EIGHT MONTHS AFTER THE BEGINNING OF THE LOCUST CIVIL WAR-

"5, 6, 7" The view through the binoculars is of Group of elite grenadiers charging into a trench line full of Savage locusts and engaging in bloody battle, a full squad of boomers charge as well but are quickly suppressed by sandcrawlers, which came out from tunnels behind the savage fortifications; The boomers took out two sandcrawlers before they were shredded by the Mulcher and Gun-turrets, meanwhile the person using the binoculars spots a few "Grunt" Grubs with snipers taking potshots at the Sandcrawlers, one successfully getting killed when it rotated it's line of fire slightly to one side.

COG Gear #1: Bloody hell, this raid seems to be a success for the grunts... -She lowers her binoculars and nods at her gunner-... Let's kick some dirt... -she picks up her equipment bag and starts to run away from the cliffside-... this raid will be done in a few seconds so let's not give them more targets to hit.

COG Gear #2: Yes ma'am, I'll send the call to Overlord. -he says as he follows close to her while using a very crude looking computer-like device mounted on his wrist, after they see run for around fifty meters they hit the ground on the prone as the Gear connects to the radio signal-... Overlord, this is Jester-1, respond respond, over... -he says into the static of the radio frequency-

"Jester-1 this is OVERLORD, send your SITREP, Over..." -the voice and signal was muddy at best but audible enough that it could be heard and understood by the two gears-

Jester-1: Overlord, as predicted Gulf~Gulf Won-Fife eliminated Sierra~Gulf seven, retreating to Exfil post-haste, over..." -he says as the same time as a bunch of Reavers fly overhead at a breakneck speed towards the battle, which was there signal to start hauling ass-

"Jester-1, Good job now return to join the Checkpoint, Over and out" -The voice says before the signal cut out-

The duo continued to run till they reached a small cluster of jagged rocks next to a steep hill, on the rocks were rappelling ropes were tied tightly and going down the hill, the two gears hooked up the cables to their armor before starting to run down the hill while keeping themselves running without falling over till they reach the bottom of the hill where they had a sandcrawler. There was a duo of Grunt drones seemingly looting the Sandcrawler but are quickly killed by the female gear who quickly takes back the ammo that was taken from the sandcrawler, she dumps it in the back of the armored vehicle.

Female Gear (CG #1): Fuckin' Mooks. -she says before putting two additional rounds into the head of the second drone she killed, then she removes her helmet and tosses it into the passenger seat of the Sandcrawler, This is Sargent Alex Brand who was ready to go back to base-... Let's go before more of these fuckers come looking for their friends here. -she says after dumping the dead locusts' weapons in the Sandcrawler then they quickly took-off towards the opposite direction of the battle they witness-

MEANWHILE AT THE SAME TIME, A FEW MILES AWAY-

The rest of the Gears began to quickly pack up their equipment, mount up on their vehicles, Captain McKenzie and Delta were the last ones to get into the Pride and Joy of Damon Baird's hard work: A massive mobile HQ truck called the EMCV, on the side of the massive truck was written "Any day you walk out of the battlefield alive is a good one" spray-painted on the side as way to pay tribute to their fallen leader Colonel Hoffman. About two weeks ago Delta ran into a group of stranded who were using the massive truck as a home, Baird traded some food with the stranded for ammo then a few days the gears ran into the same group of stranded but after they were ambushed by the locusts; The people were killed and the EMCV was heavily damaged.

They followed the smoke and they discovered the dead in a pile being burned, the mobile HQ was riddled by bullets and gore. The most significant damage were two of the wheels which were melted by fire-grenades so the gears just ripped the tires off and drove away carefully so the truck wouldn't tip over. Six months ago the Locust started a war among themselves, The Gears have been scavenging the battlefields, moving from location to location while slowly making their way out of the badlands.

For months the Gears have been essentially living off ammo, food, materials and other items that they could scavenge or steal in secret from the locusts and battlefields; They been living in abandoned locust outposts, caves or/and living within their vehicle caravans hidden in mountains or sandy dunes. For the Gears, avoiding direct contact with the locusts had been extremely difficult but ultimately beneficial to them, more so since the destruction of Anvil Gate. Even though Baird and Cole were mournful about the death of these stranded whom were nice and understanding about their situation, these people had traded a few hundred rounds of various ammo types in exchange for rations, around half of what Baird, Cole, Nika and Jackson brought out to their initial reconnaissance mission.

Their Leader was older skinny woman burnt by the blistering badland sun, her hair was neatly tied in a bun with a hollow rod holding it together, she was nice towards Baird because as she explained, Baird reminded her of her late husband. She had asked the Gears if they had food because she didn't had enough to feed her boys which were three young men and four very young grandchildren, the oldest was barely eleven years old. The stranded community that lived in the EMCV were around nineteen people, most were adult women wearing old light armor. Nika had even given one of the kids a sip of her canteen when the girl asked her for water, shortly after this they took the ammo they received in exchange of their rations mounted them in their sandcrawlers and left. Nika and Baird saw a massive column of smoke rise into the sky hours later, a day later they would discover that the locust had attacked and kill the stranded, including the children.

Nika was distraught at the sight, Jackson had to console her while Cole and Baird were burying the dead whom were not in the burning corpse pile, whom were killed inside their bunks inside of the EMCV, the sick and previously wounded that couldn't defend themselves. Nika felt terribly sick at the sight of the seven graves that now harbored the mangled bodies of young children, who Baird assumed hid inside the EMCV during the locust's attack.

Hours past but eventually they group repaired the EMCV up to functionality then they drove away with the mobile HQ towards their rendezvous point with the rest of their Unit which were located in an abandoned trenchline outpost, next to a massive mountain bordering the giant forests where Anvil Gate resided. Three days later they reunited with McKenzie's unit only to move again in response to increased locust activity in the badlands.

Now in the Present the entire group was starting to move once more this time deeper into the wrecked world they lived, a tattered city named Mercy that was too familiar to Delta squad, the last resting place for the legendary soldier Dominic Santiago after his heroic sacrifice to save his brother and sisters in arms.

It took a whole lot of time to move a convoy in way that it could remain concealed from the aerial patrols from the locusts reavers but once they were spotted, The gears hit the pedal to the metal and took out the reavers while actively putting as much real estate between the carnage and themselves. When they were sure that they weren't being followed they entered the city of Mercy.

An eerie and mournful quiet swallowed the excitement and adrenaline rush as the gears dismounted and looked around Mercy now destroyed. Massive cracks and sunken sections of the city is all they saw. Inky black smoke rose out of the cracks, soot and ash rained from the sky as a result.

McKenzie: This place... -he looks to Marcus-... is Mercy?... -he walks a bit and steps on piles of ash, puffing away around his boots-... This place looks like it got struck by a Lightmass missile. -he coughs as the air is thick with black dust, ash and soot-

"The bombs that the old man placed blew up somehow by the looks of it" Sam says through the radio as she remains in the EMCV, Marcus walks up to a sunken pump station of sorts and looks down into the crater where a giant column of smoke rises up from it.

Marcus: Dad's weapon destroyed Imulsion so in turn Mercy, a pumping town, was destroyed too. -he presses the button to speak in his Tac-Com-... EMCV and Crawler crews set up a perimeter and be on guard, we might have company if we linger for too long.

McKenzie: Nika, Jackson and Delta, lets move in and see if there's anything to salvage or a place to hid in before we continue moving, everyone else be careful, the floor feels a bit... -he looks down as the edge of the crater was crumbling away-... Rickety.

MEANWHILE IN MOUNT KADAR-

The bright shine from the palace guards' armor had been worn down by the brutal iced winds that stripped the land bit by bit; For the last months the locusts have been building up fortifications and homes to survive the storms in the outside. The entrance to the laboratories was now a tunnel lined with metal and wooden slabs on the floor, it stretched nearly forty meters out of the underground and into the newly created Fort on the surface.

Down below Niles with the (forced) assistance by Adam had managed to slow down Myrrah's disease, now truly confirmed to be an advanced version of Blood-rot, the same disease that has been killing some of their forces. Niles had essentially reversed-engineered the source of this sickness: Imulsion.

Specifically DNA fully bonded to Imulsion, now dead and existing as a cancerous growth leeching off the healthy cells to keep itself from fully breaking down and becoming ash; Adam was perplexed of how Imulsion had adapted to it's own device by his countermeasure weapon, he and Niles had hypothesized that 97.9% of Imulsion cells were killed off in the countermeasure's activation while what remained were the most resilient cells from the parasitic organism. While most locust show a clear lack of Imulsion in their bodies, the older locusts seem to be affected the worse as there's more Imulsion corruption of their genetic coding.

Due to Myrrah being the progenitor of the locusts, Blood-rot affects her differently: While the locusts tend to die of rapid developing necrosis inside their bodies, Myrrah's immune system and her metabolism has been severely weakened. There's moments were her skin breaks after a bit of tension which then bleeds and releases "The Rot", Infected blood that reacts to direct exposure to the environment outside the body, that then forms into orange crystals if left uncleaned.

The biggest concern to Niles wasn't Myrrah or her health but to the health of her three kids: A girl named Nanaira and a pair of twins called Krûk and Krül. The three kids are very weak and sickly thanks to their blood being mixed with Myrrah's while where in the womb, poisoning all four of them.

The babies have gotten better but Myrrah continued to get worse, however she's stubborn enough to personally oversee all research and important work done in the lab; She was always followed by Niles, Adam and the Commander of the Palace Guard, Krav Táäl. Her current bout of stubbornness had led her to see Niles' current project now residing in Vats, with help of Adam he had been developing a cure to Blood-Rot but it needed more time and patience as Niles dependence on the facility's ancient technology was slowly down research.

Adam was essential to Niles' plans as he was the only one smart enough to help with genetic research on a new form of locust soldier. Myrrah was less than pleased for the slow progress but she was to weak to properly convey her displeasure, letting Niles take his time was her only option specially as she now made her way to the surface as Krav Táäl had reported a messenger from General RAAM had arrived with a Dire message directly from the badlands.

Niles: Queen Myrrah I believe it's unnecessary to risk your health over a messenger, let the Commander bring it to you in your chambers. -he says to Myrrah, lagging behind them by a few feet-

Adam: I believe this as well Myrrah... -Táäl growl at the disrespect of not calling her queen but Adam didn't care at this point-... the kids still depend on you to grow and get nurtured, things like this are simply risks that you shouldn't be taking, it's outright negligent on your part. -He says over her shoulder as she coughs some blood and uses Táäl to keep herself up as she continues to make her way to the reaver landing zone-

Myrrah: If I were you... -She grunted as her the frozen wind burnt her lungs and her sensitive skin-... I be reconsidering my words, the both of you, before you continue aggravating my temper. -she wiped her bloody lips and composed herself as the Courier kneeled in her presence-

Myrrah was shocked at the courier's appearance which was bloody and ragged, his armor was severely damaged and his right arm was pretty much ripped apart by gunfire, the hand had been amputated and the wound crudely burnt shut; He lifted his head and removed his damaged helmet revealing still bleeding claw marks on his face, marks down by a familiar looking hand, that of another locust.

RAAM's Messenger: [My Queen...] -He stands and spots Adam behind her, he looks at the Queen again-... [The Uzil sends this message to you, my queen.] -he pulls out a rolled out piece of parchment then hands it to Myrrah-

She opens it then as she starts reading she shocked to learn of it's contents: "My Queen I desire only that you and our children are healthy and safe however I have horrendous news that you must know urgently: Zamil Skjall has betrayed the horde, insubordination and turning our savage brethren against us, leading them in open warfare in a mission to usurp my position as military leader of the horde. I request of you reinforcements as the traitor has began to consolidate the savage into a considerable force and soon it may become to great to defeat as our forces are splintered and stretched too thin. UZIL RAAM" the letter was signed in blood, willingly or otherwise.

Myrrah: Impossible!... -she tossed the parchment aside then rubbed her hand through her silver hair in frustration-... GODDAMMIT!... -She shouted before turning to Táäl before grabbing on to him-... Take me to my chamber now!... -she coughed while she's assisted to her chambers by a few Palace Guards while Táäl stayed behind and commanded his troops to ready up and prepare for the incoming mission-

The Palace Guard Commander started ordering his troops to mount up on the Gasbarges and the Reavers, many rushed to their battle stations while many brought ammo crates, extra weapons and other equipment, among them were Grenadier Elites and Theron Elites; Behind Táäl was a massive Grenadier with it's helmet held underneath his arm, A Ravager called Korr who was the commander of the Grenadiers among Myrrah's personal forces. Krav Korr and his forces had been relegated to guarding the perimeter of the laboratory while the Palace Guards remained inside, closest to the Queen. This massive Grenadier was nearly a foot taller than Táäl, who turned around and greeted the Krav with respect:

Korr: [Táäl, I ride with you.] -His voice was deep and very gritty, he was old and far more experienced than every other Palace Guard aside from Táäl, whom fought alongside with during the War against the Lambent within the Hollow-... [Seems the Uzil requires of us once more, you better bring the best warriors on your group of pompous fools.] -his scarred visage grew into a grin as he patted his old comrade in the shoulder-

Táäl:[You ready to do something aside from shoveling snow or shit?] -he says before smacking their weapons together as their greeting-... [Even with the severity of the situation, I can't help but feel excited for this battle, to hunt that Traitor Skjall.] -the other Palace Guards were starting to depart in formation while Táäl and Korr made their way towards his personal reaver-

Korr: [Skjall a Traitor?]... -he asked as he rubbed his chin in a thoughtful way-... [Killing a Zamil, that's a first.]

Táäl: [And last if Uzil RAAM is to lead us to victory.] -he mounted the Reaver and then Korr rode in the back manning the turret in the back, he put on his helmet then turned his gaze to the Theron-... [But for us when we arrive, we will shed the blood of all those traitorous Savages.] -Korr smiled as he anticipated the battles to come-

The Commander of the Palace Guards stood up in his seat and drew a massive golden sword from a sheathe on the side of the Reaver's saddle, he lifted it over his head and commanded the armada of Gasbarges to move forwards, the final destination was the Badlands; He sheathed the sword on his hip then sat down once more and rode along side the other reavers and gasbarges. Korr let out a war-cry which rallied the Elite and other locusts, Boomers roared in unison while the Palace Guards stomped their boots and bashed their chestplates in unison.

Korr: [In 'nother life I should've been a Zamil, make these newer soldiers tough like us Táäl, like the old days when we killed the lambent in the name of the Trinity.] -he says before he tighten the gauntlet he wore on his left arm; Táäl turned to him before riding up to the leading Gasbarge where his most loyal soldier led the Gasbarges' movements-... [I know brother I'll remain upon the Reaver while you talk to your Fleet Captain.]

Táäl:[I'm curious of something, I'll get to it when I return.] -he says before getting up to the starboard side of the leading Gasbarge, he climbs out then jumps onto the deck where he's greeted by Raku, the Palace Guard who serves as Táäl's second in command-... [Vurl Raku, I expect your crew to be ready to engage the Savage, traitors to our kind, to our Queen.] -he says before they both walk towards the helm of the gasbarge-

Gasbarge Commander Raku: [Yes Commander, my soldiers are eager to destroy these traitors in the name of the Queen.] -he responds just as he reaches the wheel, then starts typing some coordinates into the gasbarge's control computer-... [Any other orders Commander?]

Táäl: [Maintain route and only deviate if absolutely necessary, understood?] -he says to Raku before hearing a loud thud, he turns around seeing Korr walk up, after tying up the reaver to the side of the Barge, he's holding his custom Gnasher, an absolutely massive bruiser of a shotgun hanging over his shoulder-... [If the savage have any gasbarges, reavers or any other assets, capture them]... -he says to him before turning to the rest of the Crew-... [Am I Clear?!]

Gasbarge Crew: [YES COMMANDER!] -They shouted in unison while looking at Táäl and Korr-

Korr: [Raku, make sure your crew don't open fire on my soldiers or I'll hunt you down myself.] -he says as he removes his helmet, gesturing at the burn/blast scar on his face-

Raku did not respond but Táäl gestured Korr to leave back to the Reaver, he then joined the Ravager Leader and detached the beast off the Gasbarge quickly moving away to the front of the Gasbarge formation, leading the convoy towards their final destination:

Táäl: [You haven't forgotten Raku's mistake in Halvo?] -he asked after a few minutes of silence-... [Never expected you to hold a grudge.]

Korr: [No, I'll never forget such foolish actions, specially when my face is forever scarred because of it]... -he says while putting on his helmet-... [His foolish tactics with his torque bow nearly killed me and my soldiers.] -he says to Táäl-

He nodded and then concentrated in piloting the Reaver, he looks down to the path down below seeing the outpost disappear behind the mountains; An army of 400 palace guards riding on Gasbarges, more incoming from the Citadel in the following hours, in a few days there will be thousands rallying to the badlands in the search of the traitor Skjall. Táäl has silent as the duo flew up ahead towards the other reavers, he looked back towards the massive group of gasbarges and reavers who where ready to destroy all traitors, he squinted as the new outpost disappeared.

Korr: -stares at the strong winds blowing away patches of snow away from the trees and trails-... [Winter is coming, Táäl, It's probably going to be a fierce season.]

Táäl: [Killing these Traitors shouldn't take us long, we'll be back before the end of winter.]

SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE DEADLANDS-

RAAM and Azrák had been preparing for the assault on The Maw, two squads were specially chosen by the Two generals and among them was three locusts whom have shown exemplary combat aptitude: A sniper called Vurl Ebak, a drone named Orgu and another, Cael, who had recently had gotten promoted to Krav. Ebak was an exceptional sniper with a particular inclination to remaining undetected, he's good at scoring kills and disappearing as well in very long range shots. Azrák selected him after he went on a killing spree which ended in sixteen Savage dead and three of Skjall's personal scouts. Shortly after killing those scouts he took off and was never found by the savage, later he arrived at the hidden outpost where RAAM had planted his temporary headquarters, nearly sixteen miles away.

About a week ago Maag Orgu and his squadron were ambushed by a Convoy of sandcrawlers and rat-bikes, His theron was wiped out nearly immediately so without leadership they were doomed to die, however Orgu took charge and led the remaining three drones into a nearby sandhill where they held their ground by shouting at the Savages who were trying charging at them. The four drones held the line against nearly thirteen savages drones, eventually a friendly reaver happened to spot them and rescued them by laying down the savages with a quick bombardment. He was re-assigned to a different squad were he was instrumental at destroying three siege positions before they killed RAAM's newly acquired Brumak, effectively saving the Uzil's life.

The final member of these exceptional soldiers is Krav Cael was picked up by Azrák after a skirmish led to the general discovering a massive stash of weapons in a cave, inside the Zamil found Cael barely alive surrounded by his squad and a dozen savage locusts, all dead from a very close quarters battle. With what Cael said upon his recovery was that his squad was tracking a siege beast controlled by the savage forces and ended up encountering a large group of savages transporting ammo and weapons with a siege beast; However upon reaching the savage convoy's destination the wind shifted direction and their scent got picked up a few marauders, causing a firefight. Cael's squad were forced to retreat deeper into the hidden camp till they trapped themselves in the cave, forcing them to fight for their lives in a area that was barely fifteen feet across. Cael last memory before passing out was his last remaining squad mate toss a box full of Bolo grenades to the outside then charge the savage with a live grenade in both his hands, the explosion launching him back into the cave and knocking him out.

The trio were being led directly by Azrák, while the second squad was made up of Theron Elites and two Kantuses, RAAM had decided to spearhead the attack while the rest of the Locust attack force was going to charge from the front and the sides; The main objective of this attack is to kill Skjall and end this rebellion once and for all. For weeks Uzil RAAM has been regrouping locust forces and rebuilding the horde's might in preparation for the attack. Now with the mission ready to go, RAAM walked out of his tent then towards a table where all the squad leaders were waiting for his command:

RAAM: [Listen the lot of you.] -he commands, the Therons and the few Elite grenadiers stood and seized their talking-... [This attack will depend on the siege crews and you, all of you whom have earned the honor to represent your chosen warriors as leaders. Skjall, The traitor has taken shelter in The Maw, ordering his savages to fortify the walls and set up traps all across the valley entrance located here]... -he points at the map that he had sprawled out on the table in front of the group-

The Maw was a massive fort located at the edge of the Deadlands within a saddle flanked by two cliffs to it's east and west, a locust made road behind it leading out of the deadlands towards the south-east, down that road in a few hours one could arrive in the human cities of Mercy and Char by avoiding the destroyed and dried up Imulsion fields. The Fort itself was split into three areas: The Mines, The Barracks and a The Tower, the fort is protected from the front by the "Teeth" which were jagged chunks of metal lodged into the sand in criss-cross patterns to stop vehicles and slowing down frontal assaults.

RAAM: [The first stage of this attack is to bombard the fort with Reaver fire, if the beasts take too much damage then pull away and don't risk the reavers, understood?] -the reaver commanders as well a the pilots nearby agreed-... [followed by artillery, siege beasts will cover the advance of the mortar crews who will reach the third innermost row of teeth, here]... -he points in the map-... [you will attack these key locations, specifically these sniper towers and this front gate, the artillery will cover the advance of the grappler crews as they climb the eastern wall. On my command the siege beasts will be free to engage targets as you see fit as the Brumaks will provide support and defense from any savage reaver crews]. -he then takes a second to let the information sink in then continues-... [While the fort is taking the artillery fire, ground forces will charge here, the infantry gate on the west side, upon entering kill all who get in your way but your priorities are to destroy any and all Savage Therons and Savage Kantuses, those you are kill without hesitation. The marauders are also to be killed if they don't see that they're side is weak]...

Theron Elite SL #1: [Can the marauders even understand us Uzil, those "things" are barely one of us... nothing but mindless beasts.] -he says to RAAM-

RAAM: [The marauder may seem like mindless beasts but they're far more intelligent than most would assume, if not agitated these soldiers could be swayed to our side if shown strength, however if they can't be brought to our side then kill them.] -he continues-... [While within if you see any unattended reavers or extra equipment, take it, leave nothing for the savage to waste in their traitorous pursuit of power.] -he then points at the map-... [All forces will clear out the fort of any savage forces, this includes the mines and the Barracks, the tower is to be bombarded by Gas-barges upon the orders of Zamil Azrák.]

The Zamil moves into the planning area and places massive explosive charges on the table:

Azrák: [Demolition squads will place these on key locations inside the mines, any other squads your goals should be to ensure the demolition squads' success.]

RAAM: [Finally if anyone spots Skjall, it's kill on sight, if you get the opportunity to kill the bastard, I'll ensure that you're properly rewarded by the Queen herself.]

All the locust chant in unison before one of the Therons breaks the chanting with a question to the Generals:

Theron SL: [Why not keep the fort Uzil, destroying it seems wasteful with a fort this size.]

RAAM: [This is to send a message to all who think they can betray the Queen, there will be no mercy and no forgiveness... Destroying the maw will serve as our departure of the deadlands as well, the main force of this mission will follow me to the old human cities.] -he says as he retrieves the map and stores it-... Our scouts spotted the humans being led by one Marcus Fenix fleeing towards them. -he says with an angry scowl-... [That human is to be killed slowly for what he has done to us, to me, to Skorge and to the Queen. He is to watch as his allies and his world burns to ash]... -he angrily says as he remembers how that human made him fail his mission, how he destroyed the hollow and all the locust lives lost by his hand-... [And only then]... -he grabs his troika and readies it as the others do the same with their weapons-... [He'll die by my hand and mine alone.]

TO BE CONTINUED...