Hello everyone and welcome back. Now that its summer, I'll probably have more time to devote to this story, but I say probably cause this story isn't really my first priority. Still with all the free time I have, I'm hoping to get more chapters out before Senior year hits.
Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, its about a week later than I thought it would be, but thats because (drumroll please) I actually managed to get a job this summer. For about two to two and a half weeks I'll be working at the local county fair. So yeah, reason I couldn't get this out sooner was cause my first week was this week, still this is a pretty short job so I'll go back to having nothin to do pretty quickly.
Now as always, lets get the review responses out of the way, I got a bunch of reviews for the last chapter so here we go:
AceShadow: You'll get more about the Legion later, right now I'm gonna focus more on the development of the characters and the war itself. Yeah the KND is kind of like the Soviet Union, except without all the propaganda and the purges.
The Strangr: I'm glad you like my story so much, yeah school work does tend to get in the way, but now that its over things should get better. Sorry bought the bad cliffhanger btw.
hypercamera3: Glad you weren't disappointed, now that all that early exposition stuff is out of the way, the story will hopefully progress at a faster pace.
Jack Cross: Great to see that your still liking the backgrounds bits, like I said though, I am gonna be taking a break from a lot of that exposition stuff for a bit and start focusing more on the action, after all, we have a legion to find!
Gamewizard2008: I don't want to give any spoilers but I can say it will be good and bad for both sides.
Got more favorites and follows after that last one so heres thanks to BlackTemplarKnight295 and The Strangr for the follow and the favorite, cosmicfourze, Warmach1ne32 and Eckskalibur for the favorite and finally, thank you idkyilol and nsheldonb for the follow.
Ok, I thought I'd focus on the villains for a change in this chapter. So yeah, lets get this started.
"A selfish commander who only fights for himself, does not deserve victory." -Colonel Cameron S. Kreller, Directorate 3rd Army
Washington D.C, Virginia: X-Day
In the presidential bunker underneath the White House, all was chaos. The President's staff were in a flurry of activity as they frantically carried out their assigned tasks. Officials from the CIA and FBI were busy trying to connect with their agents outside Washington, what few generals in the room were arguing strategy over a map of the U.S while various security officers and members of the secret service worked on ways to evacuate the lot of them. Various TV screens and computer monitors scattered around the room were flipping through footage from topside security cameras.
The images on the screens showed the battered ruins of a decimated city, over which floated various boxy looking ships which rained fire down upon the ruins. Here and there, glimpses of battle could be seen, as the remains of the U.S. army fought desperately to repel the unknown invaders. It was evening and the light from a thousand muzzle flashes lit the gloomy dark surrounding the ruins with sporadic bursts of light. Ruins from the fight were scattered across the greens in front of the Washington Monument, which was now nothing more than a jagged splinter of marble.
The sounds of automatic weapons fire mixed with the heavy retort of Confederate rail rifles echoed from the loudspeaker. In the middle of all of this, the President sat at his desk and brooded over the fate of his nation. Everything had happened so fast, there had been almost no time to respond. One minute everything was peaceful, the next, every city in the world was being invaded. They had already lost contact with the European Union and most of the Asian and South American countries. The only major city left in the Russian Federation that was still transmitting was Moscow, but no government officials or generals had attempted to contact him or moved their forces to assist his nation. As it stands, he thought, I may well be the last president of the United States.
"Sir", one his aides said with an urgent tone, "I just got word from one of our agents in Langley, he reports that the enemy has taken CIA headquarters and is setting up what looks to be artillery positions." "Sir", another aide spoke up, "scouts report that the enemy has captured all bridges leading from the capital across the Potomac, we have no way of evacuating you to the National Airport." The President thought to himself, "we could use boats to evacuate to Bolling Field Airport if we can get to the edge of the city, have the National Guard form a defensive cordon around our route and order Air Force One to land there."
The aides looked nervous, "sir, I'm sorry but, thats impossible." "What do you mean its impossible!", stormed the President, "Bolling is right there at the edge of the city, if the guard cover us we can..." "Sir!", the aide interjected, "its impossible because we lost the last National Guard regiment an hour ago, all thats left is the city defense force!" "Well, call in reinforcements then!", ordered the President, "the American government cannot be allowed to die here, we must escape if the U.S is to continue!"
One the generals walked up to the desk and laid his hands flat upon its surface, "sir", he said, "the enemy is jamming all our communications in ways we do not understand and their forces have encircled the city, we can't even get a telegram out of here." "Uhhh, sir!", one of the security officers interrupted, "one of our last AA positions reports that Air Force One was just shot down after attempting to take off from the National Airport, they also report numerous squadrons of enemy armored vehicles advancing on the White House."
"Get me a direct feed from the topside cameras", ordered the President, one of the officers transferred the feed from an outside camera to the TV screen behind the President, it showed footage of everything directly in front of the White House. In the gloom of dusk, the President and his staff could see numerous hulking vehicles emerging from the gloomy wreckage of the city. Some of them looked vaguely like tanks the U.S. used, only bigger and more advanced looking. Others were completely different from anything they had seen before, a massive tank the width of two houses long and 3 stories tall, festooned with turrets and sporting a main gun as big as the base of the Washington Monument, a platform supported by four mechanical legs and bristling with AA guns and artillery pieces. The most numerous of all where the walkers and mechs, who marched alongside these metal giants like oversized infantry. At the foot of all these great and fearsome weapons, marched enemy soldiers, running through the wreckage of the city or riding in small troop carriers. In comparison to the giant weapons towering above their heads, the soldiers and their carriers looked like toys.
The sight was intimidating to say the least, on screen the few visible soldiers still defending the White House turned and ran, or broke down in fear and huddled amongst the wreckage as these nightmare engines of destruction towered overhead. The large tank suddenly ground to a stop as its gun began to charge. Particles of energy formed around the barrel of the weapon and numerous lights and power lines could be seen lighting up the weapons surface. The gun fired with a sound like a sonic boom, the recoil was so great it threw the front of the tank several feet back and lifted the front into the air a few feet before crashing back down to the surface. The projectile moved faster than the eye could see and slammed into the front of the White House. The camera feed immediately went dead and the White House rocked with such force that it seemed like the earth itself would shatter and swallow them whole.
The ceiling of the bunker shook and several computers and TVs blew a fuse and burst into sparks, lightbulbs cracked and shattered and the room temporarily went black before the auxiliary lights kicked in. "Shit!", swore one of the generals, who immediately began yelling into a shortwave radio, "is anyone left up there? Report, whats the situation?!" The radio remained silent. The President was furious, "general you better get me someone who can explain what the hell is going on or..." The general whirled on him, "or what sir? You'll fire me, cut my pay? I think its a bit late for that!" The President snarled and turned to one of his aides, "get me those adult industries representatives, they were supposed to be having a meeting at a convention center near here!"
"Sir", the aide said somberly, "one of the last reports we got from that area confirmed that all the representatives had been killed in the early minutes of the battle." "This is not happening", said the President, "those representatives promised me weapons that could defend this country from attacks like this, why didn't I listen to them!" "Sir", said another of the generals, seriously, "I believe it is time to consider using the nukes." The President was about to argue, but them he remembered what he had seen on the screen and he reconsidered, "fine, send the order", he said reluctantly. The general nodded and spoke to the other general who said something into the radio. The President steepled his fingers in front of him and continued thinking.
Several minutes passed without event, the residents of the bunker couldn't see the missiles launch because the cameras were down, but they could still receive updates from shortwave radio and the underground hard connection communication systems that ran between the bunker and other important command facilities throughout D.C. Ten minute later, the general got off the radio and said, "I just got word, the missiles are launching now." The President nodded and waited patiently as the general continued communicating with the launch control center. Something must have happened because the general suddenly became very pale as he turned back to the President, "sir, I don't know how, but the launch control center reports that the enemy just shot our nukes out of the sky with some kind of laser. The bombs did not detonate"
The President could not believe what he was hearing, "BUT THATS IMPOS...", he was cut off as the security door to the bunker exploded.
Confederate Forward Command Post (FCP): Langely, Virginia
Arthurs felt vaguely exposed sitting in the relatively fortified remains of CIA headquarters, which was serving as the Confederates FCP for the Washington ground assault. While he had commanded Federation military forces from the ground during the Great Galactic War, even then it had only been occasionally and anyway the war had ended over nine years ago, so he was rusty to say the least. Leave that charge the breach, tip of the spear dramaticism stuff to the hot heads and glory hounds, Arthurs was more practical when it came to his own survival. In his mind, his life was the most important aspect of this army.
Arthurs shook his head to clear his thoughts, now was not the time to get caught up in a sense of vanity, there was work to be done. After his orbital forces had finished screening the adult armies here on the ground, he had ordered priority assaults on the capital cities of each nation, intent on crippling the adult's command structure before they could organize any resistance. Arthurs was very fond of shock and awe tactics and it had brought him great joy to see his armies with their massive siege walkers and super heavy tanks, steamroll over the pathetic adult forces.
As predicted, the adults had been caught completely by surprise and his troops had encountered little resistance. Even now, his forces were securing control of over two thirds of the world's capital cities. Thanks to that little sneak attack his forces had carried out against the so called adult "villains", the adults had been completely cut off from their "advanced" technology and so had posed an even smaller threat than they would have and were now falling in droves.
But that still left some of the more camera shy kid villains to attend to, but Arthurs felt confident that his hunter-kill teams would be able to ferret them out one way or another. Arthurs stared up at one of the monitors that was replaying scenes from the earlier battle at Arctic Base and quietly pondered his position. He didn't really enjoy killing other kids, even if they were enemies, but if it brought him closer to achieving his goals or if they supported and sheltered the adults, then all bets were off.
However, adults were not kids and were totally free game. He had considered leading the final charge on the White House himself, but he had decided he had more important matters to attend to and had assigned one of his subordinates to carry out the attack. Speak of the devil, thought Arthurs, as said officer's command carrier rolled up to the FCP.
The officer and a small squad exited the carrier through a hatch at the rear, two of the squad were dragging a handcuffed prisoner between them, with a bag over his head. Arthurs walked out of his temporary office to meet the commander and his men at the vehicle pool. The officer saluted in typical Confederate fashion, clenching his fingers into a fist and bringing his right arm across his chest in a quick motion so it rapped against his breast at a right angle. If this was the old Directorate, the salute would have continued with said arm and fist being thrust forward Nazi style, but that part of the tradition had been dropped after the Civil War as had many of the other old quirks and rituals.
Arthurs didn't mind the change in tradition that much, though he always wished to have had the chance to see the Directorate in all its old glory. But then again, I wouldn't be here right now if that had happened, he thought to himself, shaking the officer's hand. "I presume Washington is now ours colonel Roger?" "You presume correct sir", replied the colonel, "and I have the guest of honor, alive but a bit worse for wear, as instructed." Arthurs smiled, "good work as always colonel, keep this up and there'll be a promotion in your future soon." The officer grinned and saluted again, "I do hope so sir, permission to relieve myself of duty?" "Granted", replied Arthurs, "make sure you and your men get some rest, but deliver the prisoner to the command center for questioning before you go searching for a bunk." "Yes sir", shouted the colonel before turning on his heels and walking back towards his squad.
The colonel snapped his fingers and gestured towards Arthurs, the two soldiers carrying the prisoner saluted with their free hands and began dragging him towards the FCP. Arthurs followed close behind. The prisoner's hands were un-cuffed and he was thrusted rather roughly into an open chair inside one of the abandoned interrogation rooms. The sack was pulled off his head, allowing him full view of his surroundings. The President shook his head as his eyes adjusted to the lighting inside the room. Arthurs pulled up a chair and sat opposite the President while the two soldiers stood guard behind the President's chair.
The President's eyes finally focused and his gazed at Arthurs with utter confusion. "You... your just a kid!", exclaimed the President. He tried to stand up but the guards grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him back into his chair. The President glared at Arthurs, who favored him with a smug expression, "enough of this charade, I demand to speak to whoever is in charge here!", yelled the President. "Your looking at him", said Arthurs, still maintaining his smug grin. The President turned his head to look at the two serious looking guard before turning his head back to Arthurs, "you can't expect me to believe this, this is a joke right?" He raised his hands up in a gesture of confusion, "if your going to make demands could we please stop this nonsense and get on with it?"
Arthurs was not amused, he gestured to one of the guards who promptly bashed the President in the head with the butt of his gun. The President yelped with pain and fell out of his chair, he began to writhe on the floor, his old body was not used to enduring such punishment. Arthurs' guards grabbed the President and once again forced him back into his chair. Arthurs scowled at the President, he was done playing around, "Mr. President, all I want from you is two things, two things and if you comply, then we let you live, if you don't we will summarily execute you, understand?" The President groaned and cradled his head in his hands. Arthurs motioned for the guards to hit him again, but the President held up a hand and said through gritted teeth, "yes, I understand."
Arthurs smirked, "alright, first I want you to give me the codes to the remainder of your country's nuclear arsenal." The President groaned, "there's nothing left, we launched everything... and you shot them down!" "Yes", replied Arthurs matter-of-factly, "wonderful thing EMP point defense lasers, too bad they're obsolete by todays standards, its a good thing your not very up to date when it comes to weapons technology." Arthurs leaned forward menacingly, "come now, you can't expect me to believe you launched all your missiles can you?" He gestured towards the guards again but the President yelled, "I swear we did and even if we didn't I wouldn't know, you cut all communications out of Washington, I have no way of knowing if any of the silos didn't launch!"
Arthurs put his hand down, "well I believe you on that account", he replied, "but there is one last thing." "What", asked the President with trepidation. Arthurs crossed his arms and said, "I want you to make a public broadcast to whats left of this nation and the world saying that you have officially surrendered and have handed over control to the armed forces of the Kids Militiant Confederacy." The President raised an eyebrow, "and what happens to me if I comply?" Arthurs smirked again, "what do you think, we send you to one of the POW camps and you get above average treatment, nothing more nothing less." "And if I refuse?" Another smirk from Arthurs, "we kill you and use what you've said so far to create a holographic impersonation of you to give the same message, I'd wager we have more than enough of your words on tape now to say whats needed."
The President stared in disbelief, "you can't do that, the technology required for that is far too..." Arthurs dismissed the President's objections with a wave of his hand, "Mr. President, based upon what you've seen of us so far, I expected you to have a broader idea of our capabilities." Arthurs relaxed in his chair, folded his hands behind his head and said, "now Mr. President, and I use that term lightly, what shall it be?" The President mulled it over for a minute, his mind jumping from option to option, till finally he seemed to find some hidden steel buried deep within. He stood up, faster than the guards could react, and said with a defiant voice, "the United States of America will never surrender to invaders like you. We will always stand for freedom, liberty and..."
"Ugggh, spare me the theatrics", replied Arthurs in disgust as he produced a pistol from his belt and promptly shot the President in the head. The recoil from the blow blew the President back into his chair, where he lay limply, his head lolling onto his chest as blood spilled out of the wound and onto his clothes. Arthurs shook his head in annoyance, he stood up and gestured to the guards, "you two, clean up this mess." Leaving the two troopers to clean up the dead President, Arthurs casually strode out of the interrogation room and walked over to the radio officer who had been monitoring the conversation, "please tell me you got what you needed out of that moron", he said. The officer did a quick playback of the conversation before looking up and responding, "yes sir, theres more than enough here to synthesize a copy of the President's voice, I'll start working on that holographic replica."
"Good", replied Arthurs, "I thought that idiot would at least jump at the chance to save his own hide, but I guess patriotism beat survivalism in the end. In any case, the faster we get that message out, the faster we can work on quelling any resistance movements before they crop up, carry on." The officer saluted and went back to work as Arthurs strode down the hallway towards the base's makeshift commissary, I could use a good drink, he thought to himself, the adults don't exactly brew good soda, but its better than that stir powder army crap we used to drink in the war. He was nearing the commissary when his personal com unit began beeping. The unit was mounted on his wrist as part of the standard command gauntlet issued to all Federation military commanders, it had been one of the few things he had insisted on holding on to when he switched sides.
The gauntlet was flat and molded to the shape of Arthurs fore-arm, it held multiple devices, but its compact design allowed easy access to all without making it a burden to carry. Arthurs held up his arm so the device was level with his chest and pushed the take call button on the gauntlet's micro console. A 3D hologram of the Harbinger's head communications officer popped up on the devices surface, projected by a mini holo emitter built into it's surface. The officer looked concerned, but his tone was professional, "excuse the interruption sir, but we have a problem", "go ahead", replied Arthurs, curious. The officer continued, "our scanners have just picked up an unidentified ship exiting FTL out of the hidden jump point on the far side of the system, long range scanners indicate that the ship is a warship but it is not answering our hails."
"Is it Federation?", he asked apprehensively, "no sir, its markings are Confederate and cross referencing scans with the ship's database show that the ship is a modified Confederate heavy cruiser, but all Confederate ships were ordered to follow us through the main jump point upon the start of the invasion, it has however, relayed a single message to us, asking to speak directly to you sir." "Hmmm, okay keep monitoring that vessel and order picket patrols into position in case it tries anything funny and send down a lander for me" "Aye sir", replied the officer, who then cut the feed. Arthurs whirled around on his heels and headed back towards the command center, his mind racing.
It could be a pirate ship, but what pirate would know the coordinates of that jump point, it took our agents years of undercover work to figure out it existed, if it really is a Confederate ship it can't be good news, High Command never did really trust me with this operation, not that I'd blame them, he continued thinking to himself as he passed through the command room. Passing through the room, Arthurs pointed to the colonel who had come in earlier, "you Roger, you're in charge until I get back" Roger saluted, "yes sir."
Arthurs passed out of the building and went out to vehicle lot to wait for the lander. As he waited an amusing thought crossed his mind, at least when I get up there I'll be able to get a decent cup of soda, I guess thats one of the perks of being in the Navy, you always have good food and drink on hand.
Confederate Flagship C.W.S. Harbinger: Bridge
20 minutes and one short flight later, Arthurs was back on the bridge of his flagship. As soon as he strode onto the bridge the officers on duty snapped to attention, "Commander on deck!", one of them shouted, "at ease", Arthurs replied nonchalantly. He took a swig from the bottle of Arcturian ginger beer he had picked up from the galley on the way and sat down comfortably in his command chair, it felt good to back in space. "Has the ship replied to any of our hails yet?", "no sir", the coms officer replied, "they just keep looping the same message that they'll speak only with you."
"Alright then open a direct channel to them", Arthurs said with a hint of annoyance, he tapped a few buttons on the console mounted in the arm of his chair and a holographic window opened up in front of his command chair. "This is gen... this is Field Commander Arthurs of the KMC Expeditionary fleet, you are trespassing upon secure space during a Confederate military operation, identify yourself and transmit your ID codes now or we will open fire." The communications window remained silent and only displayed blackness, Arthurs tried again, "you have exactly two minutes to transmit ID codes or else we will open fire!"
"Sir", the coms officer spoke up, "we are now receiving ID codes from the ship." The officer tapped a few buttons on his console and then looked up nervously, "uh, sir, codes identify the vessel as a command ship carrying a special envoy from Confederate High Command." "WHAT!", shouted Arthurs, "then why won't they speak with us, I'm the ranking officer here!" "Um, I'm sorry sir", continued the officer, "but the ship's command codes confirm that your authority over this fleet has been superseded by whoever is in charge of that cruiser." Arthurs grumbled to himself, "what else do they say", he asked angrily.
"The cruiser has sent a message that said envoy is en route to this ship to debrief on the current situation, they send orders instructing you to meet them in the main hanger bay, the cruiser is now moving to take up position in the main body of the fleet", finished officer. "Great. Alright then helmsman, you have the bridge till I get back", ordered Arthurs as he stormed off out the door. Arthurs took one of the ship's internal hover transports through the spacious if utilitarian hallways of the Harbinger till he found himself outside the blast door leading to the ship's main hanger bay. Arthurs walked in and waited for the cruiser's envoy to arrive.
He didn't have to wait long, within five minutes a bulky shuttle was nosing its way through the bay's environment shields. It was one of those blocky lander class vessels, like the one he had ridden up to the Harbinger, with a forward mounted cockpit, two maneuvering thrusters on either side and two large engines at the back, below which was mounted the blast door to the ship's passenger compartment. Arthurs impatiently tapped his foot as the ship made a slow landing onto one of the spaces etched out in red paint on the deck.
Finally the ship completed its landing and powered down, a ramp extended to the deck from the back of the ship and the passenger bay doors slide open. Arthurs was surprised and not too happy by who he saw at the top. Down the ramp stepped another Confederate officer, this one wearing the gold and black of the Confederate navy. His uniform was quite different from that of Schmitt's, if the grand admiral's uniform could be called modern, than this newcomers was classical. He had the golden buttons down the front and all the ornamentation 17th century style, but his black uniform had a modern hint to it as well as a pair of flat red epaulets. Over that he wore a long dark grey greatcoat, festooned with honors and medals as well as a peaked officers cap also in black and gold. His boots were black with red tinge and he had on dark black gloves.
Arthurs snarled, "High Commodore Aleksander Imnis, to what do I owe the pleasure?" High Commodore Imnis was one of the highest ranking Confederate officers in Federation space and was directly responsible for the operation of many of the Confederates secret military operations within Federation territory. As a high commander, Imnis was one of the few officers alive who was allowed direct contact with Confederate High Command outside of the Confederacy's territory, though he himself was never allowed to go there personally. No one was, as a precaution against the Federation's considerably advanced interrogation technology, no Confederate officer or soldier in this part of the galaxy was allowed to visit Confederate High Command for fear that its location would be discovered by the USF.
No one even knew where High Command was, only that is wasn't in the Federation's corner of the galaxy. The only way anyone got to see High Command was if they were transferred there and even then, they could never come back. Still, only the highest of military commanders or the most decorated of soldiers were ever transferred to serve at High Command, but Arthurs had never had any ambitions of being any of those elite brass. All he'd ever wanted was a chance to change history, back to the way it should have been. Though the chances of that happening now were extremely diminished, now that this piece of brass was here.
The high commodore eyed Arthurs with distaste, "it seems you haven't lost a bit of your temper since we last met", he said with a rich and flowing voice, "I've come under orders from Confederate High Command to oversee the rest of the invasion." "Oversee the rest... WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED!", raged Arthurs, "High Command put me in charge of this operation, an operation that would have failed from the get go without my cooperation mind you, and now they want to replace me!" The commodore's eyes narrowed, "control your temper Arthurs, I'm not here to usurp your command, I'm only here to watch and relay information back to High Command."
"Hmph, I always assumed HighCom just decided to fold their snitch into the ranks", said Arthurs with distaste, "I never expected they'd send someone like you out here to do their dirty work." The commodore's eyes remained narrow, though his voice maintained it cordial tone, "it was necessary, though I am not here to lead, if High Command does decide that you are not upholding the best interests of the Confederacy in your campaign, I am authorized to take command and finish this operation personally." "Well then", replied Arthurs, in a less than cordial tone, "lets hope it doesn't come to that."
The commodore nodded and walked up to Arthurs, "good, until then I will primarily remain aboard my heavy cruiser the Herakles, however there is one other small matter that I was called here to attend to." "And what might that be?", asked Arthurs, his tone still angry, but carrying a hint of curiousity. The high commodore smiled, "I know your already acquainted with our wayward agent Nigel Uno, correct?" "Well of course," replied Arthurs, in a rather boastful tone, "while he has been causing us a bit of trouble, back before this invasion he was the top infiltration expert of my division's special forces unit."
"Well then you should know that as a former top agent for the esteemed Confederacy, he was privy to many valuable secrets that we would prefer to not be revealed", said the commodore, "as such I have been ordered to dispatch a team of specialists to recapture him before he can divulge said secrets." Arthurs scoffed at the commodore, "theres no need, he hardly remembers anything now, under my orders he was undergoing memory wiped as per protocol before he escaped our custody, he doesn't know anything about the Confederacy." "Be that as it may", replied the commodore, "High Command is adamant when it comes to valuable information, he will be recaptured and his memory wipe will be officially completed to insure our security."
Arthurs was not amused, but decided he had better things to worry about than one wayward agent so he relented, "he was last sighted at the KND's Arctic command facility, which was recently flattened under orbital bombardment, yet our scanners showed multiple KND craft escaping from the facility before the bombardment hit as well as one ship that barely managed to get away following the barrage. Nigel was always one for close getaways, so I'd bet he was on that last ship which unfortunately took so long to escape, it evaded the ambush we placed outside the arctic continent which scattered most of the escaping craft."
"Hmm", said the commodore, thoughtfully, "I guess its safe to assume then that Admiral Schmitt was in that base and made it out as well, correct?" "Hmmm, probably", Arthurs said uncomfortably, "I'd love to think that pious bastard was flattened with the base, but knowing him thats too much to hope for." "Well then, we'll be on the lookout for him as well, where was Nigel's craft headed", asked Imnis.
"Our scans show its headed for North America, on a beeline for the east coast", replied Arthurs, "I've already alerted intercept squadrons to their presence, but Nigel is a good pilot, so I hope you brought some pretty good agents." "I did", said the commodore, without a hint of arrogance, he gestured to the ramp where a small squad of figures was gathering. "I thought, what better way to catch a lost spy than to send those who know him best after him." Arthurs looked up the ramp and was pleasantly surprised by who he saw. Coming down the ramp was another Confederate officer, though one of a lower rank than both the commodore and Arthurs, he wore the red and yellow of the Confederate army, with a standard, if worn, military uniform and a black garrison cap, but the most interesting part of his uniform was the insignia he wore on his left shoulder.
Rather than the typical red and gold cross and five stars of the Confederate flag, this soldier wore the red and black eagle of the Directorate. The soldier made it the bottom of the ramp and saluted the pair of officers, "sub commander Cameron Kreller of the Confederate 24th Special Forces Division reporting for duty sirs!", the soldier barked in a professional tone. The two commanders returned the salute, "I remember you", said Arthurs, "you were the commander in charge of the special forces division back at Camp Artemis." Cameron replied with professional indifference, "that is correct sir, and if you recall I was also Nigel's CO during his time in the special forces", "not only that", continued the commodore, "but as you can see, he is also a revolution veteran." Arthurs looked at the eagle on Cameron's shoulder, "I can see that", he said in an forcibly pleasant tone, "well as long as you get the job done I don't care where you came from."
Cameron remained at attention as he replied, "we will do whatever you order us to do sir! In the meantime please permit me to brief my men on the situation." Arthurs was about to reply when the commodore preempted him by saying, "granted, but first prepare your team for immediate inspection." "Yes Sir", Cameron barked before turning on his heels and marching smartly back to his men. Arthurs eyed the commander with distaste, "he always was a bit too professional for my taste, but I never knew he was a veteran."
Imnis smirked at Arthurs discomfort, "I'm surprised you didn't know considering you were the one to recruit him in the first place, though if I recall, you have a certain distaste for revolution veterans." "Well", said Arthurs matter-of-factly, "I didn't exactly have the greatest of first impressions with their kind." The two walked over the base of the ramp where Cameron was lining up his men in two rows of three. "He's also ex-Federation, so I don't exactly trust him that well either", the commodore looked at Arthurs with an ironic expression, "your ex-Federation too, what does that say about your trustworthiness."
"Theres a difference", snapped Arthurs, "I joined out of patriotism, but him on the other hand, well..." Arthurs looked at the sub commander, "his recruitment was the result of a different reason." "Is that why you had him serve at your base, so you could keep an eye on him?", asked Imnis quizzically, Arthurs let out a low chuckle, "of course, why else?" "Hmmm, well you'll be happy to know that his... unique expertise is not the only reason why I had him brought here", "oh?", asked Arthurs curiously, "and what else would make him so valuable to this operation?"
The commodore didn't say anything at first, he just pointed to one of the soldiers in Cameron's squad, "that", was all he said. Arthurs looked at the commodore questioningly, Imnis gave no reply. Letting out a huff, Arthurs walked over to the indicated soldier and asked, "well then, what makes you so special?" The soldier smiled, "me sir? Lets just say I've had some prior experience with our target", said Chad Dickson.
Well this took forever to write, I actually checked the word count and this is my longest chapter to date, it even tops that behemoth of chapter, chapter 8. For those of you have been following my story closely, you may see here that there are few hidden connections beginning to form, but I won't spoil what they are. If you think you know what they are, please feel free to send me a message so I can deny any proof of it, just like the CIA.
Anyway, now that we've had time to see a little into the lives of our villains, its time to get back to the heroes. Next time, the search for the lost legion begins! But until then, please favorite, comment and review.