spoken like true jealous man."

Celica interjects with, "Can you two not argue every time you're occupying the same space? Banter or not it's quite exhausting for the rest of us."

Mia grins and slyly adds "Oh I dunno Celica, if I didn't know any better I'd say these two have a bit of a thing for each other."

They don't even blink and Vi gives a derisive snort.

"Impossible. My preferred woman would be of gentle demeanor and quiet confidence, and have a beauty that would leave me breathless. Does that sound like our dear comrade here?"

"I shall remember those words when I am strangling you later Wrothian, since you mentioned being 'breathless'."

"Yo, Cross!"

We all glance towards the booming voice and see Doug striding towards us, a big grin on his face. I answer with a smile of my own and clasp his bicep when we get within arms reach of each other.

"Looks like you came through the battle just fine then. Welcome to Alpha Base!"

He grins and nods towards the rest of my team.

"You gonna introduce me? I know Mia and Celica, but who are the other two?"

"The Wrothian is Vi Leand, and miss Prone here is Julun Baravo. Guys, this is Doug Barrett, a good friend and ok Skell pilot."

"You're pretty free with the editorials there pal."

"It just shows how much I care."

"Well I didn't come over here just to grouse about your bad manners, all of us are having a special dinner event over yonder and you're all the last guests to arrive. So c'mon already, we've got something to celebrate!"

The impromptu dining area set up had all the comforts of home. A few flimsy tables, nowhere near enough chairs for everyone, and a dirt floor with plenty of sharp rocks to go around.

All the comforts of modern civilization, am I right?

"Ah, you've finally arrived my disciple! Come! Regale me with the details of your battle, I have been waiting many hours for this."

I can't help the exasperated smile that comes to my face.

"Sensei, I just got here and you already want to talk shop? Let's at least eat first, Doug was all hyped up for this feast he had prepared."

Bozé gave a confused frown.

"Feast? Odd of him to say that. Pre-made rations have been the staple of our diet."

"…You're kidding me."

"I'm afraid not."

I turn around and see Doug impishly grinning.

"I may have brought along a little something that is…hard to come by nowadays. So instead of standing here how about we-"

He's cut off as his comm beeps. Looking down at it he viciously scowls and growls, "You two will have to go on without me for now. Mechanics want me for something. Bozé, show him where I stashed the goods."

I frown as he disappears into a crowd of mechanics.

"Well now what?"

Bozé thoughtfully strokes his chin.

"Well he did say to show you the coolers he left behind…"

"Did you say coolers?"

"Yes, why?"

I stare at him in open wonderment.

"Show me."

Shrugging he leads me to a pile of three old fashioned water coolers that are set off to the side of the camp. Curiosity getting the better of me I open up one of them and my eyes widen as I see what's inside. Three frozen Pork Tenderloins, with different sauces and spices lined up right alongside them. Booze breathes out in awe, "By Buddha's good graces…"

"You can say that again. Where was he hiding this stuff all this time?! Earth meats are practically buried treasure at this point!"

"I cannot say. Although I see why he was less than pleased to be pulled away at this juncture. But now the question is how was he planning to prepare it…"

"Couldn't we just throw it in a field oven or something?"

Bozé looks at me like I just asked him to swap underwear with me.

"Unthinkable! Those measly machines cannot do justice to proper outdoor cooking. As hard as it is to say, I think we should merely wait until someone can actually do justice to this meal."

I sit for a minute before smiling as the beginnings of an idea form in my head.

"Hey Sensei, we wouldn't happen to have any tinfoil lying around would we? Or something similar that can conduct heat? Also if we have a few bars of metal saying around I'll need those as well."

"We have plenty of those items lying around, but why ask? Wait…you're not actually planning to cook these are you?"

I give a smug grin and reply, "Trust me, after spending a year around Lin and helping her out with meals, you learn a thing or two. Give me the benefit of the doubt Sensei, and I promise I will blow your mind."

I sneak a glance at where Mia is introducing the rest of my squad to the Hammers, Balmungs and Doughboys.

A massive grin I have no control over sneaks onto my face. Man I cannot wait to showcase one of my few talents that doesn't have anything to do with beating things to death.

"While Master Bozé speaks quite eloquently about your skills in combat, he neglected to mention that you're a chef that could put Ni Zain to shame."

I grin as Gu Ladha stares with open infatuation at my slowly roasting masterpieces. Then again I have quite the crowd of almost fifteen BLADEs mesmerized by the aroma of sizzling meat, the Wrothian and Prone members of our squad being first and foremost among them.

"So you call him Master then? Sheesh, that guy takes on students like a sinking ship takes on water."

"But perhaps that is just the sort of mentor I needed, he certainly didn't allow me any room for self-doubt."

Vi amusedly snorts at her words.

"I see where Cross get's some of his teaching habits. From the very start he was always throwing us to the beasts of Mira, saying 'you'll all be fine'."

I give a mock frown and reply, "I had nothing but faith in your ability to survive. Besides, all that tough love paid off in the end now didn't it? Zo Ozuchi was pretty impressed with your improvement now wasn't he?"

Gu Ladha stares at Vi with open wonder on her face.

"Wait, you're the rumored student of Zo Ozuchi? I had no idea…"

Vi gets all shy at her sudden show of admiration and bashfully says, "It's nothing too impressive, Cross is still a far better warrior than I am, I still have much to learn."

I can't resist hyping up Vi as his wingman and slyly say, "Not so unimpressive that Ozuchi didn't give him his own personal Calador…"

"What?! The legendary Zo Ozuchi passed on his Calador to you?! That's amazing!"

Vi is practically dying of embarrassment at this point and I have to try my hardest not burst out laughing at his expression.

He and Gu Ladha had hit it off almost instantly, to my surprise and enjoyment. I guess being one of the few Wrothians accepted into the elite squads, as well as dealing with…eccentric Humans gave them a lot to talk about. Gu Ladha seemed especially ecstatic that Vi was genuinely interested in talking to her, since she's always dealt with confidence issues due to her strangely rounded and fuzzy ears.

Wait a second…Vi doesn't mind the fact that her ears are different than other Wrothians…Lin once accused me of having a thing for Celica because of her radically different ears as well, which I'll admit I do find attractive…Christ.

The brat may be on to something.

Sighing despondently at that little revelation I turn to see how everyone else is taking Vi's newfound crush, and find them staring at me.

Mia and Julun give a thumbs up at my little pep talk and Celica gives a knowing grin. I guess we're all on the same page then. Good to know.

Casting a subtle glance in Celica's direction I wonder what exactly is taking Tatsu so long to find the damn flower. He was supposed to call me as soon as he was back in NLA with one, I hope he didn't get lost on the way back or something dumb along those lines.

Well no sense worrying about it now, he'll get there when he gets there. In the meantime I have a couple campfires to watch over.

After Bozé and a few others had gotten all the stuff I needed the fun part had started. Digging out three different fire pits and lining them with spare metal storage racks gave me a barbecue rack of sorts to work with. The fire itself is being provided by three Skell class flamethrowers that we, uh, 'appropriated' for this very purpose. We have them running at something like 1 or 2% power, and even that's providing a very toasty flame to sear the meat with.

Truth be told it wasn't all that hard to actually make the stuff, all I did was rub the collection of spices and herbs into the meat, wrap them in the foil and then set them on the rack.

At this point I'm mostly just playing babysitter along with the meat thermometer that the mess hall back in NLA is probably missing by now (in retrospect, it's a good thing BLADE is a lot more relaxed in their rules than the militaries back on Earth were. By now me and my pals probably would have been court-martialed a dozen times over).

I turn towards Justin and see him happily chatting away with La Duran and Doban Fogor, a Wrothian and Prone from Doug's squad. Of course Bozé would have brought someone like Justin into his group, the guy is about as upstanding a BLADE as you could ask for.

"Hey Justin, you going to introduce me to your new friends yet?"

"Ah Cross! I was just telling Duran and Doban here about you. They were quite skeptical when I said that you were the role model I looked up to!"

Doban looks somewhat embarrassed and she sheepishly says, "There was no offense meant. But Justin is such pure soul that it was hard to believe someone more accepting than him existed."

"Oh don't worry he's still the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He just likes to put me on a pedestal for some reason."

"Only because you inspired me so Cross! Following your career has only encouraged me to push myself even further than I thought I could go."

Oh boy, a groupie. I actually have no idea to respond to this blatant hero worship. It's honestly making me a little uncomfortable.

Thankfully a loud voice cuts through the camp and spares me the necessity of answering Justin's open admission.

"What the heck is this Cross?! You didn't tell me you could cook as well!"

"I live to surprise Doug. And speaking of surprised how the heck did you hide that meat for so long?"

He eyes my barbecuing setup and gives an approving nod.

"Sorry bud, but that's for me to know and for you to wonder."

"You probably just hid them in the main freezer storage and labeled them with every, 'do not touch' warning sticker you could find, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Sheesh. Carry your secrets to the grave then."

With a satisfied sigh Mia leans back in her chair and smiles lazily.

"I gotta say Chief, you sure know how to do a campfire barbecue right."

"What can I say? I must have been classically trained."

Doug chuckles at that.

"Is that a guess or a fact?"

"Mostly just a joke really, it feels weird actually knowing about my previous life on Earth, I've spent so long just making ridiculous guesses about it."

There's a deathly silence as Doug and Bozé stare at me with mouths open and I realize what just slipped out of my mouth.

Oh well, it's not like it's some state secret anymore. I might as well start letting people know, and my squad is well overdo to know all the details.

Before I get all my thoughts together Bozé suddenly stammers out, "Wait, Cross…that isn't merely a jest is it? You actually recovered your memories?"

I give out a low sigh and take a look around as everyone is trying not to look too eager to hear my story, and failing miserably.

"Well recovered isn't exactly the right word…if anyone wants to know feel free to gather around, this might take a few minutes."

Just like I predicted after I finish recounting my tale there aren't any smiles or cheers of happiness. Instead everyone is either quietly looking at their shoes or has a look of outright horror and disgust on their face. The Wrothians and Bozé in particular look outraged.

Well the Wrothians I can totally understand. While they're big on the whole 'warrior culture' ideal, they're also insanely up front and honorable. The thought that a group of people took children against their will, brainwashed them into mindless slaves and then sent them off to likely die in the wilds of space is probably as appealing a concept to them as a child rapist is to us.

Kind of an extreme example, but I think it gets the point across.

Bozé is probably horrified by the fact that his star pupil turned out to be some perfectly crafted killing machine, instead of the pure soul he seems to have thought I was.

That particular thought leaves a rather bitter taste in my mouth. My inner thoughts are interrupted as he suddenly stands up and purposely strides toward me, his face an impassive mask.

I try to face him with a stare of my own, but, well…I guess I'm kind of afraid at what he'll say.

What catches me by complete and total surprise is his sudden and affectionate hug.

"Er, Uh, Sensei? You alright Bozé? What are you doing?"

He steps back after a moment and the look of unadulterated fatherly love on his face leaves me speechless.

"Ah, you poor child. Torn from your family, subjected to Kami knows what, then thrown into the middle of a war you had no knowledge of why you were fighting in."

I shift a little uncomfortably.

"You're making it out to be some grand tragedy Sensei, it's not really anything that dramatic. And to be totally honest, I thought you'd be weirded out by what I am."

He frowns and takes a deep breath.

"KATSU! Cross! I did not, not for a second, doubt that your past made you less of a man. In fact, I would say that in spite of your upbringing, you still have shown remarkable strength of spirit and character, far beyond anything I have ever encountered in my life of teaching. I'm proud to have met and befriended you, and even more honored that you consider me your teacher."

Which leaves me with a sizable lump in my throat and nary a single witty comeback. I settle for the simple, if less eloquent, approach.

"Well shucks man…I don't really know how to respond to all that."

Doug snorts at my awkward reply.

"Way to make him almost have a heart attack Bozé…but well said all the same. I'd like to think I speak for everyone else here present when I say that."

There's a chorus of nods around our little camp circle and I hesitantly look towards my group, somewhat wary of what their reactions will be.

I shouldn't have worried.

Mia just gives me a wink and thumbs up, I feel Vi ruffle my hair and Julun gives me a playful punch on the arm. I then feel my hand being held and see Celica looking at me with an amused look on her face.

"You didn't really believe we would be would be unsettled, did you?"

I give a melancholic sigh.

"No, but that still didn't stop the annoying voice in my head from scaring me anyway."

That earns a round of laughs from the surrounding BLADEs and just like that all the tension and gloom is gone. Doug smiles and says, "And you were all worried about how we would feel after you finished your little tale. For what it's worth, I think most people will be sympathetic and not look at you like some creepy Frankenstein monster. THAT SAID…" he slowly cracks his knuckles one at a time, a feature MIM designers left in, while his face loses it's smile and instead deepens into a scowl.

"I think I need to go and have a little chat with Vandham and Nagi about what else they might be hiding."

"I'll be right behind you Barrett, those two had no business sitting on this information for so long."

I look nervously at Bozé and Doug, and realize I should probably try to stop them from being too hard on NLA's guiding lights.

"Uh, guys? While I appreciate the anger on my behalf, I've kinda already forgiven them."

Bozé looks at me with disbelief written all over his face.

"You what?"

"I already reached an understanding with them. And I understand why they kept my past a secret, heck, if I was in their position I might have done the exact same thing they did. So if you're going to confront them…well, just try to go a little easy on them."

I get a few blank stares until Bozé sighs defeatedly.

"Your compassion truly knows no bounds, does it my disciple?"

"I like to believe that second chances exist."

Doug gives a frustrated groan and says in an annoyed tone of voice, "Alright alright…we'll give them a chance to explain before we go on a rant. Deal?"

"Deal. And thanks."

Doug rolls his eyes and I barely hear him mutter under his breath, "Freaking goody-two shoes…"

That causes me to burst out laughing.

"You know Chief, despite all your good natured words and fervent admirers, you're a real bastard of a card shark aren't you?"

I smirk as I take a look at my recent winnings. Guess who's a secret master of Blackjack?

This guy.

"Well Mia, if I told you my secret you would never want to play with me again, and where's the fun in that?"

"Hah! With that level of bluster you're just pulling my leg!…right?…you're not counting cards are you?"

I just evenly stare at her.

"That's no freaking fair Chief! Seriously, I don't get how you're supposed to keep track of fifty plus cards all at once!"

"Well there's your first problem Mia, you're not supposed to keep track of all the cards."

"…Huh?! I thought that's how card counting worked?"

I snicker and reply, "So you thought I was keeping track of fifty-two cards while also holding a conversation? Jesus no, that would be a step or two above impossible for me. Not that it matters, since I still cleaned your clock."

She mutters something along the lines of, 'bloody super soldiers' and I have to fight down a grin.

I take a closer look around the still bustling fortress to see if the other three are on their way over to where Mia and I are waiting. I spot Julun and Celica getting up from where they were chatting with some members of the Doughboys and Hammers, and wave them in our direction.

Julun walks up with a twinkle in her eye and says, "Seen lover boy yet? He is fast worker, no?"

Mia and I turn towards where Julun is pointing and see VI holding both of Gu Ladha's hands and happily conversing with her, the both of them obviously enjoying each others company.

I give a low whistle.

"Is that what they call love at first sight? Or is it soulmates?"

"Does word matter? I say results are enough, no?"

Mia leans over to Julun and whispers not so subtly, "He's a lot more decisive than a certain pal of ours."

Both me and Celica awkwardly shift for a second and I'm momentarily torn between just admitting that I'm planning to ask her out to shut Mia up, or keeping the surprise a surprise.

Screw it, I've kept this under wraps so far, I'm not gonna cock it up now. I instead gently pull Celica closer by the hip and try to convey what I'm thinking through my eyes. She looks confused for a moment but seems to get the message and puts an arm around my waist as well.

Non-verbal communication. It's an amazing thing.

Eventually Vi stops his lovey-dovey conversation with Gu Ladha and heads in our direction.

I smirk as he get's closer and slyly say, "Hey hot stuff, how was your little uh, 'conversation'?"

He manages to keep an unabashed expression and simply replies, "She is a remarkable person, why do you ask?"

Well that's no friggin fun.

Mia rolls her eyes and says, "Come on Julun, us bachelorettes need to stick together. See you tomorrow guys, sweet dreams!"

I holler at her retreating back, "It's that snarky attitude that keeps you from landing a date!"

She flips me the middle finger without even looking back which elicits a chuckle from me. I turn back to Vi and Celica who are looking at me with a bemused look.

"What's with the looks guys?"

Celica gives a dramatic sigh and replies, "It's just amusing seeing you accuse someone else of being 'snarky'. I think the saying is, 'pot calling the kettle black'?"

"I will second that."

I shoot a betrayed look at them as they both nod in agreement.

"Well geez, remind me to never enlist you two in any mocking sessions I partake of. You'll probably just stab me in the back halfway through."

They both ignore me with amused looks on their faces. I sigh in defeat as we start heading towards the temporary sleeping quarters.

Isn't it nice to have friends?

"Ok real talk here people. Am I the only one who thinks something is strange here?"

I frown at Doug's question as he opens a channel only between squad leaders.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Nothing I can put my finger on. Just com-jits."

My frown deepens into a full on scowl at this point. Com-jits is slang for 'combat jitters', a sort of extrasensory feeling that most soldiers tend to experience, similar to how dogs or birds could sense that an Earthquake was imminent. The problem is that it isn't always easy to distinguish com-jits from just plain old nervousness before battle.

However, Doug's been in the military long enough that I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"James, you got anything on FrontierNav?"

James Davidson is the new leader of the Balmungs, and not too far behind Doug or Bozé in terms of years in the military.

"Negative. Only the same readings we've been getting for the last hour. I know Data Probe coverage is shaky out here on the waves, but this is almost too quiet."

"Sensei? Your take?"

"Hmm…Let's keep approaching the Ganglion base until we can get a visual. But let us approach cautiously. I agree with Barrett. Something seems off about this."

I relay our new plan of approach to my squad and try not to clench my controls too tightly. The twenty Skells of our assault force slow our speed and gain altitude slightly, hoping for a better view of the fortress before we attack it.

We'd departed from the newly christened Alpha base around midday and began our approach towards the next Ganglion outpost (Ganglion patrol rotations seem to designate midday as the time to switch out, for whatever reason). What had started out as a fairly straightforward plan is now reminding me more than a little of how our recent raid in Sylvalum went.

"Contact! Several Ganglion Skell signatures rising from the base!"

I snap my eyes to the information being displayed on my monitor and raise an eyebrow. Fourteen Qmoevas, three Galdr's and two Fal-Swo. Not a particularly impressive force, even accounting for the three Ziggs that are stationed around the fortress. While Garroway and the rest of the ground assault forces aren't with our Skell group, they're hanging back in transports, waiting to airdrop into the base if needed. Heck, we might not even need them.

We can easily pick off the Ganglion from a distance, since Mia and James's Mastemas are packing highly accurate long range weaponry. We'll either force the Ganglion to come to us, away from the Ziggs fire, or whittle them down bit by bit.

Which is why I think something stinks. Things are never that easy, especially since the Ganglion seem to have gotten their collective shit together in these past few weeks.

They wouldn't have come up with such a haphazard response unless that's what they wanted to do.

The problem is there's no immediate threat to worry about. No sudden appearance of enemy units, no sudden loss of communication, and frankly FrontierNav seems to be working just fine.

Doug seems to have agreed with my conclusion as he addresses the whole squad.

"Mia, James, set up for long range bombardment, everyone else, take up sentry positions, keep intervals of no less than one hundred meters at all times. If something approaches us I want to know about before it can start shooting at us!"

A chorus of acknowledgements rings out and we all fly to our positions. James disengages his Hyper-Rail cannon while Mia unlimbers her X-Sniper and prepares to fire. Another ten seconds or so and everything will be ready. I take this opportunity to check on FrontierNav in case we missed anything. Unfortunately it's working just fine, all Ganglion Skells are showing up just fine, even data such as noise level and heat output are show-

Wait. Why is there information on that stuff available? We only get that kind of info when there are several Probes that can work in tandem, and we sure as Hell don't have one in the middle of a freaking Ganglion fortress.

I do a quick scan of the data that's being displayed and feel my blood run even colder. The graphs are showing data that's usually found for Ganglion mechs the are at ground level, not hovering dozens of meters in the air.

We've been set up.

"Doug, this is a trap! That Frontier data is faulty, they're deliberately altering it! We need to pull out now!"

There's a second two of tense silence as he no doubt double checks the system just to confirm it, then I hear him spit out a curse with extra vile in it.

"All squads, reenter formations and pull out! Return to base, the Ganglion are pulling a fast one! Move!"

A few weeks ago there would have been hesitation, maybe even a question or two. But after the numerous Ganglion ambushes no one even flinches, instead doing exactly as Doug instructed.

We quickly reform into our five-man squads and jet away from the base as quickly as our Skells can go. I take a glance at our displays and see the Ganglion force that had previously been holding position over the base now suddenly accelerate after us.

Not good news, since they're obviously confident that they can handle us once whatever it is they're planning shows up. Christ I hope we figured out their little trick soon enough.

No such luck.

"Approaching contacts, eight kilometers to our two o' clock! And five readings from our ten o' clock!"

"What type of units are in the new contacts?"

"Ten o' clock has two Seidrs and what looks like three Ziggs on barges of some kind. Two o' clock is…one Fal-Swo, leading thirteen other bogeys and one big one…Thirteen unknowns are Balaena, the larger one is…Oh SHIT, that's Draken."

There's a few sharp intakes of breath at the news and I don't blame them. Balaena are massive creatures with extremely thick hides, taking one on in a single Skell isn't exactly something you do if you want to live long enough to draw your pension.

Draken, The Drifting Cloud, is seven times bigger than your average adult Balaena, and has a nasty temper to round out the whole package. The icing on the 'we're so screwed' cake is that it's hide is damn near impenetrable to any weapon short of a Skell class bunker buster warhead, something only three of our machines are packing.

I scowl at the Ganglion's admittedly brilliant maneuver.

Hacking into FrontierNav and feeding false, but at a glance accurate, information led us into thinking it was working fine. Then launching a smaller force than anticipated distracted and made us more cautious, causing us to waste time setting up a careful siege.

That bought them enough time to set up two pincer attacks at equidistant points, basically forcing us into a harsh fight no matter where we go. Pulling all of that off, as well as corralling Mira's Indigens with such precise timing, must take a very cool and composed commander.

I hope I get the opportunity to personally rip this mystery genius's head off in the near future.

"Well guys what do you think? We've got at least a minute before the point of no return."

Doug asking us for our opinion's isn't very encouraging, but I can't really blame the guy. Things do seem pretty bad.

To our slight pleasure we see the Fal-Swo that was leading the Balaena get destroyed in a barrage of molten rock launched from the gullets of several of the creatures. I'll try not to think about the fact that that's exactly what we're going up against in a little bit.

Bozé speaks up with a grim tone to his voice.

"A fighting retreat then. Half of our forces hold off the Ganglion from our initial target, and the rest try to carve a path through the oncoming creatures. We can outrun them if giving enough room."

There's a sullen silence before Doug comes back with, "Alright then, Doughboys, Hammers! We'll stay behind and hold of the pursuing Ganglion! Cross, James. You two try to create an opening in that Indigen horde so we can follow you through, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"You got it Doug. And you'd better bring yourself back dumbass, I do not want to have to be the one to explain to Elma that your sorry ass got blown to pieces by a bunch of Ganglion pansies!"

He chuckles.

"I'll do my best then, good hunting! We'll buy you three minutes!"

With that half of our force slows their speed and gains altitude, preparing for a rearguard action.

I force myself to focus on our target and wonder how the HELL we're supposed to, 'create an opening'. The Balaena are noticing us now and deciding that we're similar enough to the things that were attacking them earlier too be considered a threat.

With several high pitched shrieks that reverberate through the air they start surging towards us, Draken right in their midst.

"Ideas Cross?"

"I was hoping you had one."

"Guess I'll have to disappoint then, I got nothing."

I grunt in acknowledgment and desperately try to think of a way to get these things to take a hike. Ten seconds away from maximum firing range and I can't think of anything beyond playing it by ear.

Great plan, I know.

"James, take your squad and gain a height advantage over the things, we'll dive straight in and try to get their attention."

"Roger that, we'll keep you covered."

I switch over to my squad frequency and try to sound confident.

"Alright guys here's the plan. These things are tough but not the most agile. Try to get in close to their blindspots and make damn sure you don't get anywhere near their mouths. Distract them so James and his guys can hit them with everything they got. Let's do this!"

"Understood!"

I give a small smile at how they don't even ask what the backup plan is, merely assuming I know what I'm doing. Here's hoping that today isn't the day I betray their faith.

My Lailah chimes a warning and I see several flaming rocks vomited from the Balaena come flying our way.

"Break formation! Vi, with me, everyone else pick a target we pass and focus it down!"

Vi's Calador is fast enough to dodge around a lot of the Balaena, and all modesty aside, I'm probably the best pilot in the squad aside from Julun, but then again she's practically driving a tank, not exactly great for hairpin maneuvers.

I focus and take a deep breath, calming my nerves and try to think of a way out of this trap.

With a howl one of the first Balaena tries to bite my machine, but with a gentle roll I scrape by it's maw with maybe a meter to spare. Quickly unlimbering my E-Scythe I activate it and smoothly cut through one of it's float sacs, changing it's enraged scream into one of pain. It's cries are cut short as Celica, Julun, Mia and the Balmung's concentrate their weaponry on the beast and tear it to shreds.

One down, twelve to go. Not counting the Godzilla in the room of course.

Speaking of Draken, it suddenly shifts it's attention to the Balmung's, two hundred meters above and the other Balaena follow suit. I notice several of their gullets contracting and I shout into the audio mike, "Balmungs, you've got incoming!"

Barely half a second after my warning a massive wave of burning grinding stones is expelled from the cloud of Balaena, with Draken firing almost nine boulders in one go. The Balmungs immediately try to juke out of the oncoming hail of rocks, and for the most part succeed, except for one Inferno that takes Draken's deluge head on and is smashed into several flaming pieces.

I bite back a curse. One Skell for one Balaena isn't gonna net us a win, even if our goal was simply to wipe them out. I force myself to think of some kind of plan that doesn't involve a straight up brawl, and come up with nothing.

"Cross, incoming!"

Vi's alert brings me back to the here and now and I jerk on the controls to avoid a sudden lunge from one of the frenzied Balaena. Vi takes advantage of it's momentary distraction and shoves his Calador's Spear into the Indigens eye, causing a panicked bleat to escape from it's maw. And just like last time the ensuring volley of fire blasts huge chunks off of the thing, causing it to spiral lazily to the ocean below, where it crashes through the surface with a massive splash.

Again though, this simply isn't going to work. The Balmungs are using a lot of their heavy weaponry to take these things out, probably twenty percent of the heavy ammo is gone after those two volleys, and they're now down one member.

I fight down the sudden rush of anxiety as Draken yet again looks upwards, all the other Balaena following suit. I start to shout a warning but James beats me to it.

"Balmungs, break formation!"

They do their best to avoid the oncoming barrage but another blast from Draken tears off the arm of a Verus, wobbling the machine. I take a shaky breath and glance back towards the Hammers and Doughboys, and feel my blood run cold. I can vaguely see the contrails of their engines at this distance, and two of them are shining almost five times brighter than the others. They must have activated their machines Overdrives, trying to buy just a little more time.

Which is a death sentence for those two pilots. The Overdrive system is a last resort option when the only other real alternative is dying. By forcing the Skells reactor to insanely high levels of output, the machine can draw upon incredible levels of output, firing weapons both simultaneously and continuously, something that would normally be impossible due to power limitations, as well as reaching abnormally fast flying speeds.

All this power comes with a heavy handicap though. No Skell has thus far been able to last more than a minute in Overdrive state, as the reactor will burn itself out leaving the Skell unpowered and helpless. Even should the pilot be retrieved afterwards, activating a Skell's Overdrive is frowned upon. The sheer power flowing through the machines innards often burns out sensitive systems and damages parts of the reactor, necessitating a complete overhaul of the Skell's internal systems.

At that point it's almost easier to just make a new Skell.

Grimacing I back to our own predicament and once again to try to come up with something. The Balaena are back to focusing on my group, and my train of thought is interrupted as I have to dodge a sudden charge by one of the things.

And then James hesitantly speaks up.

"Cross? Have you noticed something strange about the way the smaller Balaena interact with Draken?"

I snarl as I put my machine into a crazed spiral, barely avoiding a stream of molten rock before deploying my Drones to attack the offending party. It flinches away from the darting robots as they tag it with concentrated laser fire.

"They do seem to follow it whenever it's attention is drawn by something, like when they attacked your squad as one."

There's a second of silence that leaves me with a sense of trepidation before James opens a channel to all squads.

"Hammers Doughboys! You've got a way out, start pulling back to our position!"

I gape at his words, wondering what the Hell he has planned.

"Balmungs, as soon as I attract the Balaena's attention, regroup with the other squads and get out of here. It's been an honor guys."

My eyes widen as I suddenly get what he's about to do.

"Balmung Leader, if you're-"

"Cross, I'm counting on you to keep my men safe. Good hunting."

I swallow the lump that's forming in my throat and reply, "Count on it. And remind me to buy you a drink when we drag your suicidal ass out of the Lifehold."

A chuckle.

"I'll do that."

The remaining Balmung members swoop down to join us in our close range duel against the scattered Balaena, while my heads-up display shows the Hammers and Doughboys suddenly disengage from their opponents and come flying towards us as fast as they can. I try not to focus on the fact that only seven machines fly towards us, the eighth suddenly activating it's overdrive and trying to hold off the reduced Ganglion force of eight Qmoevas, one Galdr and one heavily damaged Fal-Swo, if the machines haphazard maneuvering is any indicator.

Looks like Doug and Bozé's squads gave as good as they got.

"Everyone get ready to cover the Hammers and Doughboys when they rejoin us, for now conserve ammo and don't get eaten!"

Easier said than done, but thankfully with all the 'smaller' Balaena surrounding us Draken can't do much more than eye us angrily unless it wants to potentially hurt it's smaller brethren.

Which is when James makes his move. Activating his Mastema's Overdrive he dives down right in front of Draken, which mostly ignores him, intent as it is on the larger group of angrily buzzing machines.

It no doubt stops ignoring him when James aims his F2-Rifle at it's eye and burns a nasty swath through it's eyelid, eliciting an enraged roar from Draken that shakes the very air around it. It's roar is suddenly cut off when James sends a hyper-rail round directly into it's right incisor, blowing it off in a spray of disintegrating blood and enamel, turning it's planet shaking roar into a choking moan.

Hatred clear in it's remaining eyes, Draken surges after James, and the remaining Balaena follow suit, all baying for the machines blood. He quickly dodges their frenzied attempts and accelerates opposite to our direction, and the horde is quick to follow, belching great swathes of flaming debris that he barely avoids.

I heave an internal sigh and make a note to commend James's quick thinking and bravery if we make it back in one piece. Even if we're technically immortal, it ain't easy to just throw away your 'life' like that. Dying still feels pretty real if you ask me.

I cast a glance back towards where the Hammers and Doughboys are flying in from and frown. Their Ganglion pursuers are going to catch up to them soon at the rate they're going, and the two Seidrs are flying in to catch them in a pincer movement.

I scowl and take stock of our available forces. Julun and I still have plenty of missiles left, and Balmung two, Richard I think his name is, has an L-Launcher on his Formula.

"Julun, Richard. I'm going to feed targeting data to your machines. At my command let loose on those bastards."

Both of them reply with a cold eagerness to their tone.

"Ready and waiting."

"Waiting for your command sir."

I track my cursor over the oncoming Ganglion machines and start selecting targets. Three seconds later I link my machine with theirs and say, "Fire."

With a shudder my Lailah looses two Beehive missiles, Richard's Formula fires one Beehive and three Shrapnel Rounds, while Julun's Galdr fires fifty-six of the Ganglions specialized M-Missiles. In all, two hundred and nine missiles suddenly start streaking towards the pursuing Ganglion.

The results are immediate and gratifying in the extreme. The Ganglion mechs immediately kill their forward momentum and start backpedaling, firing wildly into the oncoming tidal wave of warheads. Not a single missile actually connects, but then any actual hits would have just been a happy coincidence.

The Ganglion lost enough time trying to shoot down our barrage that the Hammers and Doughboys managed to regroup with us so that we can be on our way with no lost time. My heart drops as I notice Gu Ladha's Calador being supported by Doug and Boze's Skells, it's left arm gone and a massive crater slightly to the side of where the pilot's seat is. I want to ask if she's alright, but that'll have to wait until we're in the clear.

I glance back and see the Ganglion getting ready to resume their chase, clearly hoping to take advantage of our need to carry disabled units. I curse under my breath and start doing a quick mental calculation of how far we'll make it before they catch up to us…before my audio sensors pick up a truly pissed off scream. Cranking my neck around I can't help but savagely grin as I see Draken and it's cronies come barreling towards the ganglion line, Hell bent on tearing them to pieces.

During our retreat we put enough distance away from the Balaena so that they would likely ignore us, but the Ganglion pursuit put them close enough so that the Indigens would be reminded why they would be so maddened in the first place.

My smile falters as I remember why the Balaena would be heading back our way in the first place. James's machine probably gave out pretty quick, even if he did lead them on a merry chase for awhile.

That said, I think he would be laughing right about now if he saw how his little distraction ended up screwing the Ganglion over, however inadvertently. I smirk as one of the Seidrs get's pummeled by Draken's trademark rock vomit and spirals out of control into the ocean, while the rest of the machines are trying to desperately disengage.

You reap what you sow.

The return to Alpha Base isn't the glorious, triumphant return we were hoping for. If anything it's frantic and more than a little subdued. Twenty machines set out, and only fifteen made it back, a full quarter of the group wiped out. Two of them are never coming back, a prone by the name of Doban Fogor, and a Wrothian called La Duran, two people that I met for a grand total of maybe five minutes last night.

You'd think that would soften the blow.

The other three were Humans, one of them I hardly knew at all, one of them I didn't know, but now wish I had, and one I'm going to miss more than I'll admit.

Keith, the Balmung who was taken out in Draken's initial volley.

James, the quick witted leader who saved us all with some very fast thinking.

Then Justin. Good old Justin, who volunteered to stay behind and allow the Hammers and Doughboys to live to fight another day, holding off a Ganglion force that outnumbered him ten to one.

To vastly understate and trivialize how I'm feeling right now…this sucks.

One silver lining to this bloody mess is that Gu Ladha is still alive. Vi had practically teleported from his Calador to her machine and was the first to help the rescue crews extradite her. I wince as her arm comes into view, crushed and mangled beneath who knows how many tons of metal. Despite the massive injury I don't quite miss the relieved look on her face as Vi immediately tries to help her onto a crash stretcher, obviously on the verge of panic at her condition.

He doesn't need to worry so much though. She'll likely get issued a prosthetic arm at some point, being a part of Bozé's squad and everything. Heck, with the Orphean and Ma-non's healing tech, she might just be able to regrow the arm entirely, given time.

It's sweet of him to worry though.

I breathe out rather shakily as I power down my Lailah and a swarm of mechanics descend on our Skells. I hop down and move to regroup with the rest of my squad, when I notice something rather disquieting about my right hand.

It's shaking.

I frown and perform one of my breathing exercises, willing myself into a calm state of mind.

It doesn't help. If anything, it's shaking even worse than before I tried to relax myself. I take a deep breath and try not to let the sudden surge of fear get the better of me.

Operative word: try.

Not having control over my body is terrifying in a way no Indigen or Xeno could ever be. What's worse is that it's probably a result of my own shaky mental state. If my mind is going then-

I grit my teeth and kill the thought before it fully forms. I will not be weak in front of those who are struggling with their own personal demons.

I can't.

Bozé. Bozé might have been hit hard by the loss and wounding of another one of his students. I should check on him. I turn on my heel and spin away from my squad before walking in his direction.

I walk up beside him as he talks to the mechanics in a tired voice and put a hand, the non-shaking one, on his shoulder.

"Sensei, are you all right?"

He halts his conversation and turns around. His face is tired, but otherwise composed. And while he both looks and sounds exhausted, there is no resignation or sign of defeat in them.

"Thank you for checking up on me son…This was a loss, yes. But we were not exterminated, and our comrades sacrifices will allow us to avenge them a hundredfold. So yes, I know what you are asking, and yes, I am once again saddened that I was unable to prevent the death of those under my care. But it was you yourself that once taught me that devoting myself entirely to revenge or despair is the height of foolishness. I will not fall into that same trap again. How is your squad holding up?"

I get a sick twist in my gut as I realize I had completely just blown them off as I was freaking out. I don't even know if they're hurt or waiting for me to give them orders.

Bozé seems to get the gist of this from the look on my face and for a moment disappointment clouds his face. The look disappears as he notices my still shaking right hand and his face softens.

"Go to them, son. It might put you at ease."

I breathe out and try to fight back my rising sense of self-loathing.

"I'll do that Sensei. Thanks."

I turn around and half run back to where our Skells are parked.

What the fuck is wrong with me right now?! Disregarding some of my closest friends, trying to distract myself from my own obviously degrading mental state…some leader I am.

I arrive in a hurry when all of the sudden I hear a shout.

"Cross! What the Hell, there you are!"

I look around me just in time to catch Mia's fist connecting with my shoulder, knocking me back and almost causing me to fall down.

"Jesus Mia, a simple hello would be ok."

"It's your fault Chief! You just up and disappeared after we landed, we thought something happened! Celina ran off after Vi, she though maybe you went with him, what happened?"

I take a deep breath and look her and Julun who just arrived square in the eyes.

"Nothing important. And I owe you two an apology. For just up and leaving like that."

Julun waves off my words.

"Hardly matter Cross. We know you meant no harm. Celica will want to kick your ass though."

I wince at the thought of that ensuring debacle and sigh.

"It's a kicking I kinda deserve."

As if summoned by my thoughts I feel a foot connect with my right cheek and I turn around to find a very pissed off Celica and somewhat bemused Vi.

"And just where did you wander off to?"

"I…went to check on Bozé."

Mia rolls her eyes.

"The dumbass was trying to apologize for checking on his friends, Celica. I swear the guy never learns."

I can't help but turn my eyes downcast. If only they knew just how badly I had failed to keep my cool. And here they are, trying to comfort me.

Celica heaves a huge sigh and gives a small smile as she walks behind me and then pushes me towards the medical station.

"Well then, let's go and visit Vi's girlfriend and see if she's alright then. Shall we?"

Vi rolls his eyes but doesn't quite manage to stop from smiling. I give an inward groan at how quickly these people are to just ignore what could have been a potential failure on my part and just carry on like nothings wrong. I glance down at my right hand, and notice that it's shaking a lot less than before.

Nahum repressed the urge to vocalize her sigh, instead settling for throwing the data pad onto her temporary desk with slightly more vehemence than was necessary. Their plan to ensnare and eliminate the Human's advance forces had turned on it's head, and with spectacular suddenness.

The first part had gone flawlessly. After realizing the Humans were attempting to slowly advance on Sylvalum one outpost at a time, she had quickly devised a plan of action for the garrison that was stationed on the island. Everything had gone perfectly at first.

The vermin hadn't noticed their network being compromised, luring the beasts from their ocean nests had gone perfectly, and reinforcements form other holdouts had arrived to bolster the standing garrison.

Unfortunately the battle had largely gone the Human's way from there. They seemingly realized that their 'FroniterNav' had been compromised and immediately started to retreat. Their sudden withdrawal didn't allow them to completely slip through the encirclement, but it had given them the option of only fighting one force at a time, instead of all three at once. A vicious rearguard action by half of their force had stalled the main Ganglion attack while the other half had fooled the simple minded Indigens into chasing a single machine, clearing a path for the retreat. That in itself wasn't a complete disaster, but luck hadn't favored her plan at the very end.

Which was completely understandable, if she were to be honest with herself. The ocean beasts had been an unknown factor, and it was with some trepidation that she had decided to make use of them. While they had initially served their purpose quite well, destroying some of the Human Skells, they had been far stupider than she planned, being fooled by a painfully simple maneuver and letting the Humans get away.

She should have signaled a retreat after that, keeping the losses between her forces and the Humans relatively even. But she had tasted blood in the water and ordered a pursuit.

Which of course was then sidelined by the massive beasts return. They had destroyed three more Qmoevas and damaged a Seidr before the more mobile machines could run away. The three Ziggs, on their cumbersome transport barges, were quickly dismantled, putting the kill-to-loss ratio firmly in the Human's favor.

Standing up and pushing her chair back with disgust she walked out onto the mesa that comprised most of Anvil Rock One, and felt a subtle excitement start to rise in her chest. She had started gathering most of the remaining Ganglion forces available from Cauldros and Sylvalum, sending additional orders to the last few holdouts in Noctilum and Oblivia. Almost sixty percent of all remaining Ganglion forces on Mira were now preparing for a massive campaign of extermination, planning to wipe the Human's and their allies off of the planet.

The time for reactionary plans and subtle ambushes was over. It was time to strike at the Humans while they still had an advantage, both in numbers and, ever so slightly, technology.

None of her military advisors ever spoke about this out loud, but they all knew about it. The Humans and their newfound friends had improved their military technology and quantity at an astounding rate, especially given their extreme circumstances in landing on a hitherto unknown planet with nothing but the technology on their backs.

Conservative estimates stated that in less than a year the Humans would surpass the Ganglion in both military tech and numbers. Given that timeframe, Nahum had realized that the sooner they were rid of the Humans, the safer they were. Their Skell technology in particular had advanced in leaps and bounds, at this point she wasn't above admitting that toe-to-toe, their average machine outperformed the Ganglion's standard Qmoeva frame. The Ganglion would have to play the odds and gamble everything on one decisive assault.

"Mistress. Nardacyon has arrived as per your instructions."

She nodded.

"Show me."

Following her adjutant she was led to a newly arrived Skell containment trailer, which slowly opened with the hiss of releasing hydraulics. The shadows pulled back slowly, revealing a giant Skell of the Almandal type. Covered with black and gold highlights, the machine cut an imposing figure, both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

This was Nardacyon, what some of the Ganglion liked to refer to as, 'The Shadowless', due to it's odd color scheme that combined light and dark into one.

It was also hers. She had painstakingly upgraded her already impressive Skell over the years with leftover parts from many a conquered enemy. Wrothian, Prone, and more recently some interesting schematics of the Vita's systems had found their way onto her machine. As a matter of fact, the onboard A.I. and controls were so delicately tuned to her preference that she doubted anyone else could pilot the machine without years of practice.

She loved it the same way some of the weaker species of the universe loved their children.

Whatever her personal feelings towards the machine were was irrelevant. What mattered now was that very soon the Ganglion would march on the vermin stronghold and raze it to the ground.

No matter the cost.

Author's Notes

Wait...did I just keep a self-imposed deadline?! Holy crap that's a first. Hmm...I was gonna talk about something until that distracted me...

Oh right! The overdrive mechanics! Well obviously in game the way overdrive works in Skells makes perfect sense, but if you try to think about in real world terms it's kind of a mess. Using power and shooting your gun makes your machine ultra-powerful? Oh if only...

But yah, that's mostly it in terms of things I wanted to clarify.

As always, thanks to those who are still hanging around and reading my work! You guys da best!