It was midday on the fields of the Eastern Front. The sky, darkened by the flickering silver of a multitude of bugs, moved, twisted and contorted. Thundering in the distance, whistling up close, artillery shells cratered the land around a platoon's worth of light, quadrupedal warmachines with 57mm cannons as they fought for their very survival. Their guns barely dented the tallest of the advancing enemy mechanoids. Smaller variants collapsed under the whittling firepower of fifty-caliber machine guns, but they still marched forward, pinning the squadron down.
Combat was in a thicket of grass and trees. The machines of the infamous non-citizens of the Republic of San Magnolia, those called the Eighty-Six by their eternal tormentors, were being used to their fullest. The Juggernauts of the Republic, the Aluminum Coffins that had killed so many of their comrades through sheer inadequacy were now being used by the elite Spearhead Squadron, one of the most dangerous units of the Eastern Front, to their full potential.
TAC-Name Undertaker, one of the leading 'Processors' of the squadron, pushed forward, the high-frequency blades on his machine cutting swathes through the plating of their enemy:The Legion, an autonomous military belonging to the now-defunct Empire of Giad. They had overwhelmed all neighboring nations, including San Magnolia, within the first few months of the war, making modern armies, battle tanks and tactics obsolete.
Kaie Taniya, TAC-Name 'Kirschblüte', possibly the oldest living member of Spearhead, spoke softly, "Cover me, Leukosia, I'm gonna flank it," as she powered her machine's quadrupedal frame, pushing forward through the dirt and shrubbery, her 'sensor suite'(a generous name for a singular camera without so much as a thermal sight) locked onto the sight of a Legion main battle tank. Löwe. An octapedal machine, meaning four legs on each side of its armored central body, rotated on its axis, spinning the massive turret with a 120mm main cannon quickly to face Kaie.
She grinned, her dark eyes locked onto the machine's muzzle. Just as the flash came, the girl utilized the already-strained hydraulics of her vehicle to push to the left, dodging the shot that shattered a tree. Her Para-RAID device, an earpiece that allowed a direct, unjammable communication between all members of a squadron, blared with the affirmative reply of her comrade, Leukosia.
She was so close. The blasted thing was distracted. She could take it out. She continued closing the distance while moving evasively, narrowly dodging 120mm APFSDS shells as they flew by the cabin of what amounted to her underarmored AFV. She heard their Handler, Handler One, scream into her ear, the Alba girl clearly worried. Paying no mind to her, she pushed through the thicket, then felt her center of gravity drop.
She gasped as the Löwe's angled turret vanished from her viewscreen, replaced by dark, murky water into which her machine tumbled several times over. She slammed her head into the forward console and her ears began to ring. Groaning as her vision blurred, she leaned back against the canvas seat of her crumpled mech as water began to seep through the cracks in the vehicle's unsealed cockpit.
She blinked, warm blood trickling down from her forehead down to her chin as she watched the Löwe and its escorting squadron of six-legged, lighter spider mechs dip down into the wetland she had fallen into. She whispered to herself with desperation growing, still audible to everyone over the Para-RAID, "Wetlands...? Here...?" And she tired tugging at her leg. Pain shot through it once she noticed it was stuck below the bent console. She spoke, "I can't move..." and watched the tank and its escorting vehicles approach. It towered over her mech as she felt her heart break. She spoke in disbelief, "I don't wanna die..."
A flash of blue crackled above...
The Legion machines stopped.
Kaie saw the Eintagsfliege, their swarm of jamming bugs, get a hole drilled into it by that blue lightning. Her eyes shot wide open as she popped her canopy. The tank ahead of her paused for a moment, turned its turret to the right, then promptly exploded into a million pieces. Shrapnel washed over Kaie, forcing the girl to duck. The metal fragments tore through her clothes and scratched her skin, but that meant she was alive.
She gasped, looking to the right as another beam of blue light pierced the black veil covering the battlefield. A wheeled AFV rolled up onto the ledge ahead of her, next to what seemed to be a heavily-armored battle tank of some sort, painted in forest camouflage. As the rays of the sun shone upon the strange fighting vehicles, the AFV bearing a gigantic antenna that crackled with electricity, an infantry platoon dismounted from it.
The troopers slid down the deck, each clad in woodland camouflage, each carrying a full assault kit load. Their rifles were black, slim, handsome in design and their uniforms provided perfect protection against shrapnel, it seemed, as well as bullets. The infantrymen waded through the knee-deep swamp toward Kaie while more vehicles appeared overhead, scarlet tracers filling the air and cannons thundering. The Ameise platoon ahead fell under the whittling firepower of an allied contingent.
The leading infantryman, a soldier with a white armband bearing a red cross, pulled her mask off, revealing a Far Eastern girl like her. She demanded, "You broken!?" with a worried look in her eyes. Kaie blinked, taking a moment to process the sight, before shaking her head. The medic checked her over, pausing when Kaie twitched and whimpered upon her right leg being touched. The woman, clearly a field medic, spoke in a pissed murmur, "The fuck you aren't... Simmons, get me a fucking stretcher! Broken leg! Femoral fracture, not compound! Can't ascertain if her femoral artery didn't get cut!"
"On my way!" The other soldier replied, wading to them. He pulled out a folding stretcher from his bag and started unfolding it.
The medic told Kaie, "Relax, kid, you'll be alright..." Then, she smiled and patted her on the shoulder.
Kaie nodded, dumbfound. Above, she heard the thundering chop of rotorblades cutting through the air. Two gunships settled overhead, the chin-mounted cannons suddenly letting loose with heavy, thundering thumping. Missiles screamed out of tubular pods on their wings and the whole tree-line from where that enemy tank and its reinforcement had come from suddenly glowed orange for a few seconds.
The doctors managed to free Kaie. She felt herself get lifted out of the vehicle and placed onto the stretcher, which was being held by two of the allied troopers as more vehicles rolled in. These ones looked different. Their turrets were more circular, their armor seemed like it was made out of puzzle pieces and they bore Red Stars on the sides of their turrets. One of them had two burning scarlet 'eyes'.
A Legion ATGM flew toward it for half a second from the treeline, before it veered so hard off course, it exploded in the sky. The allied armor then rolled forward into the wetland ditches, their turrets aimed up. In the chaos, Kaie caught sight of one of the allied tanks with angled turret cheeks take a shot from a 120mm cannon on a Legion vehicle and shrug it off like it was nothing, before flatlining the enemy tank.
She watched the rest of the sky light up that same blue tint as what seemed to be electricity beamed straight out of the antenna on the transport they were now hauling her toward. Two more such beams lanced into the sky, the Legion's swarm of jammers slowly falling like crystalline snow onto the dirt. More and more armored vehicles rolled out of the thicket, knocking down trees and hammering the Legion's lines with a thundering roar of battle tank cannons, all while the infantry and vehicles behind them swept in to check for wounded.
The soldiers and medic set Kaie down behind the transport they'd come in with, keeping her behind the cover of armor plating. She looked up at them as they tended to her, with the Medic stating, "Blood pressure nominal for someone in combat. Breathing normal as well..." and feeling up her leg gently. Kaie winced at the pain, bit bit down on it, watching the woman with muted awe. She sighed, clearly relieved, "No bumps, no bruises, no accumulation of liquid... Femoral artery seems undamaged, thank God."
"Good," Sighed the stretcher man, Simmons, clearly relieved their patient would survive. Kaie looked at him. He was a young man, in his late twenties, a proud smile and sunken eyes. He pulled another item, an aluminum tube, off his back. Flipping sights up from the greebles on the strange tube itself, he asked the doctor, "D'you still need me here, doc? Or can I go back the boys up and hit some of these pieces of shit with an NLAW."
"Shouldn't you be taking the Javelin?" She suggested as she flicked her finger against the glass of a syringe. The man sighed and shrugged, to which the doctor waved him off, stating, "Go ahead, corporal..." and sticking the needle into Kaie's thigh. The girl winced, but paused as the strange liquid inside started to flow inside, numbing the pain nigh instantly. The doc smiled and said, "Good, huh? Really powerful painkiller."
"Thanks..." Kaie blinked, then realized that, oh, yes, she could talk. Utilizing this newly-rediscovered power, Kaie Taniya asked the very question she had wanted to ask since she first laid eyes upon this new military force that had saved her life from the certainty of becoming one of the Legion's next Shepherds, or worse, whatever worse could be, "W-Who are you people?!"
The woman hummed, then smirked and said, "It's a long story, dear. Best wait 'till we get you and your friends back to the FOB. Me? I'm Sergeant Carrie Mitchell, United States Marine Corps..." and her smirk turned to a smile, "We're here to save your lives, kids. And the lives of every other godforsaken man, woman and child on this planet. To save you all from this fucking Skynet knockoff."
"... Skynet Knockoff...?" Kaie blinked.
"Movie reference... Right, you probably wouldn't get it." She said, then added warmly, "Clench your teeth. This might hurt," As she tightened a splint around Kaie's broken leg. The girl whined, then fell back onto the stretcher. The drone of jet engines roared overhead. A squadron of aircraft moved in at higher altitude, dropping guided bombs toward the Legion's lines.
The young woman sighed, watching the might of a military force pushing through the hellscape of the battlefield around them, hammering the Legion with the thunder of heavy-duty artillery, tanks, infantry-carried weaponry and the likes. She sighed deeply, relieved, as she could finally feel her heart beating in her throat. The weight of everything going on around her hit like a truck full of bricks.
She looked to the right as more vehicles of various types flowed out of the trees or tore down the trees on their advance. She swallowed empty, then looked at the sky, watching as a squadron of the helicopter gunships that had sent a flurry of missiles into the trees far to her left flew in. The sky had cleared, glowing orange in the light of the setting sun.
She heard the thunder of heavy footfalls to her right and paused as she saw the Juggernauts approaching. The vehicles stopped in front of the gang, escorted by a pair of vehicles that looked sort of like boats. They bore the same red stars as one of the tanks she had seen and were wide, tracked and carried autocannons and missile launchers. Infantry dismounted from them, carrying rifles different from the ones Carrie and her troopers wielded.
She was, however, more focused on her team-mates jumping out of their Juggernauts. The black-haired, red-eyed boy with a white scarf around his neck was the first to appear out of his Juggernaut, Undertaker. Dismounting, the man slowly approached Kaie and the medic. One of the vehicles behind them fired the missile mounted on top. In the distance, a Legion tank that escaped the first volleys exploded.
Shinei Nouzen, TAC-NAME Undertaker, walked up to kaie and took a knee, looking her in the eye as he asked, "How do you feel?" his voice its usual low tone.
She smiled, a bit pale, "I'm alright, Shin. Broken leg's all."
"She's lucky it's just that," Carrie stated, humming and putting a triage card on Kaie's chest. She patted it down, then sat herself next to kaie and waved, "Howdy. You must be her squadron mates. Christ, you guys are young..."
"Yeah..." Another, a blonde boy Kaie recognized as Theoto Rikka, nodded, "Long story... You are?"
"Sergeant Carrie Mitchell, USMC," The girl replied, then stood up, opened her arms and slapped down her body armor vest, which had some chunks of shrapnel in it, as well as a lot of medical items like tourniquets. She stated proudly, "You'll all be happy to know your pal here's just fine. She's just got a broken femur, though without a lot of movement and no arterial damage. She'd be out of here and on a ride home by now if she had any damage."
"Right..." Shin nodded to Carrie, "I'm Shinei Nouzen... Captain of Spearhead Squadron."
"Nice to meet'cha, cap," She replied, then put a hand up to the headphones on her ears. She nodded, then said, "We're mobilizing. Old Ironsides and the 4th Guards' Tanks just pushed those Mechs back. Let me put it as bluntly as I can with you, kids, you just met the weirdest alliance to ever grace your world. Two alliances that were at war merged into one to kick another nation's ass and, now, to kick these cheap knockoff robot overlords' asses back to hell."
"Well, that's good...?" The tallest of the boys, one with steel-grey hair and eyes, stated as he scratched the scar on his right cheek. He looked around at the dismounted infantry from the transports that had escorted them in. He paused, noting the different flags on their shoulders, the uniforms, the equipment and all, all of it very modern, then asked, "So, they're-"
"From another country," The girl nodded, "Soviet Union, to be exact."
Noting the confused looks, the woman said, "Again. We'll explain it back at base to all of you while your friend here heals. As for right now, the most I can tell you is, in our world it's 2022 and we've all just become best friends over the fuckery of the machines we have put out of action. Can I ask you all one thing before we go any further and start evacuating in an orderly fashion back to our forward operations base?"
"Go on," Shin gave a nod, much to Kaie's surprise.
"... Why are you kids in fucking aluminum coffins?" He asked. The group blinked, then Theo burst into a laughing fit worth its weight in gold. Kaie wasn't sure if it was just the guy releasing the tensions he felt when he probably saw their newly-discovered allied force rush to their rescue like the ye olde knights of yore, but at the same time, she figured she'd get the answer when they got to these guys' base.
Kaie felt teeth rattling in her goddamn mouth as the vehicle she was in went over every bump in the road and over every rock. She was sat down next to Carrie aboard the transport vehicle she'd come in with her squad. A 'Stryker Flyswatter', as they called it. The Stryker Flyswatter was a mobile infantry transport that was modified to carry what they called the XM99 "Flyswatter" Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Emitter. Basically, they had a beam of electricity that just up and shut down the Legion's little com-jamming critters.
"So..." The girl decided to break the silence. Several eyes fell on her, while others simply cleaned their weapons or did other things, like playing on what looked to be smartphones. Kaie had only seen a smartphone once, before they got sent to the camps, so she figured... Eh, no, no time to question that bit. She had bigger fish to fry. "You guys are not from around the bend, huh...?"
"Nope," Carrie answered, "Quite a ways away from the bend." And she offered her some sort of chocolaty sweet. Kaie took it without a second thought, stuck it in her mouth and felt a shiver run down her spine from the sweetness. She chuckled, then stated, "Jeez, girl, you're acting like you haven't had chocolate in years. You alright?" before pausing as she saw Kaie freeze. A look of concern crossed her face, "Kid?"
"... See, about that..." Kaie started...
Outside, meanwhile, Shin and the rest of the squadron listened to the Major... Celebrating over the Para-RAID. Celebrating in whispers, anyhow, considering the girl was whispering joyful cries of victory and the likes. Theo snorted and covered his mouth, before murmuring, "This girl..." as they rolled ever-forward. He looked left and right, noting the allied vehicles of the 'Soviet Union' beside them, as well as a slew of other allied tanks, stating, "I gotta say... They came just in the nick of time."
"They're using the same technology thought obsolete when things like the Legion came about," Raiden Shuga, TAC-name Wehrwolf, commented, "Hey, Handler One. You still there?"
The woman let out a weird noise, freezing, then replied, "Y-Yes, yes I am, Wehrwolf. How's the trip with our new allies so far?"
"Quiet, if a little show-off-y..." Raiden replied with agrin, looking up as a pair of heavily-armored attack helicopters that resembled crocodiles rolled forward. Visible, slung under the strange wings, were missile pods much like the ones of the other, sleeker gunships from before. Said gunships flew in formation next to these more heavily-armored helicopters, while air power danced high above, a wing of high-speed, highly-maneuverable single-engine jets of a sleek design.
"Good to know... I've already sent a message to the Higher-Ups about our new arrivals. Been forced to report and all that, you know?" The girl stated rather shyly. Raiden nodded, but didn't reply. It was Shin who gave an affirmative hum to their Handler. Of course, the Republic must've picked the newly-arrived force on Radar the moment they hit the deck. Republic radars were still top of the line. Even if the rest of their military hadn't been even before the Legion's assault.
One of the EM batteries discharged to their left. A swarm of Legion bugs fell like glittering rain in the orange sunset, but that usually meant there was a Legion tank force coming their way. Shin stated, "Contact. Twenty Legion units. Ten Ameise, five Grauwolf-class, five L-" and he paused as the area where the Legion troops came from grew silent. The rumble of explosions and shockwaves of artillery filtered in, shaking the convoy slightly. Shin blinked, then said, "Artillery..."
"Must be the Friendlies..." Raiden quipped, "Hey, Theo, Kurena, how're you guys doing?"
"Just fine. Enjoying the fireworks display," Theo replied. Kurena hummed a happy affirmative, the peppy little redhead of the gang. Another barrage struck, though this time Shin had heard the guns fire. The squadron of transports and combat vehicles crested a hill and gasped as they saw a massive Forward Operating Base had grown out of nothing in the sector. Concrete barriers, walls and armored and reinforced bunkers shielded the temporary FOB, while what seemed to be Air Defenses continuously fired at artillery shells that the Legion was firing back in counter-battery.
"We're arriving at the allied base..." Shin stated, looking up with a hint of awe as they passed by two dozen flags on poles, fluttering in the wind. Infantrymen greeted the convoy as it rolled into the sprawling defensive site, before most pulled up into a Motor Pool to disembark the crews. Shin and Co followed Kaie's Stryker all the way over to where they needed to be, then watched as the Marine force disembarked.
They stopped their vehicles as well, with Shin hearing Carrie state, "Swear to god, I'd've felt better if we were in a LAV or something else. Least we'd have a 25mm Chaingun between us and SkyNet, not some buggy fucking tech that we're lucky if it works half the time..." with a displeased voice. She noted the kids disembarking as well, then stated, "Your friend, Kaie, told me everything... Hope the Republic doesn't mind a fuckin' visit." her eyes filled with pity for the kids and fury toward their captors.
Kaie poked her head out, embarrassed, then waved, "Sorry. They asked..."
"It's fine," Shin nodded, then whispered something into his Para-RAID and cut the link between them and the Handler. He looked over to Carrie and said, "While I'm sure a few of us Eighty-Six would appreciate seeing the Republic get torn to shreds by an allied force, there are more heavily pressing matters, such as the Legion, the existence of your forces and how you're holding the line so well."
"That's on the Generals to answer, I'm afraid, cap," She smirked, then turned toward the large central tent and watched as the command staff walked out. Men from varying nations, each bearing the flag of their land on the left shoulder of their camouflage uniform, appeared. Most common of the flags of this staff were a 50-star flag with red and white horizontal stripes and a scarlet flag, bearing a crossed hammer and sickle with a star in the middle on the top left corner.
"I suddenly feel woefully underdressed..." Raiden quipped with a murmur. That garnered a few wary chuckles out of the rest of Spearhead, but Shin stared the hardened men ahead of him down as if they were somewhat equal, rather than superiors. And the Generals and other Officers, to their credit, seemed to be containing their disbelief at kids Shin's age being soldiers rather well. Though one of them, bearing a red flag on her shoulder and a blue beret on her head, did seem more displeased than the others, her otherwise-beautiful face contorted into a frown.
"... This is the troop our tank corps rescued from Skynet?" She asked, her accent heavy, weighing down her words, "They can't be any older than some of our greenest, comrade general."
"Mmm..." Sighed the other man bearing a the red flag on his shoulder. He spoke, his voice stern, heavily-accented as well, seemingly calm, "Welcome to Forward Operations Base Ninety-One, 'Beijing Express'. I am General Kostin, of the Soviet Armed Forces. The woman who spoke just now is Major Korotkova, the commander of our Paratrooper Division."
"And I'm Major-General Buchanan, US Army. I'm the overall commander of the UN Task Force on your world." The soldier in the lead, clad in highly digitialized woodland camouflage, stated as he took his three-star cap off and ran a hand through his buzzcut hair. He examined the wary faces of the children, then sighed deeply, his mind racing toward his own sons.
The '86' snapped crisp salutes at the Generals, which the generals quickly returned.
Shin stepped forward, "Sirs. I am Captain Shinei Nouzen, active commander of the Eastern Front's First Ward First Processor Squadron, Spearhead..."
A boy, a captain...
