Commander's Log, Sol Standard Date: July 21, 3340, High Orbit above Raytheon Three-

I don't know how things could currently get any worse, but as the saying goes, things can always get worse. Sadly the Fairlock was on the other side of the planet when the portal opened. The Fletcher-class battlecruiser has the best planetary assault weapons in the ACS arsenal. They don't get used much as humanity has been on the defensive since the onset of the war. However, they are rather effective for defense as well. The Fairlock's railguns have rather devastating results when used against planets. All of the firepower of a tactical nuclear bomb with none of the radiation. Granted, the target area is completely pulverized and broken up from the force of the impact. A Naval Orbital Velocity Attack Drop, or a NOVA Drop.

Unfortunately, the Latorii are very good at concealing themselves once they are on a planet's surface. Not even advanced AI's such as Mikael can track them through their optical illusions. I can only guess that their target is the evacuation center. They aren't going to be taking the straight route there luckily for us. They tried that on the planet of Commonwealth when they had broken through the ACS orbital defenses. A NOVA Drop put a stop to their attack when their path of advance was guessed to devastating effect.

-Daniel 'Storm' Savarin,

Commander of the Allied Confederate Ship Fairlock

Storm hastily powered down his Eagle as soon as he landed in the hangar bay of the Fairlock. Quickly putting up an illusion around himself, he rushed down the ladder and in the docking bay. All ten of the Dropships were lined up as B1 Centauro 120's rolled underneath them onto loading platforms before they retracted into the belly of the armored craft. The platform dropped back down moments later as a Freccia IFV rolled onto before also disappearing into the Dropship as well. Marines were standing in rank and file behind each as they prepared to embark. Every marine was clad in black battle armor, a grey wolf painted on both of their shoulders. Most were armed with battle rifles although a few carried machine guns and even fewer carried sniper rifles.

"Colonel Bradley, how long till you are ready to be planet side?" Storm asked as he approached the marine commander.

"Almost loaded up now, sir," Bradley answered, his black helmet under his arm with his rifle slung over his shoulder. "Will you be joining us sir?"

"You know it," Storm replied with a toothy grin as his image flicked some, going from his officer's uniform to armor similar to the rest of the marines. His Latorii armor still on underneath the optical trick. "Just need to grab something from my room."

"I'll wait for you then, sir. Don't take too long though, don't want to keep the rest of the boys waiting. They are eager to send them Latorii home with their tails between their legs," Bradley jested.

Storm simply shook his head as he dashed off to his room. It didn't take him long to get there and enter into his private domain. Briskly walking over to the large cabinet next to his bed, Storm pulled open its doors. He smiled some as he pulled out the Mk14 EBR from its clamps. Setting the specially modified battle rifle down on his bed, he pulled out a tac-vest as well before slinging it on and jamming its pockets full of magazines. While they were currently empty, Storm knew he would have time to put ammunition in them on the flight down to the surface of Raytheon. Grabbing his Mk14, Storm headed back to the hangar bay.

Upon arriving, only one Dropship was still in the Fairlock's hangar. Colonel Bradley was standing on the entrance ramp at the rear of the craft. Storm hurried onto up the ramp as Bradley slapped him on his wounded shoulder, causing Storm to cringe some from.

"Don't tell me you are going soft, sir," Bradley joked as the ramp closed, sealing off the troop bay.

Storm glared at the marine Colonel in return as the two high ranking officers sat down in the troop bay of the Dropship and strapped themselves in. Upon finding a crate of ammunition, Storm started loading the magazines to his Mk14. Popping twenty 7.62x51mm rounds into each before placing them back in his vest. His illusion lined up perfectly to make it appear as if they were going into the slots on his imaginary armor.

"You still use that relic of a gun?" Bradley asked, elbowing Storm.

"You know, the basis of most of our technology for ground warfare was designed over a millennia ago," Storm shot back as the Dropship lifted off of the deck of the battlecruiser. He continued to load the magazines of the battle rifle with the black tipped armor piercing ammo.

"True, but most of it wasn't built a millennia ago," Bradley countered before patting his M395. "That and some of it is brand new."

"Those M395s are a bit bulky for me. Us Latorii are rather short. Besides, my modifications wouldn't fit on them," Storm said with a smirk, running his paw over the black metal that covered the grip and ran along the bottom of the rifle where it ended in a small vertically aligned rectangle under the barrel. By now, everything that wasn't strapped down was floating as the Dropship exited the Fairlock's artificial gravity field, making it a little harder for Storm to load the rounds into this magazines. "Still, I bet the designers of the Centauro wouldn't have dreamed that their vehicles would be in service over a thousand years after they were designed. Who would have thought that they could easily be converted into mobile space combat vehicles?"

"Well, if you call adding a small shield generator to the gun breech to prevent the atmosphere from leaving the tank when they reload the gun, making the vehicle air tight, and adding thruster engines all around it 'easy,' you might want to look up the definition in the dictionary," Bradley shot back.

Several of the marines around the two officers couldn't help but laugh some at their superiors' banter. It was something that they had long gotten used to between the two of them. They always secretly hoped that Bradley would come out on top as he was a fellow marine. They all had great respect for both men, even Commander Storm. They had long gotten over what he was as he had saved most of their lives more than once in battle.

"We are about to enter atmosphere," the voice of the pilot rang over the intercom. True enough, it wasn't long before the Dropship start to shake as it tore through the air. Plasma glowed on the underside of the craft as the superheated air burned against the thick, metal frame. After a while the craft performed a hypersonic S-turn to kill off much of the speed that it had built up during reentry as it glided towards the evacuation zone. It wasn't long before the whine of the Dropship's engines restarting made it to the marines' ears.

From there on out, the flight to the evacuation zone was rather smooth as the Dropship flew through the skies of Raytheon III. Eventually the ship's nose tilted up as the engines grew louder. The Dropship entered a hover for a brief moment before slowly dropping down and landing. Instantly the ramp at the rear of the craft began to lower. The marines all stood up and turned towards the exit in unison. Storm and Bradley did the same before leading the men off of the ship and onto the planet. The sound of diesel engines filled the air as Centauros and Freccias rolled about the evacuation grounds. In the distance, the massive evacuation ships were present as civilians poured onto them.

Storm's eyes darted to a uniformed man quickly approaching him with a small group of militia. Bradley and the rest of the marines were forming up behind him. All one thousand men and twenty vehicles of the Fairlock's ground complement. The unit proudly called itself the Wolfpack, hence the small grey wolves that were painted on most of their equipment.

"Commander Savarin, my name is Captain Carnot (silent t)," the officer said in what Storm could only gather was a slight French accent. "I am in charge of the garrison here."

"Glad to make your acquaintance," Storm relied in a curt voice, holding out his gloved hand. Carnot reluctantly shook it after a slight delay, clearly forcing himself to complete the simple gesture. Storm internally sighed; the man had made his intentions toward him quite apparent.

"So can you tell me what exactly is going on here?" Carnot asked in a displeasing tone.

"A Latorii legion is on its way here," Storm answered as he started walking towards the perimeter fence.

"How is that possible? I have been monitoring the hyper relays, no ships have come near the planet since your fleet destroyed those Imperial Cutters," Carnot countered, not quite believing what he had been told.

"One Latorii managed to make it to the planet's surface in an escape pod. He had some sort of experimental hyper relay. A man-portable one accurate enough for them to lock on to for a cascade bridge of some kind. Nothing like anything I have seen before," Storm replied in great detail, rubbing the back of his head some as his gloved paws dragged through the black fur under his illusion.

"That isn't possible," Carnot scoffed. "Hyper relays cannot be made man portable nor can they relay a planet's coordinates that accurately."

"Correction, humans cannot make such hyper relays," Storm said in a stern voice. "Now if you will pardon me, I have a job to do."

"Fils de pute," Carnot cursed angrily before turning around and leaving the ACS commander to his business. Bradley laughed some as he walked up behind Storm and stopped next to him.

"I see he likes you a lot," Bradley said sarcastically, slapping Storm on the back with his free hand has he held his helmet under his other arm. His M395 was current slung over his shoulder.

"Yeah, no kidding. His words were less than pleasant," Storm replied his voice slightly lower than normal. While he hadn't understood what the militia captain had said, he could take a good guess at it.

"Ah, you're ten times the man he will ever be," Bradley continued before looking up at the blue sky. "So what is the plan boss? The Wolfpack is ready to go on your orders."

"Early detection is going to be the key to holding this starport till the evacuation is complete," Storm started, smiling some. "If we can find them early, the Fairlock can hammer them with NOVA Drops. Once they close to the point where a NOVA would blow us up with them is when things will get tricky."

Storm held up his arm and typed in a few commands into the device on his arm, which was hidden below his illusion. To Bradley it appeared as if Storm was just poking at his armor, but the marine colonel had been around Storm long enough to know what he was doing. Moments later a holographic map exploded into existence out of Storm's wrist.

"This is about where the portal opened up," Storm said as he pointed to an area on the map southeast of the starport.

"About a fifty klicks from here," Bradley observed as he took in the map. "Did you see any cavalry in the legion?"

"I got out of there rather quickly, but I don't see why they wouldn't," Storm replied.

"So we got less than two hours at the most till their advanced units are here. Those Latorii drakes can cover a lot of ground very fast without getting tired," Bradley said with a sigh. "Dang things are practically bullet proof too."

"Just be glad they cannot fly or breathe fire like the dragons from the legends written on Earth long, long ago," Storm countered with a smirk. "It would probably be best to set up patrols with the Freccias along here." Storm said as he pulled his free paw in a semi-circle around perimeter of the starport. "Eight marines to an IFV with five minute check intervals. Failure to check in will be treated as a breach in the perimeter. From that point, we will clear the area for a NOVA Drop."

"Sounds good to me, commander. I will get the teams sent out," Bradley stated as he started towards where the marines were assembled.

Storm nodded in response as he typed in a few commands and the holo-map disappeared. Storm punched in a few more commands afterwards.

"Admiral Horner, can you read me?" Storm said.

"Aye sir, loud and clear," Mark answered from the bridge of the battlecruiser.

"Are you in position?" Storm asked as he looked up towards where he could only imagine the warship was located.

"Entering into geosynchronous orbit above you now, sir. Any support you need, you will get," Horner replied.

"Good, I'm betting we are going to need your help. We are outnumbered three to one down here if they managed to get an entire legion through that portal," Storm continued. "That will be all, Mark. Godspeed, admiral."

"To you as well, sir."

Storm and Colonel Bradley were waiting inside a small building they had commandeered as a command and control center. There were not many of them inside the building, but there were quite a few radios. A large, holographic map of the starport and its surroundings was displayed above a table, the medium sized projector resting on the wood. The locations of the patrols were marked on it as well as suspected lines of advance of the Latorii.

"Well, it's been two hours," Bradley observed as he glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall. His rifle leaning against the chair he was sitting in.

"So it has…" Storm mused as he stared down at the map. "Well, today has been a day of surprises. You don't suppose they have changed tactics?"

"How should I know? You're the wolf here, not me," Bradley shot back jokingly.

"Commander Storm, we are picking up a faint distress signal," one of the radio operators reported.

"From one of the recon units?" Storm asked as both he and Bradley stood up from their chairs, rifles in hand.

"Negative, sir," the officer replied, shaking his head. "The signal is weak and while most of its confirmation codes check out, they are heavily redacted."

"BGR…" Storm and Bradley said in unison under the breath.

"I wasn't aware there was a BGR station on Raytheon," Bradley continued.

"That's because they don't officially have stations anywhere," Storm huffed. "What the hell are they still doing here? They should have bugged out as soon as the first Latorii scout ships arrive."

"Where is the signal coming from?" Bradley questioned as he went back over to the map.

"Grid nine, section Charlie two."

"That is fifteen klicks north of here," Bradley relayed as he found the correct location, marking it with a command on a keyboard. "Sure enough, nothing on the map there but a whole lot of trees. Don't think there would be enough room for a Dropship insertion."

"Alright, recall the patrols have half of them take up positions between the starport and that blacksite. Bradley and I will lead the others to the location and figure out what is going on there," Storm ordered as the radio operators relayed the orders.

"Yes sir!"

"You will finally be getting that action you wanted, colonel," Storm said with a smirk as he shouldered his Mk14 EBR.

"So it seems," Bradley replied as he pulled the charging handle of his M395 back halfway and made sure a round was chambered.

Storm walked out of the building with Bradley in tow, and walked up to a nearby Centauro. He banged his paw against its side, sending reverberations through the vehicle. Moments later a head popped out of the commander's hatch.

"What can I do for you, commander?" The tanker asked upon seeing Storm and Bradley.

"Get ready to mobilize. I want you and two of your best tanks ready move in five minutes," Storm answered.

"Where we off to?"

"A BGR blacksite in Grid nine, section Charlie two," Bradley said with a smirk. "Apparently the spooks didn't get the memo to get out of dodge."

"Sounds like fun colonel," the tank commander shot back with his own toothy grin. "Don't you worry commander, we will be ready to go on your orders."

With that he ducked back into the eight wheeled vehicle. Moments later two other Centauros rolled up next to the small group. The Freccias rolled back on to the spaceport several minutes later. Half of them continued driving north while the others rolled up the forming rescue group.

Storm and Bradley mounted the nearest Freccia before the eight vehicles started off at max speed towards their target. Storm and Bradley were short on space as there were now ten people occupying a space built to hold eight. The two of them were standing up rather than sitting down, each holding onto a bar on the roof of the IFV.

The first part of the journey was fast as the wheeled vehicles were able to stick to the roads and travel at their max speed. It only took them six minutes travel the ten kilometers to the blacksite before turning off the road.

"Alright, we are going the rest of the way on foot," Storm ordered over the radio. The convoy came to a halt as the marines spilled out of their vehicles. Bradley put his helmet on as he looked around the heavily forested area. There was a path just wide enough for the vehicles to fit down. Storm and Bradley walked up the front of the group before kneeling down. Large claw marks were pressed into the dirt.

"Drake prints," Bradley said as he instinctively tightened some. His eyes scanning the trees for any movement.

"I would say we are in the right area then," Storm stated as he stood up, his own power eyes raking through the trees before turning back to the column of vehicles. "Alright, we are going in. I want a Centauro up front with an M-ten, twenty-eight canister round loaded."

"Aye sir!" Came a chorus of voices. All of the vehicles buttoned up as the marines spread out around them. Satisfied with the formation, Storm started forward with his Mk14 resting in his paws. While he would have preferred to use his BowLance, his injured shoulder made it much more uncomfortable to use compared to a rifle. With a slight mental push, a helmet appeared over Storm's head making him identical to all the other marines with him.

Progress was much slower than it had been when the vehicles could be of greater assistance. The slower progress was required though. Latorii ambushes were brutally efficient and left very few survivors. A quarter of an hour later, Storm called for the formation to halt. The group of marines stopped in their tracks, some of them raising their rifles as they scanned the trees around them.

Storm's ear twitched ever so slightly underneath his illusion. He could faintly hear something in front of them. There was a bend in the path about two hundred meters in front of them, cutting off his and everyone else's visions. It sounded like a rapid thunder. Storm and the other marines moved away from the front of the Centauro, not wanting to be blown to pieces by its muzzle blast should it need to fire. Storm dropped onto one knee, bringing up his Mk14 and looking down its Trijicon sight.

"Drakes!" Storm called out moments before a group of battle ready Latorii rode into view. Each of the Latorii was armed with an energy lance and riding as fast as their mounts would allow. They were in a rough wedge formation as they charged towards the human soldiers. There were easily thirty Latorii cavalry in the group.

The first to fire was the Centauro 120 as it let loose a M1028 canister shell. Over one thousand tungsten spheres shot out of its barrel towards the attack wolves. Ten of the wolves and their mounts tumbled to the ground, impaled by the high velocity projectiles. The other continued their charge unfazed by the recent deaths of their comrades. The marines opened fire with their rifles as the Centauro opened fire with its coaxial machine gun, adding even more 7.62mm fire to the mix. The rounds seemed to have little effect on the charging beasts and their riders. It took several shots or a well-aimed bullet to the head to bring down any Latorii soldier given their strong armor. Even then, the drakes would continue their lethal charge without their rider as their thick scales protected them from most small arms fire.

The Centauro fired again, but this time the remaining cavalry had spread out, greatly reducing its effect as only two of the Latorii fell to the tungsten spheres. Gunfire continued to sound out, but it was clear that the Latorii riders were going to make it to the convoy. Storm hit the magazine release on his rifle before slamming in another magazine and pulling back on the charging handle. Aiming down his sight, he exhaled as he centered his reticle on the head of one of the wolves. The Mk14 jolted against his uninjured shoulder before he watched his target roll of the charging drake.

He didn't get a chance to take aim at another Latorii as they closed that last bit of distance. Storm threw psychic energy into the grip of his battle rifle causing an energy bayonet to materialize under the barrel. With a roar, he jabbed it into the drake that jumped towards him before taking a step diagonally backwards. The dragon-like creature yelped out in pain as it slid off of Storm's bayonet. Without any hesitation, Storm aimed at the side of the large creature, where the scales were not as thick and let loose two quick shots.

Turning his attention back towards the attacking Latorii, Storm quickly jumped back, narrowly missing an energy lance. However, the lance found another target, impaling two marines in quick succession. A large explosion then threw Storm off of his feet, as another Latorii thrusted his lance into the lead Centauro, expertly hitting the ammunition and causing it to cook off inside the vehicle. With a groan, Storm forced himself back on to his feet. He brought his rifle back up to his shoulder before unloading several shots into the back of Latorii who had just cut down three marines in a matter of seconds.

Though he killed the rider, the drake instantly turned towards Storm, dropping a bleeding marine from its jaws. Keeping his rifle raised towards the dragon, yet still staying alert to his surroundings, Storm waited for the beast to charge him like it had done to the dead marine lying at its side. As soon as it opened its mouth to let out a frenzied roar, Storm took his shot, planting a round squaring in the drake's exposed innards. A pained howl escaped the beast before a marine shot it several times in its vulnerable sides, silencing it. There were another two, rapid explosions moments later, signaling that more of the vehicles had been destroyed.

Eventually the sound of gunshots ceased after the skirmish came to an end. The only remaining sounds were that of the diesel engines from the two remaining vehicles, the fires burning from the six destroyed vehicles, and the groans of the wounded on both sides. Storm could feel sweat rolling down his fur as he and two other marines made their way back in front of the destroyed Centauro.

"All units, regroup at the front of the convoy," Storm ordered over the radio, a slight amount of strain in his voice. He looked around at the human wounded and internally sighed. Their wounds were far too serious to have any chance of surviving.

It didn't take long for the remaining marines to regroup. Of the forty marines that had set out, only five were left outside of Storm and Bradley. Two of the Centauros and four of the Freccias had been destroyed as well. The two remaining vehicles were currently stuck between the wreckages of the other. The Latorii destroying the armored 8x8's up front and at the rear first, trapping the other between them before working their way from the back to the front of the formation.

"If it wasn't for that first canister round…" Bradley mused, "We might very well have been overrun."

"So what now, commander?" One of the marines asked, sitting down next to the burnt out wreckage of the Centauro.

"We continue on," Storm replied. "Latorii cavalry doctrine states that they are to travel in groups of forty, and there were only about thirty of them here if what I sensed is correct."

"So where are the other ten?" A different marine asked as he reloaded in M395.

"My guess, they are still at the blacksite. These guys were likely sent here to eliminate us or at the very least slow us down so that they could finish whatever they were up to at that blacksite."

"Well, I would say they succeeded in delaying us…" Bradley growled out, pounding his closed fist against the charred metal of the Centauro. "We need to get moving, and fast."

"I agree, colonel, hang onto my rifle for a second," Storm said, holding his Mk14 out towards the marine officer.

Bradley nodded as he shouldered his own rifle and grabbed Storm's. The remaining marines knew what was coming and backed off in order to give Storm the space he needed. The human-aligned wolf took a few steps back from the destroyed Centauro before closing his eyes and holding out his right paw towards the wreckage. Storm's eyes started glowing underneath his eyelids along with his outstretched paw. In a flash, his eyes opened and the Centauro started glowing in blue light as well. Storm started to slowly lift his paw into the air, the human vehicle moving with it as it lifted off the ground. With a deep breath, the ACS commander brought his fist quickly to the right. The Centauro followed suit, smashing into trees and splintering them before coming to rest on its side.

Letting out all the air from his lungs, Storm fell down onto one knee as he caught his breath again. After a few seconds, he pushed himself back up onto his feet as the marines started coming back to where he was.

"Sir, remind me to never piss you off," Bradley joked as he tossed Storm his battle rifle.

"Colonel, you have known that for a long time," Storm replied with a smirk as he caught his gun.

"Yeah, well thanks for the reminder," Bradley continued, a similar smile concealed underneath his helmet.

"Alright, everyone mount up on the Freccia. We are getting to this blacksite ASAP," Storm ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The marines all shouted back before double timing it to the sole remaining IFV. Now that Storm had cleared the road, the surviving vehicles were free to advance, though their retreat was still blocked for the moment. With everyone onboard, the two wheeled vehicles started off as fast as they could towards their destination.

Thankfully it didn't take them long to finish the drive to the BGR blacksite nor did they run into any other Latorii. The IFVs rolled to a stop in front of the remains of the perimeter of the secretive military site. The only thing that remained were the burning parts of a destroyed guard tower and pieces of barbwire fence strung about the area.

Storm and the other marines disembarked as they took in the scene. Dead humans were all scattered throughout the small courtyard, but not a single Latorii body was visible. Looking forwards, there was a small hill that had a concrete building coming out of its side. The thick metal door completely blown off of its hinges.

"You think they even knew they were coming?" Bradley asked as he knelt down next to one of the dead humans.

"Based on the amount of casualties on our side and the lack of any on theirs, I would say not…" Storm replied in a grim voice. He turned his attention back to the entrance, in small, white letters over the top were three words: Bureau of Galactic Reconnaissance.

"This is definitely the right place though," Storm finished before turning back to the marines. "Alright, we are ditching the vehicles here. Grab your rifles and set charges, leave nothing for them to use."

The four crew members of the Centauro and three from the Freccia climbed out of their vehicles. They scrambled away from them before small explosions went off inside both vehicles, rendering them useless. With that task complete, the fourteen remaining ACS soldiers made their way into the BGR blacksite. Storm was on point, scanning ahead of the group as they slowly made their way deeper into the base. All of the primary lights were out with only the backups filling the hallways with an ominous red light. So far the only thing the group had encountered was more dead humans, though some of them were clearly not soldiers. Their red blood staining their white lab coats.

After several minutes, Storm stopped and held up his fist as he sensed something. The marines behind him instantly came to a halt, some of them raising their weapons up as they scanned the hallway. Signally to the door on their left, Storm and Bradley approached before splitting onto either side of the door.

"What is it?" Bradley asked in a barely audible voice.

"Weak mental signature. Either a wounded human, or a Latorii masking his presence," Storm replied, equally quiet. Bradley nodded in response as he got ready to enter the room. Storm held out three fingers before counting down to zero. When he closed his fist, the two of them burst into the room.

The lights were mostly off, the only light coming from the dim hallway and a few lights that were barely working. The two officers looked around the room, Storm following the faint mental signal he was picking up. It was clear they were in some armory of some kind as it was filled with weapons and explosives. They was red blood staining the floor leading further into the room. Storm took it was a hint that whoever was in this room was human and not a wolf. All of the other marines had entered in behind them, leaving the hallway empty as a few of them remained near the door and kept watch.

"Sir, you might want to see this," Bradley said, gesturing towards one of the shelfs. It was full of X-4 explosive charges though a sizeable chunk of it was missing along with two remote detonators. Storm nodded his head in acknowledgement before following the trail of blood on the floor. One of the lights flickered on for a second, allowing Storm to see two human legs on the floor, the trail ending there.

Lowering his rifle, Storm slowly rounded the corner and saw a human soldier clad in black BGR tactical gear lying against the wall, a pistol in one hand and one of the remote detonators in the other. Based on the dim alternating red, green light on the small device, the missing explosive had clearly been blown up already. Bending over, Storm placed a paw on the pistol and slowly started removing it from the man's grasp.

That was when his eyes flashed open with a loud gasp. The soldier tried to point the gun at Storm, but he managed to pull the pistol out of his hands before he could pull the trigger.

"Stay away from me!" The wounded soldier screamed out causing Storm to fall onto his knees and clamp his gloved paw over the man's mouth.

"Be quiet!" Storm hissed. "We are on your side!"

Bradley and several other marines rushed over, one of them turning on a flashlight and revealing their human faces to the man. His eyes darted over all of them quickly before his breath started slowing down. After Storm was satisfied, he removed his paw and scooted back some.

"Who… who are you guys?" The soldier asked in a wavering voice.

"Fifty-fourth marine regiment, we came here after getting a distress call," Bradley answered. "You mind telling us what the heck is going on here?"

"That… that is classified," the man gasped out his hands moving down to his left thigh, drawing attention to a large gash.

"Anyone have any medical supplies?" Storm called behind him before turning his head back towards the BGR operative in front of him. "Now you listen here, I just lost an entire platoon of men getting here. You will tell me what you were doing here or I will find out myself," Storm growled out.

The soldier remained silent as Storm stared into his eyes, internally debating with himself. A marine came up and started treating his leg as an awkward silence continued. After almost a minute, the BGR operative spoke up again.

"Hyper wave research," he started, cringing some from his treatment. "We were looking into a way to spike the Latorii hyper network. It would have acted like a sonar ping of sorts, returning the location of all their positions. Fleets, space stations, worlds, etcetera. We were close to finishing, hence why he didn't leave when the first scout ships arrive. The attack on this base caught us completely off guard. They slaughtered pretty much all of us before we could organize. A few of us managed to put together what they were after." The man coughed several times, some blood leaking from the corner of his mouth before he continued in a strained voice.

"They were leaving all the machinery intact, not killing the head researchers. Instead taking them to the primary control room. They were going to use it against us! To locate every human system in the galaxy, Earth included… So we blew up the primary power generators, cut the range of the hyper relay down to only one hundred lightyears."

"Your research staff, did any of them know the exact coordinates of Earth?" Bradley asked a bit frantically.

"No… no one with that knowledge leaves the core planets," the man answered, fading back out of consciousness. "But… every human system, fleet, base… everything within a hundred lightyears from here will be found."

"Is there any way to stop it?" Storm questioned, watching the man's head fall down.

"No…" he coughed, much harder than last time. "If there is a hyper relay on our network hit by the spike, it will return its exact location."

Storm let out a loud curse, none of the marines understanding it as he had said it in Latorii instead of English as be closed his eyes and thought for a second.

"What if the relays are turned off?" Storm asked in a hard tone.

"Then the spike would pass over them harmlessly," the BGR operative responded in a faint voice.

"How long do we have before they can send out the spike?" Bradley cut in.

"I don't know… Soon…" the man answered as he descending into another coughing fit before losing consciousness.

The marine that had been treating him placed a hand against his wrist for several seconds. "He is alive, but just barely."

"Can he be moved?" Storm inquired.

"Not with what we have here. He has lost far too much blood. I am surprised he lasted as long as he has."

"So what now, sir?" Bradley asked. "The way I see it, we could attempt to take back this base or we find a way to shut down every hyper relay within a hundred lightyear radius."

"We don't have the manpower to take this base back, but if we get a signal up to Admiral Horner we might stand a chance of shutting down the relays," Storm mused as he got back on his feet.

"Then I suggest we get moving," Bradley said as he stood back up.

"I agree," Storm replied as the turned towards the door. All of the marines followed suit as the small group made their way back out of the base. Storm kept eyeing to see if he had a signal back to the Fairlock, but whatever this base was made out of was blocking his signal. After a bit, the marines poured back into the courtyard. Instantly Storm's radio picked up a signal.

"Admiral, I need to you do something and we are almost out of time! Send out a warning to every ACS planet or station within one hundred lightyears. Order them to shut off their hyper relays! The Latorii are going to send out a spike to trace it right to them!" Storm nearly shouted.

"Ay, umm, yes sir!" Admiral Horner replied, recovering from the initial shock before relaying the order to the bridge crew. "Alright sir, we are working on it now, but I don't think many will comply… shutting down a hyper relay takes a fleet admiral's clearance… anything less and it becomes more of a suggestion."

"I know, I know…" Storm growled out. "And they certainly won't like taking that order from me."

Storm paused for a second as he thought, trying to find a way to get around his current dilemma. "Can Mikael force it through? An AI will listen to another AI and there are several worlds that are heavily managed by an AI."

"Aye sir! Mikael, are you reading this?"

"Affirmative," Mikael's robotic voice responded. "I have already completed a high powered surface scan of Commander Storm's current location. Hyper wave readings are abnormally high and rising. Establishing hyper wave uplink to all ACS artificial intelligences in the affected area and sending orders now. Of the thirty human controlled systems within one hundred lightyears, eight are managed by an artificial intelligence. All eight are complying and shutting down their hyper relays now."

"And the other systems?" Storm asked, fearing the answer.

"Two have shut down their relays, but the other twenty are still linked into the ACS hyper wave relay system," Mikael responded. "I am currently trying to convince them to shut down as well. Warning, hyper wave readings have increased by a factor of twenty. I am tracing an abnormally strong signal that just transmitted. Warning, our hyper relay just returned our exact coordinates back down the signal."

"We're too late…" Strom sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back. "The Latorii just located twenty systems and now they have the means to transport their legions there instantly."

"Twenty billion people…." Bradley breathed out.

"Admiral… send a Dropship to our location. Once we are clear, I want this base obliterated via NOVA Drop," Storm ordered, a certain edge in his voice.

I have been picturing the ACS marine armor as something similar to the ODST armor from HALO. Seems logical since I have them using the M395 from HALO as well. Humanity's weapons are really kind of just a mixture of whatever I find since as of right now there isn't any information on such weapons in the Elite universe. As for why I am using the Centauro 120, I have several reasons. The first is that it is an 8x8, something that I feel would be very well suited in the rough space environments. Granted the version in this story is air tight, has a shielded breach to keep air in, and has small rocket engines around its body to help it in low gravity environments. The second is that it is kind of awesome looking. As for the Mk14 EBR, once again I feel that it is a rather nice looking rifle that fires a powerful round (something needed for defeating Latorii armor).

The Latorii drakes are pretty much wingless Night Furies if you want something to picture as you read. I guess they are also kind of like that black predator animal from Avatar, but I personally like the Night Fury comparison more. If you have any other questions about anything, I will be more than happy to answer them.

Thank you all for reading! I hope that you enjoyed it! Any and all feedback will be appreciated!