StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Dark cumulonimbus clouds rolled across the southern skies of Cirios Prime at high speeds, swirling around each other in a counter-clockwise direction. The sky was periodically illuminated by brilliant flashes of lightning, followed by the awesome roar of thunder. This storm was characteristically violent for a relatively young world such as this, which compared to Humanity's homeworld of Earth, was in its infancy. Spacy scientists had determined that the lush, jungle world held no sentient life to speak of, which made it a prime destination for colonization.

But the war had put that on hold indefinitely.

The Confederate Grand Assembly had basically revoked all but subsistence funds from the Exploratory Corps in order to fund increased starship production and training of conscripts. The end result was that the roughly 500 strong Spacy Marine detachment on Cirios would have to survive without substantial support for months, perhaps even years.

But that would soon change...

*******

"Baker, come take a look at this!" said Lance Corporal Mike Bell, the flashlight on his helmet illuminating the dark passageway burrowed into the ground.

Sergeant Deidre Baker came up from behind Bell, her own high-powered light flooding the passageway with yellow-white light. She could see runic symbols inscribed on the walls as her optical sensors magnified the images they picked up. The passageway was narrow, but large enough to fit a medium-sized trooper through.

"This definitely isn't a natural formation," said Bell, kneeling next to the passage and directing one of his drones down through the passageway. "It's long, too," he continued after getting a transmission back from the drone.

"Hit command up, they might want to take a look at this as well," replied Baker, motioning in the direction of one of the enlisted men in her squad.

"On it, Sarge," said Enlisted Three Dalton Keeler.

*******

Deep inside the cavernous underground formation the Spacy Marines had managed to find, an advanced AI awakened after tens of thousands of years of slumber. When compared to the advanced computer technologies of the Draconian League and Jaaq'tah Alliance, it dwarfed even the might of the awesome DEIMOS and BEHOLDER platforms. Some could even say it could challenge the might of the seemingly invincible GOLDENGATE.

"The first level of defenses has been penetrated by invaders," said the monotone voice of the alien AI, emerald-green runes lighting up along the walls of the AI's chamber.

*******

The Type 17 tactical sensor drone had already traveled roughly two kilometers into the depth of the underground tunnel, sending back sensor data of a complex that could have only been constructed by an advanced alien race. The simple arcitechure alone left only one conclusion: This was a former military complex of the ancient Draconian race.

Suddenly, on the drone's screen, an elongated glowing green device emerged out of nowhere, circling around the drone. The drone obviously sent back images of this object, which startled the command staff watching back at the Marine base. Then the transmission abruptly ended with a spectacular flash of light.

*******

"Must be some kind of automated defense system -- it's completely consistent with other Draconian complexes we've found on Aquilae and on Draconis Prime," said Colonel Bobby Nash, the commander of the Cirios Exploratory Corps unit.

"Then we need to get word back to the CONSTRACOM -- they'll want to know. Finding any Draconian structure could yield technology we can incorporate in our war machine," replied Major Lysander Wright.

"Let it be done," said the Colonel. "Tell them that we have potentially located a Draconian 'X' and we request reinforcements."

*******

Colonel Xato Kiyomeru stared at the holographic images before him, rewinding them over and over again while simultaneously cross-referencing them with data from the operation to attain the Second and Fourth 'X's less than fifteen years prior. Those discoveries had yielded the development of the ZPE and Felix Converter technologies and the subsequent technologies that had followed. The First, Third, and Fifth 'X's had remained missing or potentially in the hands of the Jaaq'tah Alliance, though the Confederation's Central Intelligence Forces hadn't been able to verify or discount this in any way.

But what Colonel Kiyomeru did know was that if the Confederates could secure another X, it would give them a considerable technological advantage over the Jaaq'tah.

From what Kiyomeru knew of the situation at hand, the Exploratory Corps battalion on Cirios was moving very carefully in their excavation of the chamber simply because of the presence of automated defenses of a caliber they had yet to engage. It was probably enough to secure the structure, but Kiyomeru didn't feel comfortable letting Marines get their hands on sensitive data like this. He had to intervene.

"Goldengate, get me a list of field agents."

Less than a second after Kiyomeru finished his statement, a list of five hundred unassigned intelligence operatives. Kiyomeru scanned the list: "Sort by skill ranking and expertise."

The list was quickly narrowed down to four five-star elite operatives with the skill records for such an operation. Kiyomeru saw a name that brought a sly grin to his face. "Activate Juno."

*******

On the outskirts of the Cirios system, a 42-ship squadron of Jaaq'tah naval vessels emerged through an array of wormholes. Sensors probed the system, searching for any sign of hostile forces but found none -- it seemed that the Jaaq'tah vessels were alone in system.

"Our first priority is to eliminate the Humans on the system's chief planet. Once that is accomplished, we will find the X and retrieve it before the infidels knew what hit them," said the Jaaq'tah squadron commander. "Let's move."

*******

Commodore Tetsuya Asasaki was awoken by the incessant chirping of his VIRGIL. Blinding reaching over and hitting the acknowledge button, the feminine voice of Goldengate brought him to a full state of alertness.

"Commodore Asasaki, your battle group is to set its destination for the system Cirios immediately. You will rendezvous with the star fortress Salvation to pick up a high-level officer before departing."

Asasaki sat up in his bed, swallowing hard. This was his first mission as a battle group commander.

With the lack of any appreciable space-based assets, the entirety of what the Exploratory Corps unit had in terms of space-based sensors were a series of four dozen Mercurius III drones that orbited the planet and served as their eyes and ears to the rest of the universe during the duration of their mission. Because the unit didn't expect any heavy combat action, the CONSTRACOM viewed this as more than sufficient to support the marine detachment.

They were wrong.

On the ground below, the first drone was detected as going offline at 1350 UMT (Universal Military Time), the second just thirty-three seconds later. Then they began to start dropping like flies, the last one finally going offline at 1403 UMT. Immediately, Colonel Bobby Nash knew something was terribly wrong here. He ordered all marines on Cirios Prime to prepare themselves for the impeding storm that was coming, but before he could get the full order out, a tidal wave of plasma cascaded from the heavens, wiping out the Marine headquarters in a single blow. The Exploratory Corps' command had been decapitated.

It was only then that the bulbous Jaaq'tah dropships, called 'Death Eggs' by Confederate troops, began to descend onto the planet, screened by Cobra II attack flyers who were hunting any Confederate fighter drones that had survived the initial bombardment.

Those Confederate troops that had survived the bombardment looked towards the sky in horror, knowing that an entire Jaaq'tah division or two was coming after them. The odds of survival were practically nonexistent, but they would give the Jaaq'tah hell every step of the way.

"This is Captain Misael Vasco -- all surviving forces, I am assuming command. We are under attack from a Jaaq'tah military force that has us outgunned and outmanned. Chances of survival are slim," said the Captain over the secure communications channels. "But we're marines -- we will not surrender and we will die with honor. Can I get a Hua?!"

A resounding cry flooded the communications channel of the remaining 200 or so marines still alive.

"Good," said Captain Vasco, lowering the dark blue visor over his eyes as a flight of Cobra attack flyers swept over the terrain, plasma bolts flash vaporizing the terrain below them. "GIVE 'EM HELL MARINES!!!!!"

The battle was lopsided from the start. Marines were in a state of disarray, but the jungle terrain gave them a slight tactical advantage once they were able to blend into the background radiation, but the Jaaq'tah ground forces hunted in packs of 20-30, deciding a method of massed assault was their best option given the situation. With no air or artillery support, the Spacy Marines were no match for the superior numbers of the Jaaq'tah marines, who systematically surrounded and destroyed each pocket of resistance. But the Jaaq'tah took heavy casualties by virtue of the sheer tenacity of the cornered marines, who would've made even the most fanatical of the Hushain proud with their sucidial death charge into the enemy.

By 2142 UMT, it was all over and the Jaaq'tah were celebrating their glorious victory over the Confederates.

********

"We've lost contact with the Exploratory Corps battalion on Cirios Prime," said the communications officer onboard the bridge of the N.S.S. Red Guard, the command vessel of the 607th Carrier Battle Group belonging to the NDI Spacy's 1st Fleet. The unit had been out of service since the battle of Eridanus Serpentis where heavy casualties had been inflicted, including the unit's former commander. But now the unit had been rebuilt, with largely new vessels, including the Red Guard, one of the new Xeraux-class command cruisers.

Commodore Tetsuya Asasaki sat up in his command chair, waiting for the officer to continue.

"We have a fragmented distress signal from one of their drones in space. It's somewhat scrambled, but DEIMOS has reconstructed the transmission. It's a Jaaq'tah attack squadron. I'm afraid that our boys have probably been wiped completely out."

"What's our ETA?" asked Asasaki, his blood now boiling. Marines and naval officers rarely got along, but the deaths of fellow soldiers couldn't be tolerated. He'd avenge the deaths of his countrymen soon enough.

"Two and a half hours, sir," said the Red Guard's chief astronavigator. "A hyperspace flux forced us to have to detour and take a longer series of jumps in order to reach Cirios."

Commodore Asasaki got silent for a moment before turning on the battle group-wide communications link. "Attention, this is your battle group commander Commodore Tetsuya Asasaki speaking. I have just been informed that the Marine unit we have been dispatched to offer support to has honorably fallen in battle to an enemy we are all too common with -- the Jaaq'tah. Knowing this, when we enter the system, we will be facing an enemy that is anticipating our arrival. We had better be ready. I want all Captains to prepare their ships for imminent combat. I want all missile tubes loaded, all weapons primed with their initial charges, all fighters fueled up and ready for battle. This is gonna be a barn burner, folks. Maintain focus. This is what we train for. This is what we live for -- to engage and destroy the enemy in combat. Remember the sacrifices of your brothers and sisters on Cirios and make those bastards pay for each and every one of the lives lost."

Calls of acknowledgement came from each of the 607th's ships. Asasaki nodded and closed the channel. He just hoped he was ready.

Outskirts of the Cirios System
607th Carrier Battle Group, First NDI Spacy Fleet
133 UMT

The 23-ship carrier battle group known to the Confederation as the 607th dropped from hyperspace at 133 universal military time, immediately going into full-spectrum stealth mode. The powerful passive sensors onboard the Otomo stealth escort destroyers immediately began to search the depths of space to locate the whereabouts of the Jaaq'tah naval squadron. They weren't exactly sure how many vessels the Jaaq'tah had in system, but they were confident they had more than enough firepower to even the odds if it came down to it.

The lead Byakko-class carrier, the Star Knight, launched a three-fighter element of XF-14Es from its quick-launch bays, instructing them to utilize their new hyperpulse drives to rapidly reach their search perimiters largely undetected. The trip as a whole took less than a minute and the element dropped back to subluminal velocities and activated active stealth modes. Given the fighter's small profile, low emissions, and sophisticated electronics, they were able to get close to Cirios Prime without drawing the attention of Jaaq'tah ship-based sensors.

"We're receiving video feed now, Commodore," said the tactical action officer onboard the Red Guard. The high-resolution optical sensor images sent back from the shadowdrones showed a 10-ship unit consisting mainly of Chieftain front-line destroyers and a couple of Black Death missile frigates. The unit was taking guard around the planet itself, likely supporting the Jaaq'tah ground force below.

"This is too small to be a Jaaq'tah squadron," said Commodore Asasaki, frowning. "They're lurking out there somewhere. They probably picked us up when we dropped from hyperspace."

********

Asarael, the Jaaq'tah squadron commander, was no fool. He knew the Confederate's stealth capabilities were a lot better than his own, but he needed not to let the technological discrepancies worry him at this point in time.

"No doubt they've sent ahead scouts to see how large our force is around the planet, so they know we're out here," said Asarael, moving his clawed hand along the tactical screen. He placed a finger at a asteroid formation less than a half AU from the Confederate hyperspace entry point. "They'll gravitate there. This is where we'll spring our trap."

********

Commodore Asasaki immediately identified the asteroid belt between the third and fourth planets in system and ordered his forces to take refuge there. Then they would break off into strike teams and begin to hunt the Jaaq'tah naval forces in system. Asasaki was confident that they could eliminate the enemy with maybe 20% casualties if things got a bit hairy. Going by the book, this should be a cakewalk.

Utilizing their hyperpulse drives, the 607th quickly got into position and began to form into their various formations when multiple EMS spikes activated DEIMOS' early warning systems.

"Aetheric flux mine detonation -- 650,000 kilometers and closing. 520,000 kilometers. 400. 387...." rang the voice of the Red Guard's DEIMOS avatar, Red.

"What the hell?!" snapped Asasaki, immediately realizing what was going on. It was a trap! As the aetheric storm approached them, asteroids were consumed in a swirling storm of energy. If they didn't react quickly, the entire battle group could be lost! "RAISE MATRIX SHIELD!!"

This order went directly to the five Sierra-Romeo vessels with their psionic amplification arrays. The Matrix Shield was a technique learned from the Vaishan Protectorate, which created dense pockets of space-time that suspended whatever was in those pockets in place for a specific period of time. The downside of this was that the unit was essentially dead in the water, but the upside was that they could survive all but the most ferocious of attacks.

The aetheric storm swept over the 607th like a rushing tidal wave, engulfing them in a swirling sea of energy.

********

The entire asteroid belt was engulfed in blinding light that for a short period would be more luminous than the system's star. Asarael clenched his fist. He had gotten the Human infidels! The Emperor would surely reward him for his cunning tactics.

"Excellent worth, commander!" said Asarael's second-in-command.

"Yes, but we must be thorough, let us investigate this matter further. We cannot underestimate the Humans," replied the Jaaq'tah naval commander.

********

"Activate hyperpulse drives," said Commodore Asasaki, letting his battle group blend into the background radiation so they wouldn't show up on Jaaq'tah active sensors. The battle group surged forward at superluminal velocities masked by the aftershocks of the aetheric storm, letting their weapons charge slowly. "Drop to sub-light and prepare fire on my command...."

The Jaaq'tah sensor blackout ended and nearly two dozen Human vessels appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"NOW!"

The battle cruisers Novak and Solus formed the armored spearhead and fired their disintegration guns first, white-orange streams of energy cutting two wide swaths of destruction through the Jaaq'tah ship formation. This was followed by a massive salvo of energy projection cannon fire, aqua-colored streams of energy battering the ships that survived the D-Gun assault with teratons of raw energy.

"FIRE MISSILES!"

Hundreds of Starhammer missiles lanced from their launch tubes at superluminal velocities before suddenly releasing their scatter pack warheads, effectively increasing the amount of targets to over ten-thousand warheads. Jaaq'tah point defenses went wild as green plasma bolts filled the space around the vessels, desperately trying to cut down the incoming warheads before they hit their targets.

"Confirmed kills, Red?" asked Commodore Asasaki.

"Eight enemy vessels have been destroyed. Now nine," replied the DEIMOS avatar, Red.

"Alright, let's hit 'em hard! Launch fighters and fire at will!"

*******

"Return fire!" directed Asarael, watching as two of his dreadnoughts were consumed in the initial Confederate volley. He was somewhat dismayed at the effectiveness of the Confederate offense, but he wanted to see if their vaunted layered defense system was enough to stop his own.

His forces automatically began to focus fire, centering their assault on the Yamazaki battlecruiser, Novak. The ship's shield bubble illuminated as all that firepower strained against its shields, but a bright flash of light signified that its Zyro Shields had finally given way. Particle beam blasts dotted the mighty battle cruiser’s hull, but the thick Xintium armor shrugged off the high-level blasts like nothing. It was only when positron shells began to strike that the battlecruiser began to show visible signs of damage as the matter-antimatter reaction boiled away entire layers of armor.

The Novak returned fire, bringing down two Chieftain destroyers with her guns but the damage had been done. A well placed positiron cannon blast hit a reactor, causing a massive internal explosion that sheared away an entire kilometer of the battle cruiser’s mass. If it wasn't for the ship's advanced damage control systems, the entire ship would've been lost.

Seeing their comrade in trouble, a group of 2 Otomo destroyers and 3 Desperado frigates engaged the enemy ships besieging the Novak. The Xavier III, Westguard, Pike, Mountain Lion, and Jackal unleashed a hailstorm of missile and beam cannon fire that claimed seven Chieftain destroyers and severely damaged a Warlord cruiser.

"Fall back, men! We've taken too many casualties," replied Asarael. As the Jaaq'tah vessels began to back off and retreat using their PTP systems, the Confederate vessels surrounded their injured comrade, tractor beams latching onto the damaged battlecruiser.

"Casualty report?"

"We've destroyed seventeen enemy vessels -- 42 percent of their force. The Jade V, Westguard, Cooper, and Mountain Lion have been lost. The Novak and Gridfire have sustained crippling damage. Captain Easton believes he can save the Novak, but she won't be able to move under her own power much less fight without extensive repairs. The Gridfire is likely unsalvageable. Captain Guerra and most of his command crew have been killed," said the sterile voice of Red.

Commodore Asasaki closed his eyes, clenching his fists. "Have the Demetrius send them back to Earth. We're going to Cirios. I don't think they can seriously challenge us for space superiority, but we need to get our troops on the ground and get to our objective."

"Very well, Commodore, it shall be done."

Commodore Asasaki gave command to his executive officer on the deck and went to his quarters. He had a lot of letters to write to families today.

"Sir, we've been cycling through the extra space in our carrier bays and the other ships in order to re-arm and re-fuel all of the XF-14 drones left orphaned by our destroyed vessels. MACE troops have made artificial docking bays on the outside of the Star Knight and Amadeus so that we can carry them with us. I've also reconfigured our TO&E to reflect our lost assets and redesignated the Gridfire's carrier air group as the 2,450th Tactical Aerospace Wing. Once we establish a presence on the ground, they'll be our air force," said the slender, red-headed avatar of the Red Guard, simply named "Red."

Commodore Asasaki nodded. "What of the Jaaq'tah naval squadron that we engaged previously? Any more contact?"

"None. They know we have them outgunned. Even with the loss of the Novak and Gridfire, we are still 87 percent combat effective."

"Good," said Asasaki, turning his attentions to the green-blue world less than one astronomical unit away. "I want the carriers to sortie their fighters to penetrate the envelope immediately. Pair off the escorts into sub-groups and have them engage the enemy ships outright. This ship and the Solus will tank for them."

It took another 20 minutes for the 607th to fully prepare themselves for battle, as armored transports loaded up with troops and fighters re-armed from anti-ship weapons to more conventional armaments. But at 308 UMT, the 607th began to cruise towards the planet itself, launching an initial volley of missiles to get the attention of the Jaaq'tah vessels surrounding the planet. Predictably, their ships illuminated with a dull shade of green as their point defenses went active to kill the incoming warheads. With the extraordinary payloads of the directed-energy fusion warheads of the Starhammer missile, only a few needed to penetrate the defenses to severely damage an enemy ship.The initial volley wiped out six of ten enemy vessels and in the midst of the chaos, the two strike carriers launched over 3,600 XF-14E shadowdrones towards the planet, who were riding the shockwave of their hyperpulse drives to jet past mounting surface-to-space fire coming from the planet itself.

In the meantime, the Red Guard and Solus cut through the remainder of the enemy force like butter, the initial alpha strike literally splitting the head enemy dreadnought on its axis as enough energy to vaporize a planet tore through the vessel with tremendous force. Within ten minutes, the enemy fleet had been completely wiped out. Space superiority belonged to the 607th now.

On the planet itself, the Jaaq'tah forces were in a state of disarray knowing that a Human fleet was now hovering above them with the capacity to burn them. But their orders were to forego any orbital bombardment for fear of damaging or destroying the artifacts they were sent to obtain before the Jaaq'tah. The newly-formed 2,450th Aerospace immediately began to engage enemy Cobra II attack craft, clearing a way for the inevitable drop of Dragonfly II and Ballisk shuttles with the 607th's ground elements. The other carrier air wings began to attack Jaaq'tah ground formations, focusing initially on fixed defenses and command centers before moving on to armored vehicles. The Jaaq'tah, however, had a lot of orphaned Salamander and Cobra attack flyers from their warships which had come screaming down from the heavens to contest Confederate aerospace dominance.

As the air battle raged on, the Star Knight and Amaedeus began to unleash their dropships, firing their lighter cannons at the drop zones to simply clear out a landing area for the dropships. The first ship to hit the ground was essentially a large house-sized box which then deployed into a pre-fabricated command center/garrison. Dropships began to land shortly after that, Warhawk and Golem-suited troopers deploying from the dropships and moving forward to secure a perimiter. Once the first LGEV-PCs began to hit the ground, the mechanized infantry units began to move out to scout and destroy whatever enemy elements were coming their way. Diamondback tanks moved in behind their IFV cousins, hunting for any trace of enemy armor.

They would soon run into an advancing wall of two full-strength Jaaq'tah divisions of over 35,000 strong. The battle in space had largely been won, but on the ground, it was an entirely different matter.

N.S.S. Star Knight
408 UMT

On the outskirts of the Cirios system was one of the Qel’noran Empire’s spanking new Kieru II class transports, Its presence was preceded only by a slight bulge in subspace and soon the ship was headed toward its destination, the carrier Star Knight. The NDI had already been informed that the Qel'noran Empire was going to be sending someone to help out in the interest of furthering relations but what it boiled down to is that Tasuki Uso was going to be in harms way once again. The cargo hold of the ship carried her M2 “Golem” class powered armor as well as the standard QIS battle support system. The Kieru approached the carrier with only its passive sensors on, trying to be as stealthy as possible incase the Jaaq'tah decided to counterattack at that moment. Once the ship was close in to the Star Knight it broadcast a signal asking for clearance to dock.

The N.S.S. Star Knight was one of the Nerimian Confederation's spanking new Byakko strike carriers, a hybrid cruiser/carrier unit that was every bit as powerful as the old Prometheus cruisers but held a mecha complement as large as the Whirlwind carriers. In addition to its massive load of XF-14 strike craft, the ship was an infantry carrier ship that allowed the ship to deploy an entire division of ground troops into battle. In the Second Draconian War era, the Byakko was a jack-of-all-trades ship class that could take on multiple roles equally well without sacrificing functionality. The ship hovered over the blue-green sphere known as Cirios; it detected the incoming Kieru vessel approaching it, a flight of XF-14 fighters launching from its bays meanwhile, the communications officer sent a message from the ship's captain, Captain Seiji Minamida. "This is the N.S.S. Star Knight; your IFF beacon shows you are friendly. You are cleared to dock. Our shadow drones will escort you in."

The AI piloting the ship gave an affirmative before bringing the ship inside of the Byakko. Meanwhile inside of the cargo bay Uso was not to happy about being re-assigned to war against the Jaaq'tah just because the analysts said it would be important. But then again she never was one to listen to her superiors. As the ship touched down inside of the carrier she made one final check on her power armor. She held out her arm, causing it to display an imbedded holographic interface, and moved her fingers around. The display screen assured her that the armor would be functioning at 100% when she put it on. Once the doors of the transport opened she started her search for the officer she would be serving under.

When Uso came inside the ship's aft docking bay, she would find large suited-troopers in armor that wasn't identified in her database. These troopers were known as MACE, or Mobile Armored Combat Engineers. They were responsible for the maintenance of the ship and her sophisticated equipment. She would see them working on damaged shadow drones and reloading those shadow drones and sending them back to the launch bays. This was, after all, a ship of war that was carrying out extensive carrier operations. In the short time this battle had been raging the Star Knight had launched over 250 sorties against the enemy on the ground below.

Master Sergeant Saburo Kurosawa adjusted a neckerchief tied around his head that rested just above his thick, black eyebrows. He wasn't the one making the decisions, but it seemed unwise, from his experience, to work with the displaced Qel'noran Industrial Sector after their violent breakaway from the Yamatai Star Empire. Not only had the Star Army been useful allies, but they were also the NDI's fail-safe should they get in over their heads. Any action that could harm the trust shared with those pointy-eared amazons was an undoubtedly bad idea. Perhaps the... MSG stopped, looking up to watch the entrance of this "ally."

A MACE trooper knocked on the side of Uso's transport, or at least that's what it sounded like from the inside. In reality, the MACE was attaching a magnetic tether beacon to the vessel that would allow the repulsorlift system to hoist the vessel into its dock and secure it. The MACE then walked away, green light spraying from his right arm as it repaired a stress fracture along the side of the docking bay's starboard wall.

This 'ally' had long green hair tied into a ponytail that reached down below the middle of her back. Her clothing was far from the standard uniform of QIS or even the NDI as she had on a black tank top with a small QIS logo embroidered in green just above her left breast and baggy, gothic looking, black pants. Her powered armor left the transport, allowing it to depart, and carried with it the supplies she would be needed for the operation. This was a slight modification from the original NDI specifications but it would be useless in combat without an organic pilot.

A blue-haired female materialized before Uso dressed in the standard female officer's uniform of the NDI, a relatively form-fitting sealed suit with her rank insignia above her left breast (Lt. Commander). "Welcome onboard the N.S.S. Star Knight. My name is Starla; I am the ship's avatar. You are Uso Tasuki, correct?"

With a grunt, Kurosawa secretively took a swig of rice-wine of out a small flask before emerging from behind the cover of an unoccupied Golem power armor. With a confident swagger and his usual scowl on his rough face, the short man's aura of experience made him seem somewhat larger than life. A two-star elite, the Master Sergeant had seen some shit in his day.

Starla looked no older than sixteen but her voice was strangely womanly and authorative. She glanced towards Kurosawa. "Welcome Master Sergeant. I was just greeting our new arrival."

Uso nodded, "That is correct, I'm here to assist in any way possible" While alone she wouldn't make that much of a difference on the battlefield, she would be able to call in support from QIS should the NDI need it. However the analysts predicted that the NDI would need no such help.

"Carry on," Kurosawa said gruffly to Starla. The comments by Uso only received a stare in reply. "I don't think we'll need any help from QIS.” he caustically agreed. "How many missions have you done in a Golem?"

"Lieutenant Uso has been requested because of her expertise by the Division commander," replied Starla. "And while QIS troops don't use the Golem, its controls are virtually identical to the Phalanx, which she is familiar with."

Uso nodded, "If your counting the operations I’ve done in both types or armor this would make number 14." She already was taking a dislike to her new superior, he seemed way too cocky. However, she was at times overzealous when she thought about it. In any case she decided that the upcoming operation would be interesting.

"..." There was a presumably hostile silence for a moment. "And you'll be acting as an observer for fire support purposes?"

Uso simply nodded.

"She'll be occupying the number Three position in your squad because Lance Corporal Tokugawa's injury keeps him sidelined."

Starla gave Kurosawa a pristine smile with perfectly white teeth.

"I'm not sure if I want her in the very front or the very back," Kurosawa said.

"I thought the men of the NDI were more assertive when choosing positions" Uso said, obviously enjoying his hostility toward her.

A MACE walked by, two long, snake-like tendrils extending from its left hand as it interfaced with Uso's Golem, updating the internal battle computer. A few seconds later, the back of the armor opened up, revealing the internal electronics of the unit. A gray-colored pod ejected from the back and was removed by the MACE and replaced with a black pod.

Starla commented to Uso. "We've updated your suit electronics with the latest ECM and ECCM pod, the Ghost XXIII-C4.5. It's really been giving the Jaaq'tah trouble on the ground."

"The front, then. Get suited up, we don't have time to have a god-damn tea party, our guys need us down there," the Master Sergeant Ordered. He strode briskly towards his own Golem Armor. His command to get ready was echoed by the other NCOs under him around the bay, and there was a rush of activity.


N.S.S. Star Knight
441 UMT

Lieutenant Natsumi Rakuseki on the surface appeared to be the typical pencil-pusher in the ranks of the Nerimian Defense Initiative. She had all the requisite degrees and training programs, the refined good-looks, and the proper mindset of a military bureaucrat, but deep down she was something else entirely. Beneath that somewhat sterile exterior was a highly-trained covert operative with more combat hours and experience than most platoons combined. There was a special name for what Natsumi was: Three-Star Elite.

Standard NDI organizational principles divided soldiers into four distinct skill levels: Green, Regular, Veteran, and Elite. The first three levels are self-explanatory, but the last designation, Elite, brought an entire different scheme to the game. There were five sub-classes of Elite, One-Star all the way to Five-Star. In truth, One and Two-Star Elite troops were fairly common, comprising the top five percent of all NDI forces. They were soldiers that were regarded with the utmost respect and high esteem by their peers.

But high echelons were in a class all their own. The number of Three, Four, and Five-Star Elites in current service numbered less than a company’s worth of troops, and they were spread out through the entirety of the military in various roles and missions, reserved for the most important operations where death would surely befall a lesser warrior.

Natsumi Rakuseki, the wife of NDI commander-in-chief, Nathan Rakuseki, was a member of the NDI's military intelligence apparatus and was brought into action whenever they needed something done with impeccable precision. On the inside, her codename was Juno, a play off the fact that she was the wife of the head honcho (Juno was the Roman God Jupiter's wife).

Now, she was being activated for another mission: the retrieval of the Draconian 'X'.

***********

Natsumi Rakuseki strode down the surprisingly spacious corridors of the N.S.S. Star Knight, which still had the sterile smell of a brand new ship. Like most NDI ships, navigating through it was somewhat confusing if one had no idea where he or she was exactly going to. The ship itself was like a miniature city, with clubs, movie theaters, restaurants, and other amenities for the crew inside of it. NDI ships were this way because it quite frankly became a home away from home when the ships were away from their homeport.

"Honestly, they need to sell maps and brochures to these things," said Natsumi, her nose crinkling in frustration for a moment as she reached her quarters, finally.

Before the Lieutenant could enter her quarters, a blue-haired female known as Starla appeared before her with soft crystal-blue eyes. "Lieutenant, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I have a priority call from Commander Alicia Clark."

Natsumi cursed slightly under her breath, her body jolting back a step from the mere surprise of the hologram. She trailed her eyes over the woman, inspecting it to a point before making any expression toward the situation. "Of course... Thank you."

Starla disappeared again, deciding to manifest elsewhere where she was needed on the ship. Meanwhile, Commander Alicia Clark, who Natsumi knew as her strong-willed sister-in-law.

Natsumi's communicator began to chirp and she reached down and turned it on, putting it to her ear. "Rakuseki here. What can I do for you, Commander?"

"Are you in a secure place?" asked Clark.

Natsumi looked about quickly, walking into her quarters and securing the door behind her. "Okay, have with it."

Clark cleared her throat and began to speak. "After we discom, I want you to head to the port-side launch bay and contact the MACE named "Mason." He'll get you suited up with a battle suit and weapons. You're going to be forward-deployed into a hostile fire zone and will rendezvous with Sergeant Kurosawa's unit at a pre-designated point. Once your unit has secured the Draconian 'X', report back to me immediately and you'll be extracted. However, we have reports in the field that Xyelee troopers are lurking so you may get into some heavy action."

Natsumi sighed. She used to live for this type of thing before she was married and had a family to worry about. Unfortunately, things changed. Nevertheless, the adrenaline began to flow. She nodded a few times in response. "I expect a nice holiday bonus this year, just so you know."

"If you survive."

Natsumi was brought back to reality sharply, as if slapped in the face. "I will."

"Just make sure you secure the X," said Clark, as if the X was more important than her sister-in-law's life (it was). "Discom."

Natsumi lowered the communicator and sighed. After taking a second to recompose herself, opening her door and heading towards the launch bay.

**********

51 minutes later

The Dragonfly II dropship descended into Cirios' atmosphere at hypersonic velocities, flanked on all sides by XF-14E strike craft as combat escorts. The Jaaq'tah were putting up one hell of a fight, meeting every Confederate advance with one of their own. Despite superior numbers of NDI strike craft in theater, the Jaaq'tah hotly contested every air battle, using their mobile missile vehicles to zone the XF-14s into kill areas where Cobra flyers lurked.

"Fancy suit of armor you have there, Lieutenant," said the warrant officer piloting the dropship as it entered the combat zone. The automated weapons systems of the dropship quickly went online as rotary autocannon deployed and unloaded a wall of metal to suppress the enemy forces. The entire dropship shook as XF-14s zoomed by NOE, unleashing Black Arrow AP munitions and vaporizing and glassing the earth with their pulse cannons.

Natsumi was clad in a dull-black-grey battlesuits that was even sleeker than some of the newer Phalanx class armors used by troops in the Galactic South where Ruzhyo was leading the assault against the Beta Lyrae system. Designed jointly by CONTRA and the Vaishan Protectorate, the Phantom Mark II armor was the Draconian Alliance's answer to the Jaaq'tah's widely successful Chameleon series.

"Let's just hope it fights as good as it looks," said Natsumi in a subdued tone, activating the active stealth system of the suit. The only way friendly forces knew she was there was because of the fifth-dimensional blip the suit intentionally gave off to make her detectable to friendlies.

"Godspeed, Lieutenant," said the co-pilot of the dropship.

Natsumi leapt from the side of the dropship, freefalling into the dense canopy before activating her gravimetric descent system, landing lightly in the deep jungle. According to her sensors, hostiles were all around her, but she hadn't drawn a single shot. A smile came across her face for a brief moment.

This could be fun...

Cirios Prime
1545 UMT

The bone rattling vibrations ceased when the repulsors kicked in. The heat shield continued its descent into the lake twelve thousand feet below, but the drop ship suddenly cut its descent rate in half, the stomachs of all twenty four passengers collectively lurching upwards in response. Three minutes later and twenty two klicks east, the drop ship settled to the ground at NDI Basepoint Epsilon, next to a sister ship which had accompanied it down.

Basepoint Epsilon was established only thirty-six hours later, when four hundred and fifty six ATAC soldiers managed to repel local Jaaq'tah forces far enough back to establish perimeter defense systems. Of course, perimeter defense systems involved heavy artillery emplacements that seemed to fire almost constantly in a never ending effort to keep the cold-blooded swarm at bay, but it had managed to hold out for three days. That was long enough to give the base a name and send in reinforcements. Hence the drop ships.

The first to disembark off the two drop ships were the forty-two Irregular ATAC soldiers. Dressed in unidentifying NDI standard uniforms, the company silently assembled and marched in perfect formation towards one of the dome shaped bunkers currently being nanolathed by two squads of MACE, each utilizing their Field Operating Repair and Construction Escort, or FORCE Drone (an anthropomorphic drone twice the size of a MACE suit capable of nano-manufacturing), to complete the building that was approved for construction twelve hours ago.

While the ATACs were moving off, six more soldiers stepped off the two drop ships. Aside from their delayed deboarding, something set these six apart from the other soldiers at this base. Perhaps it was the extensive obvious cyberware that each of them carried. Several legs, arms, eyes, and various other body parts amongst this crew had been replaced with sleek chrome mechanical counterparts.

Of these six chromed warriors, one stepped forward, immediately, the other five fell into a parade rest. At first glance, one would notice that his left arm and eye were obviously cybered. Several jack ports protruded from his neck and forehead. Though a mere five foot four, Major Jack Harper stood out even against the other five. Of some degree of Asian descent, he displayed a fine degree of discipline. He spoke softly, as he stood close to his fellow soldiers. "Ten minutes to stow. We lift off in fifteen." He pointed to his rear right "Hanger's over there. Move." Immediately, the other five disassembled in a hurry.



16:15 UMT

Deep in the jungle, twenty seven klicks away from Basepoint Epsilon, seven men moved as quietly as their Golem powered armor suits would allow through the swampy murkness of the jungle floor. These seven were what remained of the four squads sent to recoinoiter a nearby system of caves for enemy forces, which they had met with the intention of removing. The sheer number of Arquiel suits located on the mountains above the caves turned the Search and Destroy mission immediately into what was known as a Kiss and Tell. Unfortunately, of the twenty soldiers that had travelled the thirty klicks to the caves, only these seven had made the first three klicks of the journey back.

Four Lance Corporal Williams has only been in charge of these seven men for two hours, thirty seven minutes and fifty four seconds. He is only in command of these seven men because Four Sergent Stephenson was relieved of command two hours, thirty seven minutes and fifty nine seconds ago by a Jaaq'tah plasma rifle. Four Corporal Vogulfry, Four Corporal O'Keefe, and Four Corporal Maguire were similarly relieved of command at about the same time. There was something to be said about a non-descript Golem suit.

The jungle was alive with the sound of vegetation rustling in the light rain, birds calling across the canopy to their mates, and plasma fire raining down less than five-hundred meters from the retreating confederate units. The plasma mortar salvos honed in closer to the units, and the last man out was accelerated past the first by the impact of a direct hit. The six remaining men put their all into it and broke into a full forward sprint. At least five of them recognized the reality that they would have to change their pants if they made it out.

Two more men were shot down by plasma fire before the remaining troops made it out of the immediate jungle onto a wide clearing that followed along a narrow river twenty of the remaining klicks back towards Basepoint Epsilon. Just as they had made it to an outcroping of trees and rocks, where they had decided to make their last stand, fifty or so Arquiel suits emerged from the jungle in pursuit of the Golem.

As the Arquiel suits steadily approached, the Golem held their formation, everybody's finger on the trigger. Surprisingly, the Jaaq'tah units did not open fire. The lizards continued to move closer, and at about fifty meters out, stopped. The Jaaq'tah in charge of this war party stepped forward, and raised his rifle at the Golem troops.

"I am Commander Ss'lua. Surrender and you are promised a painless death."

Before any of the confederate troops could retort, a small cylindrical hole, precisely 7 mm in diameter appeared in Commander Ss'lua's face shield. As he fell to his knees, and then slumped over, a thunderous crack was heard as the soundwaves of the sniper shot finally caught up to the bullet.

The Jaaq'tah troops immediately turned outwards and began visually searching for the sniper. It wasn't long before one of them started shouting and pointing wildly in the general direction of Basepoint Epsilon. Approaching from that direction were six Acolyte assault gunships approaching at rapid speed. Five more Arquiel suits were hit with killing shots by the snipers leaning out the sides of the gunships.

Small captions began appearing on the HUDs of the Golem units, succinctly telling them to get out of the way, which they all promptly did. When they had managed to fight their way far enough away from the group of lizards, two of the gunships opened up with their rotary cannons. The rounds that were designed to cripple tanks and mechs tore through two and three powered armor suits at a time, making short work of the Jaaq'tah hunting party.

The Thunderbirds, as Major Harper's squadron of Acolytes were known, were an Elite squadron of pilots, each given a lightly customized gunship model and a squad of seven Veteren Warhawk troops to provide support in numerous scenarios. As noted by the four surviving Golem units as the gunships used their anti-grav coils and vectored thrust engines to continue on forward, the cavalry had arrived.

None of the ships stopped to pick up the stray troops. Having had the attention diverted off of them for a while, however, no complaints were made, and the Golem quickly moved back towards base. The Thunderbirds, however, had some caves to clean out.

X’uta crouched low to the ground, his amber-colored eyes tracing the movements of the Type III tactical drone that obviously belonged to a Human battledress unit. Under normal circumstances, a hailstorm of anti-personnel fire would’ve come his way from the nearby infantry squad, but the powerful active camouflage system of his Chameleon battle armor masked his presence to the sophisticated sensor drone.

In the distance, he could see the visual outline of a Golem suit wielding the large 10mm DIWS rifle that was used as a long-range sniper rifle and light anti-armor weapon.

Perfect.

X’uta reached to his side, grasping the retracted plasma lance and starting to creep forward at a deliberately slow pace. He didn’t want to make too much noise – his ACS couldn’t mask the sounds he made. The Golem remained in place, feeding off information given to him by his drones, but he could find nothing.

He saw a faint EMS spike on his HUD. It was a tight beam laser transmission that he couldn’t intercept, but he was guessing the man was a scout communicating with the rest of his squad.

X’uta ignited the plasma lance, the radiation of high wavelengths of electromagnetic energy suddenly visible on the Golem trooper’s sensors. The Golem turned in X’uta’s direction and raised his weapon to fire—

—a blue-white flare sliced off the long barrel of the DIWS, the heavy barrel crashing to the ground. X’uta moved in for the kill, but the Golem pilot leapt backwards using for his jump jets, reaching for his SIAR and cooking off 6mm ammunition towards the Jaaq’tah stealth trooper—

--X’uta strafed to the left, firing off three bolts from his plasma lance, the first two splashing against the barrier shield and the third impacting directly center of mass, boiling away andrium armor and blasting through to the pilot inside. The Golem suit exploded, the shell remaining largely intact, but the soft core was nothing more than a charred, bloody mess.

The Golem’s friends came, two descending from the canopy of the forest, large 30mm shells raining down at hypersonic velocities, blasting fairly large craters into the ground as they exploded around the Jaaq’tah warrior. X’uta blended into the background radiation, turning off his plasma lance and watching from relative safety as the rest of the Human squad saturated the area with fire.

“Goddamnit! A fucking Chameleon...” said one of the Golem troops, brandishing a plasma enveloper.

X’uta reached to his side, grabbing an oblong object and depressing the button on top. A faint whirring from the object was audible before X’uta threw it in the center of the Human formation, leaping away to the right—

“GRENA—“

Before the Human could finish his statement, a bright green flash illuminated a 30-foot wide area with raw, superheated plasma gas. As the light and heat faded, four other Golem suits lay wrecked, smoldering from the stealth trooper’s attack.

“It’s almost too easy,” said X’uta, detecting another EMS spike coming from the right of his attack area. He turned, his ACS blending him in with the background radiation to mask his presence. The EMS spike was faint, but it was consistent, moving around quickly, much like a rodent.

“Hnn…” said X’uta, his targeting computer suddenly giving him a targeting solution. He fired his plasma lance—

The EMS spike disappeared in the wake of the plasma bolt and another appeared directly 50 meters to his left, he fired—

—he missed, turning to his left and firing again—

—X’uta’s electronics suddenly went dead and he was blind to the world inside of a 600 pound metallic shell. “What is this!?”

An amorphous figure appeared before X’uta’s suit, slowly shape-shifting into a humanoid figure donning a dark brown armor with emerald streaks. X’uta felt his body and suit starting to lift into the air.

“You have defiled the world of the ancients with your war...” said the figure in a deep voice, continuing to send X’uta into the air, a dark blue aura starting to surround the Jaaq’tah’s body. “Your death will be shown as an example to all…”

X’uta struggled, trying to activate the emergency release on his armor so he could vacate what was quickly becoming a death trap. The release was designed to work even if the suit’s electronics were non-functional, but it was to no avail. It was jammed or stuck.

“RELEASE ME!!!”

“Kindly,” said the figure in brown armor, closing its right fist as X’uta and his armor exploded violently with an azure burst that was several hundred thousand times brighter than the star Cirios.

And this was only the beginning. As Jaaq’tah and NDI forces raced towards the Draconian X, the planet’s ancient defenders began to reanimate themselves. They were among the last remnants of the last great galactic power – the Draconian Empire.


Master Sergeant Kurosawa’s commando unit strapped into the drop chutes on the Dragonfly II transorbital dropship, preparing themselves for a high-speed insertion into a hostile area. As the three-man team could see on their sensors, a massive air battle was raging on below them as two full wings of XF-14s engaged a Jaaq'tah air contingent nearly twice their size. The Shadowdrones fought with exceptional tenacity, massive volleys of air-to-air missiles clearing the skies where the dropship would have to go.

"We are approaching the drop zone, Sergeant Kurosawa, get your squad ready for deployment!" said the warrant officer that was piloting the dropship, the AI-controlled assault cannons firing volleys of KEAPER, SEKEAPER, and incendiary rounds down into the jungle, tearing to shreds any enemy forces that were in the vicinity.

"Let the regulars handle things if possible. Body count is not a factor. Time is," Kurosawa spoke over the comm to his team. "Prepare to commence operation." His Golem power armor had two stars on it, and white cloth tied around its neck.

Smoke and other active countermeasures were released from the dropship, fogging the area. "Dropping our payload now," said the warrant officer, the floor underneath each of the three Golem units giving way as the drop chutes released the armors towards the ground below under the cover of artificially created darkness. On either side of them, stabilized liquid explosive warheads were detonated, literally flattening the forest around them and likely any hostile enemy that was in the zone. On their sensors, they would see three LGEV-PCs race into the jungle ahead of them, deploying squads of infantry to draw fire away from the commando team as they headed into the opposite direction.

Uso landed in and brought her body down into a crouch, making a quick look around and dedicating what she saw to memory. In moments she was moving again, following Kurosawa's power armor at the distance of several feet while keeping her T6E 3cm ready to return fire. Montoya activated his jets to slow his fall, waiting for the light thump of the ground. Once on the ground, he dropped to one knee and deployed his suit's scout drones for recon.

Kurosawa stayed mostly still and didn't fire as he fell. Only just before the surface was just below did he decelerate, coming to a tough, fast stop. As he stood up, he checked his weaponry and navigation equipment. "Speak if you need to, not otherwise. Out." his gravelly voice told the team. He led the way, rapidly stalking towards the designated waypoint, part of the path that lead to the "X."

The cacophony of sounds the battlefield naturally produced were filtered out by their suits and the standard optical spectrum was changed to a combination IR and UV range environment, where flashes of explosions were dimmed, but the shockwaves were enhanced. Friendlies were outlined in blue, hostiles and unknowns glowed red. As they moved through the jungle towards the waypoint, they'd see a Chimera medium tank and six Arquiel armors racing towards the battle with the infantry platoon. Apparently they hadn't seen them. They had a choice: Let the enemy pass by harmlessly or surprise them with a devastating assault.

The drones began to report in. Montoya found the nav point and glanced over at Kurosawa. Kurosawa dropped and did a high-crawl through the foliage and debris. He continued toward the waypoint. The Jaaq'tah unit continued past them, even though Uso felt inclined to put a few 3cm rounds into that tank. Despite her eagerness to add a Jaaq'tah battle tank to her kill total, she kept on the move, flanking Kurosawa from the right, moving her hand over to direct Montoya to cover their backside.

"You are moving into a zone of increased hostile activity," said the battalion commander over TACnet. "Artillery has already blasted this zone, but your aerial and ground cover will be somewhat decreased once you reach this way point."

Keeping down and as much out of sight as he could, Montoya followed the lead of his squad mates. The ECM blister in his suit drew more power from the suit's reactor as it baffled Jaaq'tah sensor scans towards them. The Master Sergeant stood and shot one of the enemy soldiers for being too close, then dove back to the ground and continued. He checked the range.

They were less than 200 meters away. They could visually see the way point, where a single LGEV-PC was waiting for them. Kurosawa signaled them to make two quick dashes for it, and then sprinted forward, hunched over to keep the lowest possible profile while possible.

Uso slung the T6E over her shoulder and let it attach to the magnetic holster. She activated her TAC missile launcher and used Montoya's tactical drones to target an enemy infantry squad that was likely shadowing them. She chose the "Fire Arrow" surface-to-surface missile, which raced from the magnetic accelerator launcher and moved at hypersonic velocities just a few inches off the surface of the ground, moving like a snake in an ominous zig-zag pattern. With the benefit of the squad's ECM, it was unlikely the Jaaq'tah squad ever saw it coming as the combination high-explosive and SLEX warhead exploded violently, the overpressure shockwave alone wiping out the Jaaq'tah unit. "Score!" she said to herself, turning and following after Kurosawa.

"Took you boys, long enough," said Lance Corporal Janis Houston, the pilot of the LGEV-PC. "We're gonna need to move fast. Attach to the magnetic ports on the side and let's get going."

"1 of 3 attached," Kurosawa said, quickly getting himself fastened aboard.

"2 of 3 attached," replied Montoya as he connected.

Uso took the port on the adjacent side of Kurosawa, stowing her large pseudorecoiless rifle on top of the LGEV-PC.

"All ready," Kurosawa said.

"Alright, boys, let's go!" said Corporal Houston, the LGEV-PC racing forward along the narrow paths in the jungle at hundreds of kilometers per hour. There was a reason LGEV-PC commanders were called 'pilots' rather than 'drivers.' The LGEV-PC was a speed demon in every sense of the word. Its AI-controlled AP turrets turned from side to side, firing off short bursts of 20mm rounds at enemy targets that seemed to move by in a blur with the speed of the unit, but their aim was true. "Having a comfortable ride back there?"

None of the commandos answered.

They could see their next waypoint was nearly 20 kilometers away, but they were covering ground quickly at the pace of over 300 kmph. Despite their excellent ECM capabilities, it was hard to hide the electromagnetic signature of such a craft that made so much noise. Jaaq'tah units were moving towards an intercept path. In response, the rotary plasma cannon rose from its port, tracking targets as they came into range. "This is Red Demon, we have a squadron of Jaaq'tah armor closing in on us. Requesting fire support."

Uso raised her T6E rifle from its port and took aim, her targeting systems adjusting for their speed and wind direction and then she fired, the fluid-powered recoilless rifle launching over 30 3cm rounds in the course of five seconds. With her exceptional crack shooting, sixteen of her shots hit home, disabling three armor units before they could even get a shot off. As she reloaded the weapon, their sensors lit up with massive EMS spikes from their south as the large M9 Meteor artillery platforms assigned to them went live. 3 seconds later, artillery shells exploded in the forest around them, flattening trees and pulverizing enemy armor and infantry. Follow-up strikes from the LGEV-PC's plasma cannon and AP turrets kept the commando unit relatively safe.

The Golem's targeting range wasn't so wonderful in the Master Sergeant's eyes. Kurosawa put a few aimed bursts downrange, but didn't try anything fancy. He kept checking the range toward the next waypoint. To him, the LGEV-PCs were like bull’s-eyes for the enemy, and he would be happy to get away from the thing before something took it out.

"We have incoming!" said the pilot, painting the two Cobra II attack flyers that were screaming down from the heavens, plasma cannons firing down towards the LGEV-PC. AP turrets on the hovercraft angled upwards, volleying automatic grenades and 2cm rounds towards the Cobras, whose shields turned away the rounds. "Gimme some fire support. Use your missiles!"

Kurosawa's power armor unleashed its entire complement of onboard missiles as fast as possible, in a swirling mass volley. The Argus Millitech M3 Delta Tactical Missile Launcher was quickly put through the steps of reloading as soon as the missiles were away. The missiles went for the closest Cobra II.

The targeted Cobra II turned to its left, dropping countermeasures to try and evade the missiles, but the combined ECCM packages of all three battledress and the LGEV-PC guided the missiles after their targets and through the countermeasures. One missile struck the port side of the flyer, shearing away an entire wing, sending the plane into a spiral. The other three missiles changed direction, slamming into the fuselage of the craft, completely obliterating it. The other fly was coming back around for a second pass when two azure bolts tore through the cockpit, killing the pilot instantly. The flyer crashed towards the ground and a single XF-14E shot past the unit.

"We're coming up on the waypoint. I suggest you disengage and let me draw off any attackers," said Corporal Houston.

"Roger." Kurosawa unlocked the magnetic clamp and went into a brief, controlled roll. When he stopped, he lay on the ground, headed towards the waypoint. He was slow enough that the other two of his team should easily be able to join him.

Uso and Montoya leapt from the LGEV-PC, taking flanking positions alongside Sergeant Kurosawa. The LGEV-PC came to a fork in the 'road' and took a sharp left, a plasma mortar shell arcing over the horizon towards the general direction of the carrier. Seconds later, a powerful explosion filled the area where the hovercraft had gone. The IFF indicator of the hovercraft suddenly went dead on the unit's screen.

The Master Sergeant didn't make any remark on that. It was something he'd seen often and was expecting. Kurosawa deployed on of his tactical drones and sent it ahead to scout out the waypoint.

Montoya fired a series of seven rounds off, killing the Jaaq'tah trooper that had fired the plasma mortar from nearly two kilometers away. Uso followed up that strike with another missile launch, a SLEX-powered explosion removing the nearest threat to the unit. "Hostiles eliminated, Sarge," said Montoya.

"Stay alert, stay alive," Kurosawa said in a tone that could possibly contain a hint of gratitude within its cold sharpness. He continued leading the way toward the waypoint, watching for signs of the enemy with both his Golem and its tactical drone ahead.

Montoya inched forward, walking along the path with his DIWS raised, ready to fire at a second's notice. He was reading a faint EMS signature, but he couldn't quite lock it down. He was literally feet away from the waypoint. Uso watched his back from a crouched position, her SIAR out and ready to fire.

Kurosawa's eyes narrowed. The tactical drone shot forward. He fired his F-10 Plasma Enveloper in a spread, forward of him, blanketing the area. The other two drones deployed from the Golem shortly afterwards. The area where Kurosawa had unleashed his attack seemed completely sanitary, but the two-star elite could feel someone else there...

Natsumi Rakuseki had been watching the battle from a panoramic view from within the foliage. She seemed to be oblivious to the battle raging around her and had made no attempt to help Kurosawa's team. In truth, she felt a little reluctant about it. She knew she could've dealt with the situation single-handedly. And so she would, preferably sooner or later.

She turned on the 'safety' mode of her active stealth system, now visible on the IFF screens of Kurosawa, Montoya, and Uso.

"Welcome. This is where the hard part begins."

17:52 UMT

The Acolyte class gunship ‘Jupiter’ is not a light hovercraft. It is not a medium helicopter or a heavy tank. It is a specialized assault gunship. Vectored thrust engines and anti-grav coils give it an effective maximum altitude that would let it leave the atmosphere, and a NOE altitude of centimeters. And though the Jupiter lacks the same amount of firepower a standard model would carry, having only two FFRAM launchers instead of the standard four, its increased missile range, armor, and reactor mass almost double its effective combat radius as well as life-span. It is designed for endurance, be it for surviving focused fire or, in this case, prolonged stationary defense. Other customizations to this ship include the removal of several redundant secondary systems to provide room for a SLICS-based Level 4 self-guidance system, and increased DNL Response. Currently the Jupiter, holding vigil two hundred meters away from the Jaaq'tah territory southern mountain ridge, is on auto-pilot, its low altitude, relatively low emissions, and ECM keeping it from catching anyone’s attention.

Major Jack Harper, call sign 'Sever', is the pilot of the Jupiter, a position held for the commanding officer of the Thunderbird squadron, a team of six elite Acolyte pilots. Only in the upper fifteen percentile skill-wise, there is no one more attuned to the Acolyte class ship than those who ride with the Thunderbirds. Raised from the ranks of the standard ATAC, every one of them is just as elite on the ground as they are in the air. While the Acolyte gunships hold patrol routine, Harper's squad stands one hundred yards from the entrance to the main cave system, near a small outcropping of rocks. Stationed about them are the forty-two men and women of the 420th Irregular ATAC.

Nothing particularly noteworthy, the 420th Irregular ATAC is a veteran company permanently assigned as the Thunderbirds' cargo. While each ship has a well-designed, well-trained transport team to carry, it is inevitable that some will die. The 420th was considered irregular for the sheer number of casualties that were accredited to this company. Troops were consistently being reassigned to the 420th to fill in the gaps left after missions, yet the unblemished success ratio of missions made the expenditures worthwhile to the brass. Consequently, while the Thunderbirds garnish a good amount of respect for their skill and expertise, the 420th Irregular, known colloquially as the 'Reaper's Feast,' gets little more than pity and military campfire stories.

Sgt. Souderbough, commanding officer of the 420th, approached Harper and handed him a small display unit that was cycling through several different shots of cave entrances and the mountains.

"Reconnaissance transmitted by the golems we passed over seems to still be valid. There are definitely a lot of units deep in this system, but for right now they don’t seem to be too concerned with the outside. We obviously still have the advantage of surprise, but probably not for very much longer. We stand a good chance of securing at least one passage long enough for reinforcements to arrive."

The Thunderbird known as 'Raven,' Captain Carmen Santiago smiled and patted the Sergeant on his suit's armored shoulder "We are the reinforcements, Sarge." The only female of the squad and of obvious Spanish descent, she holds the position of second in command. Where Major Harper is a man of decision and dedication, Captain Santiago is a woman of passion and risk. She turned to Harper and shook her head “I disagree. I think we should blow it out. If these caves are as deep as the Golem unit speculates, it’ll give us a pass in at the same time it cuts them off. Even if they try to burrow through it again, it’ll take them long enough that it’ll be a waste of time.”

Major Harper nodded slightly, considering both approaches. He looked to Lieutenant Tyrone James Marshall “Rock?”

The large black man nodded, his dread-locked hair tumbling around him and spoke with a thick Jamaican accent “I say we blow it, mon. Call it bein’ efficient. Even if we take de hole, dey be commin’ back ready for us. Dere ain’t enough of us to keep dis hole. If we crush de caves, dey lose der preferred road. Even if it only takes an extra five minutes to go over it, it still be a blow to der soul.”

Harper took a few more steps toward the caves. He nodded and looked back at Sgt. Souderbough. “Panzer, get them a housewarming gift.” The muscular Aryan grunted and went off to retrieve the request.

“Sergeant, prepare your men. Keep it quiet in there, get as deep in as you can, light the fuse, and pull out. Your mission is to destroy as much of the cave infrastructure as possible, and limit their access through these mountains.”

“Every little straw, Sir?”

“Precisely. Your explosions should be large enough and be placed to take down the mountain. Panzer will get you what you need to get the job done, not too much more. With the main routes of their cave system closed off to them in the midst of battle, their southern border will cease to be a tactical advantage for them and become one for us.”

“Affirmative, Sir!” And with a salute, the sergeant rallied his corporals. Harper turned to two of his pilots.

“Mongoose, Hunter, unload and head back to Basepoint. Rally support and have them prepare a company or two to set up here and maintain our advantage.” The two men nodded and took off immediately. Harper nodded to the remainders.

“Let’s take the high road and cause a little ruckus.”

18:39 UMT

The engines of the Jupiter thundered as they pounded downwards, vectoring the venting reactor energy to push the craft directly upwards. Even against the weight of the craft, its vertical ascent rate was honorable, to be polite, but it certainly put off a lot of emissions. Certainly, many scanners were beeping with trouble indicators somewhere in those mountain caves.

Major Harper had assessed the forces they had encountered thus far. The Jaaq’tah had obviously not expected this position to have been compromised this easily. They had a limited number of light scout and attack craft, but nothing that could take on the two Acolyte gunships that were vectoring upwards at this time. Regardless, the patrol craft were quickly moving in on the assault craft, with fanatical determination. Not to mention that by now, heavier craft had most certainly been alerted.

Down below, squads were beginning to pour forth from the caves. As they came out of one particular mouth, however, they were immediately assaulted by the 420th. When the cave-mouth seemed clear, Sgt. Souderbough turned to his company and shouted.

“Us or them, soldiers! Either way, the Reaper’s gonna eat tonight!” The entire company responded with a unanimous “HUA” and the stomp of armored feet. In squads of four, eight teams worked their way into the caves, each taking different routes. Souderbough, his second in command, and each of their respective squads remained at the mouth of the cave, keeping a clear retreat path.

“Sever. Two lance, Cobra, coming in at eleven.” The deep German voce crackled in Harper’s ear.

“Roger, Panzer. Let them move in a little closer. Focus fire on my target now.” Together, the two gunships focused their rotary cannons on the last of the mountains assigned defenses. Just in time, as it would seem, for two complete squadrons of Cobras were just entering the engagement envelope.

Private Uller, a young man of twenty, held his SIAR braced against his shoulder as he crept through the caves, taking point in front of the other three men in his squad. Currently, his HUD was reading a depth of two hundred meters, at six hundred and forty-five meters traversed. It also displayed that the rest of his squad was fifty meters behind him. Since they had entered the caves, they had only encountered small pockets of resistance, all of which were dispatched with only moderate troubles. Several of the other squads, he knew, were not as lucky. Bursts of gunfire echoed occasionally throughout the caves, and the HUD occasionally made a small captioned note, in red lettering, of a particular soldier’s name, indicating he or she had been fatally wounded. Something moved on his left.

“Break now!” Harper jolted the Jupiter portside, Panzer pulling starboard at the same time. While they had been charging directly towards the tight arrow formations approaching them, they now split off, directing each squad a different direction. Once they had spread far enough apart, they each looped back, directing the two squadrons back at each other.

The Cobras had intelligent enough IFF technology and felt at no risk for shooting their compatriots, thusly they fired freely in short controlled bursts. While Harper and Panzer were elite pilots, dodging fire from entire squadrons was something they could only do for short sittings. Even with the enhanced armor, they wouldn’t last too long if they didn’t do something to even up the odds.

“Scratch my back, Panzer?” A grunt was all Harper received in his ear as they swooped by each other, directing a SR missile at the lead bogie in each squadron. Invariably, the leaders of each squadron pulled out of the way to avoid the missile, both breaking chase and exposing their wingmen to the dumb-fires. Two were taken out of the squad that was chasing Harper, and one from the other. Already, things were looking better.

Things were not looking good. Private Uller stopped to lay down some more cover fire and give his squad a chance to run past him. All around, there seemed to be a unanimous vote of retreat. They had planted what explosives they could, it was time to haul ass. Nobody got as deep as they wanted to. It certainly wasn’t going to bring the entire mountain down. It would close off these points, that was for sure. And they had a minute and a half before they were closed in too.

A plasma blast scorched the air in front Private Uller’s faceplate, his faceplate fogging up from the heat. He fell back, landing on his ass. He scurried back, firing a TAC missile in response. The explosion was a little too close for comfort, and cost the last man of the squad his right leg from the knee down, but it took out some of the Jaaq’tah armored units that had caught up to them.

While Private Uller and the other two green members of his squad were new and fairly undisciplined soldiers, the man who was wounded has been classified as “fanatical” on more than one occasion. When his squad-mates came back to pick him up, he pushed them away, and grabbed the last of the explosives.

“Go.” Was all he said. The other two men were too frightened to argue, and took off. Private Uller stared at the man for some time before he realized the man had set the explosives to trigger. His eyes met the man’s, and they each nodded to each other. Private Uller turned and ran off.

Harper and Panzer were making another pass at each other’s squadron, having diverted them with some other evasive maneuvers. Before they reached each other, however, one of the bogies on Harper’s six launched a seeker straight at Panzer. Panzer dove down, and popped a decoy, but the seeker kept on him.

He looped back and tried to run through the center of the formation, hoping to lose the missile through a wall of its friendlies. He scraped against one of the Cobras on his way through, sending it careening out of control and into another Cobra. While both of the Cobras were busy falling out of the sky, the missile now had a perfect opening through the formation towards its target. Now, however, Panzer could simply hope he was capable of outrunning the missile.

The explosions had started already. There was still a chance they could make it out if they hustled. Private Uller shouted as he pushed the other two men forward. “Double time, soldiers! You don’t want to be dinner tonight, do you?”

Almost reactively, the other two soldiers shouted “No, Sir!” And picked up their pace. There was still a chance they could make it. The ground started rumbling as the nearby explosives all kicked off in unison. The caves shook themselves apart, large blocks beginning to crumble from the ceiling. If they hustled.

The missile lock icon on Panzer’s HUD went from orange to red, warning him to brace for impact. He grabbed on the control stick and throttled forward, hoping to avoid as much of the effect as he could. Suddenly the missile lock indicator switched to green. He sighed a heavy breath.

“Sorry I’m late, mon. Traffic’s murder this time o’ day.” Rock laughed through the COM piece.

“Zat is because you do fly on ze wrong side of ze sky.” Panzer laughed back as he flipped his Acolyte around. While Rock and Panzer finished off one squadron, Raven had assisted Major Harper with the remainder of his problem. Within minutes, the last of the Cobras had been dispatched. They would have another few minutes before the next wave would move out. It was time to clear off the ground and get the grunts.

The pursuing Jaaq’tah had ceased to be a threat to Private Uller and his two squad-mates as they made the final few jumps back to the surface. Currently, the largest threat on their minds was the eventual collapse of the section of the mountains they were under. They throttled the jumps and punched through the opening of the cave, Private Uller turning at the last moment and launching the last of his TAC missiles into the cave mouth to bring it down and cut off what remnants of chase there were.

He picked himself up off the ground, and turned to look at the pickup. There were seventeen men, some wounded, pulling themselves back onto the Acolyte gunships. The pilots looked like they had just woken up from a long afternoon nap. He grunted and jumped on the Jupiter, his assigned craft.

20:04 UMT

As the Acolytes lifted off, Sergeant Souderbough sat next to Private Uller.

“How did it go, Private?”

“Not so hot, sir. We never made it in deep enough to bring the whole mountain down, but we did manage to close off the main points. It’ll take them at least a few days to burrow through it again.”

“I suppose that will have to do, Private.” The Sergeant nodded. “And what about Corporal Hasbani?

Private Uller shook his head. “Didn’t make it, sir. But I know for a fact he took company to dinner.”

The Sergeant nodded. “Well said, son.”

The Acolytes pounded back to Basepoint Epsilon.

21:40 UMT

Six Acolyte assault gunships touched down at Basepoint Epsilon. Thirteen men and four women disembarked haphazardly from the six ships. They were tired and wounded, some merely alive through sheer willpower. They forced themselves to march, though it was pure discord, back to their bunkers. Their mission had been completed. Sergeant Souderbough approached Major Harper as the pilots disembarked.

“Thanks for the lift, sir.”

“Anytime, Sergeant. Let’s have it now, before I talk to the Colonel.”

“Well sir, we only made it eight hundred meters in and two and a half down. Those paths are far deeper and the ‘jocks’ are entrenched tighter than we could have planned for. “

“And that means what, Sergeant? We lost twenty five men so we could hold them off for another two hours?”

The Sergeant shrugged. “Maybe it will only hold them off for two hours, sir, but now we know how important those caves are to them. It could be one of the major travel ways of their entire cave system. We thought they wouldn’t be ready for forty-two men. We weren’t ready for them, sir.”

Major Harper nodded, “Thank you, Sergeant. Before I forget, I’ll need your request for troops by this evening if you want to be restocked before the next sortie. Dismissed.”

The Sergeant saluted and turned on his heels, and hurried off to the bunker.

Lieutenant Sean Harlow approached Harper. “Sir, with all due respect to the 420th, if they keep loosing so many men, why do they keep getting hitched to our tows?”

Harper looked at Harlow and shrugged. “Somebody’s got to do it, right?”

Harlow shrugged as Harper and Santiago walked off in the direction of the bunkers.

22:45 UMT

Sergeant Souderbough entered the bunker as his remaining soldiers were busy stripping out of their tattered and bloodied suits.

“Congratulations, men. You’ve just survived the bloodiest cluster f*** of the century. The 420th Armored Company now has a blistering failure of a successful mission to tag on the end of our long line of dinner parties.” The entire bunker was silent in response. Everyone felt the weight of the Sergeant’s words.

“We lost twenty-five good men today. We’ll get twenty-five new troops tomorrow. Look around. You know who’s missing. Field promotions are as follows. Liebel, Uller. Welcome to the wonderful world of responsibility.” He tossed them each the stripes of Corporal. “Hit your sacks early, kids. I want you up and on the field by oh-eight-hundred.”

Corporal Uller stared at the patch in his hand. He hadn’t expected to live past this mission. He hadn’t expected a more seasoned, devoted troop like Hasbani to bite it before he did. He had expected maybe to step on a mine or, if he was lucky, maybe shot in the head. He never expected to survive.


08:10 UMT

Harper tossed his flight bag into his locker, slammed the door shut and punched it, leaving a four-inch dent in the locker door. The door immediately began to bend back into shape as the nanotech units returned to their original pattern. TJ closed his door and leaned on the locker next to Harper.

“Dere be no need to waste your anger here, mon. We all feel de same way. De men, not one deserved it. But you’ve got to realize, dey knew de risks, just like we do. Don’t nobody sign up ‘round here dat isn’t ready to die for dis cause.”

“Marshall, those men died because I thought we could make it work. I entirely underestimated their forces, and I sent those men to die.”

“We all tink we can make it work. Dat's why we do dis. Sir, I don’t be meanin’ no disrespect, but dis isn’t de first time we’ve dropped de ball. What be different about dis time?”

Harper grabbed a towel and headed off to the shower, “If we took and held even one passage there,” he held up a finger to emphasize, “We could have had this war at their beds by tomorrow morning. We could be on our way home by the day after.”

TJ shrugged and headed off to the mess hall, muttering under his breath, "When did you get interested in going home?"

08:21 UMT

Corporal Uller was at the live-fire range, directing the six privates of his newly assigned ‘Bravo Team’ through the close-quarters exercise course. They were progressing, though nothing to brag about. They were a squad of regular soldiers. They knew their job, their responsibilities, their objectives, and their targets. They weren’t fast, they weren’t accurate, but they were thorough.

“Corporal Uller.” Major Harper shouted in-between bursts of fire. Immediately, the seven soldiers of Bravo Team ceased their exercise, standing at attention. Corporal Uller left the field and approached Harper.

“Yes, sir?” He was a bit awestruck, one might say. He never expected an officer other than the Sergeant to ever have a reason to speak to him. When Uller was close enough that they could speak normally, Harper said,

“Word has it that you were the last to see Corporal Hasbani.”

“Yes, sir, I was.”

Harper leaned forward and handed Uller a small wooden box. “Then these are now yours.”

Uller took the box, and stared at it for a moment. “He chose me as his next of kin?”

Harper smirked, a bit of a laugh escaping, “No, son. He has no next of kin. You were the last to see him. You know the soldier’s law, don’t you?”

Uller swallowed hard and nodded, saluting Harper. “Yes, sir. I understand, sir.”

Harper nodded “Good. I expect you’ll do fine, Corporal. Just decide whether you want it or not.”

Uller nodded again, and Harper walked off. After Harper was out of sight, Uller opened the small wooden box. Inside, was a small roll of paper money, a purple heart medal, and the key to Corporal Hasbani’s locker. He nodded, mostly to himself.


09:11 UMT

“Considering the objectives achieved, Major, and those that were not, can you explain why I have to mail out twenty five notices of death, yet we have no decisive victory to show for this loss?”

“Colonel Masey, Sir. We were lured in. When we allowed them to be aware of our presence, the force they sent out was smaller than we had expected. Perhaps they over-estimated their troops ability to deal with us, or they anticipated our intent to send troops in immediately. Either way, I accepted the opportunity to hit them on their doorstep at the expense of effectiveness. “

“Well, Major, I’m glad you’re aware of your error now. Why did it occur in the first place?”

Harper sighed heavily and recounted his part in the events. “Any communiqué would have alerted them to our presence. I could have jetted out and left, to return hours later after they had time to resecure their front line. I decided in the field that the possible advantage to cutting off even a portion of their main route to us would be beneficial to establishing a closer basepoint, or, if that was undesirable, to disrupt their patrols and focus their attention.”

“Well, that’s wonderful Major Harper. And because your troops were incapable of achieving their objectives, not only are the Jaaq’tah troops able to resecure their front line, but now they’re focusing their attention directly on us.”

Harper nodded, his eyes dropping to the floor. He remained silent while Colonel Masey’s eyes drilled into him.

“Fortunately, somebody seems to be taking pity on your case, Major Harper.” Masey sighed as he sat back in his desk chair.

Harper looked up “Sir?”

Masey pulled out a manila folder and tossed it at Harper. “I’ve been asked to let this incident slide. Turns out the results are favorable enough to get you off the hook, as many deaths as could have been avoided. Regardless, you’ve been relieved of your post at Basepoint Epsilon. You’re being reassigned.”

Harper looked through the folder. “Yes, sir.”

“You'll pick up reassigned troops for the 420th at your destination. You and your crew leave ASAP. Before you’re dismissed, Major, I have one question for you.”

“Yes, sir?”

“You did give us an advantage, however minimal it may actually be, by closing off their front door. Would you press your advantage, given the opportunity?”

Harper nodded, almost immediately. “Certainly, Sir. From the North.”

Colonel Masey smiled and leaned back in his chair. Major Harper saluted and left the room.

Draconian Alliance Command Center - The Erdani Citadel
Draconis Prime

The Eridani Citadel was a massive underground complex nearly three kilometers underneath the hard granite rock of Draconis' Eastern Continent. It was further reinforced with multiple alternating layers of xentronium and tritanium armor and a defense shield powerful enough to turn even a stellar converter blast back. It was home to the Draconian Alliance's High Command Council, which was home to the highest-ranking defense officials from every member of the alliance. It was from here that they coordinated the war effort against the Jaaq'tah Alliance.

"Ruzhyo is on the verge of taking the Beta Lyrae system, but he's lost over one third of his entire unit," said the Hushain Defense Minister Kairos. "I suggest we move in elements of the 104th Navy from Stellaz to reinforce and give Ruzhyo a chance to regroup for the final push."

"Agreed," said Confederate Defense Minister Cameron Blackblade, highlighting the 104th Draconian Navy symbol and sending the order to make the unit's deployment order switch to active. He shifted focus on the galatic map, focusing on the Northern Front, where a battle force led by Grand Admiral Justin Keele was moving to capture the valuable Kitana Province of the Jaaq'tah Alliance.

"The Jaaq'tah are contesting this sector far more heavily than we ever expected," continued Blackblade, bringing up a unit data screen for the 3rd NDI Spacy Battle Force. Losses were over forty percent in this theater alone. "And this is the most important theater of battle for the time being. Ruzhyo has requested three additional units to help him secure Beta Lyrae, but the Northern Front is by far the most important sector to us for this one reason..."

An emerald X with a five underneath it appeared on screen, then shrunk back onto the galactic map at the Cirios system.

"This is the reason the Jaaq'tah have been fighting so hard. We've had a marine outpost in the Cirios system since before the war, but the Jaaq'tah eliminated that outpost and landed ground forces a little under 36 hours ago. The reason the Jaaq'tah eliminated that outpost is because Cirios Prime is home to one of the Ancient's scientific facillities that survived the Great War largely intact. General Rakuseki and I authorized a mission to retake the planet using minimal resources. Thus far, we have all but re-established space superiority, but the ground battle rages on."

The Altaran Defense Minister's eyes narrowed at Blackblade. "You sure waited long enough to tell us about this, Minister Blackbalde."

"We didn't want to draw much attention to the planet. We wanted this operation to be quick and precise," replied Cameron.

"Either that or you're trying to keep the X for yourselves!" said the G'randal Minister of Defense.

"Don't be silly," said the Vaishan Defense Chief, his eyes changing from a dull aqua to a vibrant green. "Who do you think tipped off the Humans to the presence of the X?"

The G'randal Defense Minister gruntled, glancing over in the direction of Cameron, who retained that emotionless gaze.

"Once the X is secured, we'll need to abide by the McDowell Protocol," said Cameron in a calm tone.

"Are you sure that's really necessary? It's a Class V Terran-class world," replied the Altaran.

"It's the only way we can assure that there's nothing left for the enemy to use," replied the Vaishan.

"Very well," replied Kairos, the Hushain minister. "We will destroy the world."

********

...they are getting closer......

Yes....our creations are very tenacious combatants.....but their savagery assures that they not be allowed to obtain our secrets...

...I've already activated the Sentinels. Thus far, they have not engaged either side in any major way....

Once they cross the fail-safe, we must crush them.

Agreed.

********

Red Star Citadel

"They must be mad," said Captain Jack Simmons, looking at the priority message from the Alliance High Command. He glanced over to his superiors, Colonel Xato Kiyomeru and Special Forces Chief Alicia Clark, who retained sterile expressions. "The McDowell Protocol is going a bit far, don't you think?"

"Given the severity of the situation? No," replied Colonel Kiyomeru, taking a sip of coffee.

Alicia's dark green eyes made contact with the relatively young Simmons. "If everything goes according to plan, our boys will be long gone long before we blast that rock."

"And if they aren't?" replied Simmons.

"Collateral damage," replied Kiyomeru.

"Does the General know?" asked Simmons.

"He doesn't need to know," replied Alicia. "Especially because his wife is there. I told you sending Juno wasn't a good idea, Colonel."

"All of our other three-stars are in the South with Ruzhyo. Besides, given the mission profile, she's the best available."

Alicia mused over that fact for a bit. There was a high probability that Miss Perfect wouldn't make it back. Oh well, no sweat off her back. She was tired of the way she always flaunted her perfect marriage with Nathan in the first place. She was the type of woman Alicia never liked. Always prim and proper, perky and optimistic attitude, and always liked to throw her two-cents in when it wasn't asked for. How Natsumi made it to three-star elite status was beyond Alicia. She was just too....sterile.

"Just make sure Rakuseki doesn't find out," replied Alicia, staring daggers at Simmons to show she meant business. "I don't want any command overrides going on here. We blast that rock, with or without the X."