Warfront

WARFRONT, set in an alternate universe where the Great Spirit Robot never flooded, allowing the people to stay, follows a war between Metru Nui and Xia called the Metru-Xian War, which leads to the rapid development of new technologies, such as ballistic rifles, thrown explosives(grenades) and combat armor. WARFRONT follows a Lance Corporal in the Metru Nui Armed Forces called Aderix, an able, brave and seemingly lucky soldier on the front line of the war after Xia invades Metru Nui.

CHAPTER ONE
A proper trade agreement between Metru Nui and Xia begun around...three years ago? Some people didn't like the idea, they didn't trust the Xians. Others believed the trade would help the island city. Others, like myself, personally didn't care either way as long as it didn't hurt us. Unfortunately, it did. Frequently, after a mere two months the Xians begun sending shipment of dodgy goods. Things that didn't work or broke. Sometimes they arrived already broken, but the Xians claimed it wasn't their doing. Yet it kept happening and Metru Nui was losing out. Soon, we begun doing the same back, like an insult. That's when things started to get hostile.

Sometimes the Xians would send goods that weren't what was promised, sometimes we'd open crates and find literal junk. Then they started sending other things. Namely, weapons. Bombs and gas canisters, all rigged to fire when the crate was opened. Again, they claimed they weren't behind it. Our leaders weren't so sure. Sure enough we sent spies and moles to find out what was happening. They most certainly were behind it. They had also begun amassing a considerable armed force. We couldn't find out what their plans were in time. The Xians launched an invasion of Metru Nui. We don't know why, but we guess it's at least partly because they see it as a great expansion opportunity. Making more products with our forges and so on. We weren't about to let that happen. Everyone and anyone who could fight picked up a weapon and fought back. We've pushed them back, but they've managed to capture and hold Ga-Metru. We're mustering our forces for a large-scale offensive to kick them off our island. Some say we're storming a death trap. But we outnumber then ten to one. We can't lose.

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Aridex dived back as a shell struck the building, the roof collapsing onto the ground and forming a considerable pile of rubble. Great, there goes his exit. Standing up, Aridex picked his rifle up off the floor, brushing dust off it with his hand. Fighting with melee weapons was a no-go against the Xians, all of their troops used guns similar to this one, so Metru Nui's forces had to arm themselves similarly. Sighing and turning, Aridex raised his rifle as he headed back. Looks like the other door was his only option. Outside, beyond the building, he heard distant cracks of gunfire and the shrieks of falling artillery shells. He turned a corner at the far end of the hall, faced with a door. He tried the knob again, just to be sure. Locked. He threw his weight against it, trying to bash it open. It rattled and creaked, but didn't give way. He tried again. No success. Growling, he raised his rifle, firing a couple of bullets into the lock before kicking the door. It finally gave way. Behind it, another soldier was crouched behind a table, and raised his gun as the door flew over, before lowering it and giving a sigh of relief.

Aridex moved forward, crouching behind the table also, turning and closing the door. The other soldier looked back up. "What group?" He asked. "5th Battalion, Second Company, Eighth Squad." Aridex pointed to his unit badge. "Oh. Third Company. Yours get wiped out too?" "Yeah. Artillery shell busted the supports of the room we were in, whole room fell into the lake. I was by the door so I got lucky." "Huh. Artillery shell landed on mine. Not much left of them." The other soldier shrugged. "Why you hiding here? Waiting for reinforcements?" Aridex asked. "Hoping, more like. There's a couple of Xian guys in the hallway opposite us, one of them has a belt rifle." The soldier gestured across the room with his gun. Aridex grimaced. Arguably the most advanced infantry rifle these days, the Belt Rifle could load belts containing 10 to 20 rounds, depending. They were murder for any regular infantryman caught in the open. Metru Nui was trying to make their own, but so far had had some difficulty. Aridex heard some footsteps from across the room.

Two soldiers, one a Vortixx and the other another species, walked in, the bigger of the two holding the large automatic weapon, although he stayed near the far doorway. "Hold on. You see that, Uron?" The Vortixx asked. "No, what?" The bulky one shook his head. "That door wasn't a little open before. Completely shut." He snarled. "Is somebody home?" He called, lifting his gun. The other soldier turned to Aridex, fear visible in his eyes. Aridex raised his gun. The soldier tightened grip on his rifle, standing up. "Eat lead, Xian!" The soldier yelled, firing a shot. The bullet flew through the Vortixx's armor, and he cried out, falling to one knee and dropping his gun as he gripped the wound. Snarling, Aridex stood up, firing a shot into the Vortixx's throat. With a short, gurgling cry, the Vortixx fell back. The other Xian stood straight, raising his weapon. The soldier fired another shot, but the bullet buried itself in the hulking man's armor. With a growl took aim, and Aridex dived down. His ally hesitated. A loud string of gunshots echoed through the room as ten bullets raced across the room, ripping the soldier to pieces, the man falling back and thumping against the wall. The Xian laughed. "Hiding won't save you! Come out and fight!" The Xian called, aware of Aridex's presence. Aridex got on his knees, reaching over to his now dead ally, opening his equipment pockets. Nothing, nothing, a spare clip, and...a grenade! One of the few things Metru Nui had brought into the war first, the Xians were still trying to understand how they worked. Pulling it close, he drew the pin with his teeth, rearing his arm back. "Fight this!" He yelled, lobbing the grenade over the table. The grenade bounced along the floor, landing just behind the Xian. He gave a cry of surprise before it went off. His armor didn't save him this time.

After the dust settled, the shrapnel stopped flying and the Xian fell dead, Aridex stood up. All quiet. Reaching down, he picked up the spare clip he'd found on his dead ally. Turning the corner, he reached down, picking up the Belt Rifle. It had five shots left, and a piece of grenade shrapnel had wedged itself in the gun. Dropping the weapon, he knelt by the dead Vortixx, quickly searching over his gear, pocketing a grenade salvaged off a killed MN soldier and another spare clip. Aridex certainly wasn't short on ammo. Standing up, he looked around. The door to his left was partly off its hinges, and he could see debris piled up behind it. The way the Xians had come, however, was not blocked. Raising his gun, Aridex headed off down the path.

The Half-Toa soldier had come across two rooms connected to the hallway, a room with a bunk bed, and a bathroom. Or, what was left of a bathroom. Turning the corner he found another door, this one with a window. Through it, he could see an outdoors catwalk, still intact. The opposite building had a wide, pillbox-like window, from which he saw gunfire, bullets racing across the lake below. He hoped they weren't Xians. Opening the door, he hurried across the metal walkway, the loud clanging most certainly not keeping him subtle. At the top of the building, a Toa poked his head out, spotting him. "You there! Get in here! There's a maintenance passage to your left when you go inside, hurry! The bottom floor is a Xian kill-zone!" He called before vanishing back inside. Aridex continued, reaching the far door. Raising his gun, Aridex shouldered the door open.

Inside, for the moment, the room was quiet, save for the dull thuds of gunfire above, and a Xian officer somewhere on this floor yelling for his men to find a way upstairs. A soldier, carrying a Belt Rifle, walked past. For some reason, Aridex didn't pull the trigger. The soldier spotted him in the corner of his eye, turning. "We got another one!" He yelled, raising his gun. Aridex sprinted to the side as bullets raced by behind him. Aridex bashed into the door, before realising this one wasn't loose. Pushing the handle he barged through, slamming it shut behind him as the soldier approached. He looked around, spotting a large locker. Hurrying over and gripping it by the far edge, Aridex heaved with all his might, and with a loud creak the locker budged, toppling in front of the door. He heard the loading of guns through the door. Ducking behind the metal locker and hurrying past, Aridex raced up the stairs as a short volley of bullets flew through. Aridex went up and up, until the metal stairs led him to a door. He rapped on it, met with the clicking of rifles. "Who is it?" A soldier called. "Aridex! Fifth Company!" He called back. There was some murmuring, although he heard 'Fifth's here' and 'Thought they were gone'. The door unlocked and swung open, and Aridex was greeted with the barrels of three rifles, although the soldiers holding them quickly lowered them. A fourth soldier ushered Aridex in, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Anyone follow you?" The soldier asked. "Tried to. I had to block the door at ground level with a locker." "Good thinking. Anyone else over there? We lost contact with the troops over there a few minutes ago." "Nope, at least to my knowledge. Most of that building's collapsed, and the men over there went with it." "Yeah, looks like it's about to collapse. They're hitting us hard with artillery. Command's trying to mobilize our remaining troops out here to hit their guns, but until we can find another way out, us lot are stuck in here and we're dead if we go outside too long." "Who are you shooting at?" Aridex asked, pointing to the four soldiers firing down somewhere. "Some Xians trying to cross a couple of scenic walkways to reinforce a little bunker of theirs further inland. We aren't necessarily killing them, but we're making it too dangerous to cross. Until our friends finish off that bunker and make it into a trap, at least." The soldier led him over to the open, scenic window. The view of the lake would be marvelous, were it not for the many smoke pillars, scorched blast craters, rubble from collapsed buildings and flashes of gunfire marring the scene. Oh, and the burning Airship crashed into the lake itself. The soldier raised his gun, firing off a couple shots at the position, one bullet hitting a Xian trying his luck in the leg. Falling over, the soldier was a sitting duck as the soldiers pelted him with bullets, tearing him apart. For the moment, they stopped firing.

"Anything I can help with?" Aridex asked. "Uh, well, unless you can reach and take out an entire Xian artillery position there isn't much anyone can do right now. Feel free to help us keep those walkways a kill zone." The soldier smiled. "Is command doing anything to help free up movement?" "We can't hit them with artillery directly, too well-placed, and what few positions we could hit them from are bare open to their own guns. Command is trying to set up a few cannons to hit Xian positions, but they got our radio tower. Without it communications is a bust, so they don't know where to shoot." "Anything we can do about that?" "Well, they turned off the tower, not destroyed it. If we can take the position, we can turn communications back on and we can use those cannons." "I could take a look if you want. My unit's gone anyways." Aridex shrugged. "Your funeral. What's your name?" The soldier asked. "Aridex, Fi-" "Fifth Company, yeah. Jerask, Eighth Company. If you get back alive, remind me to buy you a drink. I'd send some men to go with you, but we need all the hands we can to keep this position...you know, ours. Actually..." Jerask turned, approaching a soldier looking over his gun, face obscured by his armored hat. "Private, you like dangerous things. Aridex here wants to take a look at the radio tower. Want to go with him?" Jerask gestured to Aridex. The soldier stood up and saluted. "Yes sir." He stated boldly, before approaching Aridex. "Private Redis." "LC Aridex." Aridex shook his hand. "Good luck you two." Jerask walked to the door at the back of the room, unlocking it to reveal a dirt path leading upwards. "Up there's the radio tower. Keep your heads down. If things get too hairy, run back down here. They're too scared to try and storm us." He saluted. Aridex and Redis saluted back.

---

Aridex and Redis clambered up the rock, obscured by a pair of plants. Three soldiers and a fourth on a stone platform, manning a mounted Belt Rifle. With the addition of a coolant system, these heavy-duty guns could manage sustained fire and were connected to a much longer ammo belt in a box. On average, these belts had around 50 to 80 rounds. Excellent area-denial weapons. Aridex turned his head, spotting a metal box with a vent on the side. He honestly didn't know what it was for, and honestly didn't care, although they should probably avoid destroying it. "You got any ideas Private?" Aridex whispered. "Take out the gunner and take his position." The Private pointed to the Vortixx on the gun. "That's a plan. But against three other enemies, chances are we'd get shot before we could use it." "True enough. So, what?" "We need to take out those three. A gunner can't aim at two people." Aridex pointed out. "What do you think would happen if something hit that metal thing?" "It'd make a noise, sir." "And what are soldiers drawn to when on guard duty?" "Noise, sir." Redis scratched his chin. "Private, grab the grenade on my belt. I'm gonna see if I can draw them over there. If they do, throw it at them, yeah?" Aridex picked up a rock. "Roger that, sir." Redis nodded, grabbing the grenade from Aridex's belt and putting his finger through the pin.

Rearing his arm back, Aridex threw the rock, the small projectile whizzing through the air and hitting the side of the object with a clank. The three patrolling soldiers all turned and raised their rifles, carefully approaching with weapons trained on where the noise had come from, approaching the corner behind what he could only guess was some form of fan like something was behind it. Stepping out from behind Aridex, Redis pulled the pin and threw the grenade. The rounded object landed, rolling along and clinking against the fan. The soldiers all looked down at it before it went off, the Xians propelled through the air by the blast. Aridex was sure he saw at least two limbs go flying on their own. None of them moved once they landed. Roaring, the gunner turned, firing on them with the angry rattle of his weapon. "Redis! Keep your head down, lie your gun flat and make some return shots! I'm gonna circle him!" Aridex raised his rifle. "Yes sir, but don't expect me to stay too long!" "I don't!" Aridex turned, crawling to a lower part of the hill, standing up and sprinting around.

As Aridex approached, he raised his gun, firing a shot. The bullet dug into the Vortixx's shoulder armor, the bullet wounding his arm. With a cry, the Vortixx stopped shooting a moment to grab the wound. Aridex sprinted onwards. The Vortixx rolled, turning the gun towards Aridex before reeling back as a shot fired from the Private zipped mere inches above his head. Aridex dived, tackling the Vortixx and rolling, throwing him into the open. The soldier drew his pistol, forgetting Redis' existence for just long enough for the Private to make a second shot, burying itself in the Vortixx's back. The Xian screamed in pain and fell to his knees as Aridex raised his gun, firing a shot into the soldier's collar area. With his scream cut short, the Vortixx fell, dead. Or, dying at least. Redis stood up. "We...we did it sir!" The Private grinned. "Indeed we did. Grab that gun, I'm gonna turn the tower back on."

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Jerask was caught a little off-guard by oddly casual knocking on the door to the tower. Carefully, a soldier at his side with his gun raised, Jerask approached. "Who is it?!" He called. "Aridex and Redis. Tower's on and we brought a little surprise." Aridex called back. Cautiously, Jerask opened the door. Indeed, the two soldiers stood there, Redis hefting a Belt Rifle and Aridex carrying two ammo boxes under his arm, smiles on both of their faces. With a grin, Jerask opened the door, the soldier lowering his gun. "You did it! Well, I thought you'd just take a look and come back, I didn't think you'd actually get it done." "Yep. Need this anywhere?" Aridex gestured to the bulky automatic. Jerask turned. "Hey there! Give the Private a hand with this Belt Rifle! It's the mounted kind!" He called. A pair of soldiers hurried over, one helping Redis carry the gun to the front, the other taking the ammunition off Aridex. "Well aren't you a bundle of surprises. Lone survivor of Fifth Company, and able to take back the radio tower, even against a Belt Rifle position." Jerask gestured for him to follow as the soldiers finished mounting the gun, the Major fiddling with the radio on a table. "Hammer Position, this is Major Jerask, you there?" There was static for a moment, but the signal cleared up to the faint sounds of men yelling orders. "Major, that you? Comms are back up, what's going on?" "We got a miracle trooper from Fifth Company, he managed to bring the tower back online." "Well that's just dandy! Now we just gotta hope our recon positions are still there too." The man at the other end laughed, before saying something inaudible to another man. There was a pause before he came back. "Yeah. We're down one but Sniper One, and Three are still operational. Alright, you got anywhere specific you need blown up?" The man asked. "We got a building, looks like a little apartment, on the north-east side of the lake. Swarming with Xians, we've been stopping them reinforcing that bunker further inland." "Oh, right. Explains why there were only three left when we got there. Alright, watch the light show folks." Aridex and Jerask looked up to the enemy position. A moment passed and a thunderous boom thundered across the lake as a large shell raced through the air, smashing into the building. In a brilliant orange blast, the building was destroyed, rubble and possibly bits of dead soldier plummeting to the water below. Another boom shook the building as another shot raced off somewhere else.

"Confirmed, target destroyed. That all from you? We got plenty of shells to fire." The artilleryman asked. "Unless you got a way to take out the bottom floor only of our building, then we've got eyes on nothing else." Aridex shrugged. "We can give it a go. Hold onto something." The artilleryman responded. Jerask turned, watching where the cannons were. With a boom, a shell raced towards them, flying through a bottom story window. The building shook violently as several Xian screams were cut brutally short, but luckily the structure held itself upright. "Looks like we got it. Alright, Major, good luck." Was the last that came through the radio. "That was lucky. LC, first rule of artillery, don't mention your own building, alright?" Jerask had a wary look in his eyes. "Yeah. Sorry." Aderix's scratched the back of his head. One of the soldiers turned. "Sir? With the enemy position destroyed and the bottom floor clear, we don't need this gun mounted here. Orders?" He asked. Jerask thought. "With the guns up, it's likely the other units will start moving too. Pack up the gun, we're gonna head further in. Let's just hope the bottom floor is still intact." Jerask sighed. The soldier nodded, and two others begun folding the gun and packing up the ammo, the rest of them gathering their own supplies. "Alright men! We move further north towards the enemy! Command has stated the enemy artillery position is just behind the dam! We get there, we take them out, reinforcements can come in and we can kick them off our island!" Jerask called out, so everyone could hear. An artillery shell landed near the walkway Aderisk had used to reach the building, and the structure shook. The Private apparently heard something, because he attempted to get the Major's attention, to no success. "Now I'm not expecting you to be heroes, we need all the men we can get in the coming days. But I am expecting you to fight hard and bring as many of them down as you can. Press the attack. Understand?" Jerask tilted his head to the side and rotated it a little, in a questioning motion. Another artillery shell shook the building. "Sir!" Redis clenched his fists. "Sir yes sir!" The soldiers nodded. "Alright. We move up, capture the dam monitoring facility, use it like a bunker in case anyone is waiting on the other side. We wait until allied units have moved up, and we hit the dam!" Jerask raised his fist. "Yes sir!" The troops saluted. "Sir!" Redis called again. Jerask responded this time. "What is it, Private?" He asked. Another shell hit, and they all heard stone crunching that time. "I think the building might be unstable." He pointed down. Crumbling rock and falling debris echoed through the building, before it sharply dropped to the side, the entire building cracking and shaking. "The Private's right! Where do we go?!" One soldier cried out. "Downstairs!" Another called. "No, downstairs is a no go! What if the building comes down on us?" Aderix called back. "The LC's right! Quick, out the tower door!" The Major pointed. The soldiers ran to the back door, Aderix's grabbing the handle as the building shook again, this time tilting forwards, putting the water of the lake into view. "Quick!" The Private called. Aderix pulled the handle, the door swinging open. The soldiers hurried to get through. "Jump!" Somebody cried as the building begun sliding. Aderix's hurled himself forward, trying to grab the rock, but the loose gravel gave him nothing. He pushed off, aiming for the walkway, plummeting down.

CHAPTER TWO
Aderix was once again lucky. He impacted the metal walkway with a loud crash. Other soldiers were following, one missing and grabbing the edge as another missed entirely, bouncing off the rock and plummeting past. Aderix brought himself to his feet as pain coursed from his arm, grabbing the soldier's hand and pulling him up. The Major landed with a slightly more graceful landing than Aderix's, a soldier landing nearby with a machine gun. Two soldiers leapt, sliding down the rock and tumbling, crashing onto the platform as a third fell short. The building came off the shattered foundations, tumbling off the edge. A soldier jumped at the last second, aiming for the platform. The Private. Aderix dived forward, grabbing the Private's hand. The soldier Aderix had pulled up circled him, grabbing the Private's arm and helping haul him up. "Lucky, Redis!" Aderix panted. "Just need to get better at long jumping..." The Private fixed his hat. "Five men! Five men went down there!" The Major snarled, banging his fist on the railing. "Maybe they survived the fall?" One soldier suggested as the ruined structure crashed into the water. "I doubt it. And if they did they're cut off." The Private watched as the building sunk. "Let's keep moving. See what we can do with what we have." Aderix raised his gun. "The LC's right. PFC, you're on point." Jerask patted one of the soldiers on the shoulder.

The group of soldiers, cut down from eleven to six men, approached the single-story structure as quietly as they could, weapons raised. This platform was a little less rickety than the first one Aderix had gone across, so it was a little less loud. As they approached the building, the Major turned, pointing to Aderix and the soldier behind him, before motioning for grenades. The soldier drew a grenade, and Jerask handed one to Aderix, before turning and pointing his gun at the door like the soldier in front of him. Aderix and the soldier pulled the pins on their grenades. "Grenade!" Redis called, and they threw their respective hand-held explosives through the windows. Three soldiers inside cried out before two explosions shook the building. The soldier in front kicked the door open. Two Xians were already dead, only one of the big ones, bloodied and scratching at the wounds in his face, still stood. Three shots later and he was dead too. "Alright! Private, check the far window!" Jerask pointed to Redis. "You there, with the gun! Get it set up there!" Aderix gestured for the soldiers to follow him in, pointing the one carrying the machine gun to the window opposite the Private. "Private!" "Clear, sir, for the moment! I can hear them though!" Redis called. "Alright, everyone! Prepare for combat!" Jerask ordered. The soldiers took cover behind the walls, rifles poking out of the windows. A squad of soldiers, six men, hurried out from behind the walls on the dam to investigate, only stopping when they spotted the five rifles and one Belt Rifle pointed at them. "Fire!" Somebody yelled. The chorus of gunfire was heavily one-sided, only two shots being fired back, one as a soldier went down, the bullet racing skyward, and the second burying itself in the wall. The Xians were torn apart.

"Okay. Gunman and two others, keep an eye on where they came from, I don't want anyone jumping us." Jerask sighed, stepping away. Aderix stepped back, sitting against the wall checking his magazine, pulling the box out of his rifle. Two shots left. Opening his ammunition pouch, he picked out some bullets, slotting them in one after another. "You alright, Aderix? Looks like you've had a rough day." Jerask asked. "Haven't we all?" Aderix smiled. "True enough. We're blind from here on, though. I'm gonna see if I can get in touch with command." Jerask approached the consoles, most of which were devoted to controlling and monitoring the dam, finding the radio controls and fiddling with them. He was initially getting just static, but it cleared up a little, although the signal was patchy. "Command? Command, are you there?" The Major asked. "We read you, but it's rough. Who is this?" "Major Jerask." "Jerask! Last we heard your position fell into the lake, we thought you went with it." "Almost did. We're at the dam monitoring center, but we're blind here on. Do you have any info we can use?" Jerask glanced out the window. "Well, Third and Ninth Company grouped into one unit to make up for losses and have attacked at the far end of the Dam. If Sniper Three is correct, the Xians are focusing on them. Play it safe and keep your heads down, you might be able to disable their artillery. If Three and Nine are lucky they may be able to help you. That's all we got, unfortunately." "That's fine, Command. There's only six of us, though, so we're gonna have to get creative." "Roger that, Major. Xian artillery shells are powerful, but a little unstable. A well-placed shot or something will probably make one explode. Try seeing what you can do with that. Don't worry about the artillery crew, they're unarmed and their guards have run off to fight your friends. Seems they thought you went down with that building too." "Acknowledged Command. Thanks for the Intel. Jerask out." Jerask sighed, closing the line. "Probably suicide attack on the artillery line?" Aderix asked. "Looks that way." Jerask looked across the room, at the soldier manning the Belt Rifle. "Soldier! On the gun! You can use those things without the coolant tank, right?" Jerask asked. "Yes sir. No sustained fire, though." "Won't need it. Use bursts but hang onto the belt. We might need the firepower." "Roger that, sir."

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The soldiers crept across the dam, all rifles pointed down its curved path. A door leading down into the dam burst open and a Xian squad rushed out, running away towards where the other Companies were. "Hold your fire. Don't want to attract attention." Jerask ordered. The soldiers kept going, hurrying to the other side. An access path led down to the platform below on the far side. It was normally used for monitoring the water and research on what marine life lived in the lake, but the Xians had taken one look at it and placed a trio of artillery guns on it. The effort might destroy the platform, but pushing back the invasion was more of a concern to them. They slowed right down as they headed down the metal stairs, making as little noise as possible. Over the sound of rushing and splashing water, they were virtually silent.

It took the crews of the three artillery guns, a few Vortixx and a few more of the large Xians, probably for the heavy lifting, to notice the squad of soldiers. When they did, they froze. A moment passed. One of the soldiers fired. A Vortixx dropped. The rest started to run, save for one big guy who charged the squad, fists clenched. The gunner raised his Belt Rifle and fired a burst of shots into his chest, stopping the being in his tracks. Three more shots from the other soldiers and he dropped. Two of the men fired on the fleeing Xians as the gunner opened the biped and placed his Belt Rifle down, Aderix taking the coolant tank off his back and throwing it to the gunner. "What now, sir?" Redis asked. "I guess we pile up these artillery shells, like command said. Try to make a line, we want to take all three down in one go." Jerask pointed. The soldiers nodded, rolling the shells along. Shouting was heard further down the dam. "Sir? I think we got company!" The gunner called.

As the soldiers moved the shells to form a line along the platform, linking the guns in what would hopefully be a trail of destruction, the sound of guns loading and a door bursting open was heard further down the dam. Two squads ran the curve, one right into the gunner's line of sight, cut down in a hail of fire. "Xian squad, dead ahead!" The gunner called. Aderix stopped, running over and sliding to the ground, eye staring down his sights. A Vortixx poked his head around, gun raised. Aderix fired, the bullet glancing off his armor. With a cry of surprise, the soldier retracted back behind cover. "How's that shell line coming?" Aderix called. "Almost! Give us a moment!" Redis called back. A grenade was thrown into view, the blast creating a brief plume of smoke as two soldiers poked out, firing shots at them, one racing past, the other pinging off Aderix's helmet. Aderix retracted his head as the gunner fired, hitting one. The soldier tumbled into the open and Aderix fired again, hitting the soldier, the enemy falling still. "Okay, it's good! Let's go, we're leaving!" Jerask called. Aderix fired another shot at where the Xians were hiding as the gunner picked up the weapon, chucking the coolant tank to Aderix. The two hurried back to their allies as the six turned and ran back for the access stairs. The Xians took the chance, firing at the fleeing squad. One bullet hit. Jerask went down.

"Major!" The Private called, drawing Aderix's attention to the incident. The Xians were still firing. Aderix and Redis fired back, cutting down another soldier. "Get out of here! Find cover! I'll take the guns out!" Jerask barked, drawing his pistol. The soldiers turned and ran, sprinting up the stairs in a chorus of metallic clanging. When they reached the top they turned right, sprinting away. Jerask rolled as the Xians got closer, weapons aimed, and pointed his pistol at the primer of one of the artillery shells. "Take cover and watch the lights." He snarled, pulling the trigger. CLANG

The soldiers stumbled at the shockwave as the artillery shells went up, the long line of fire consuming the top of the dam in a brilliant show of orange and yellow. Turning, they watched as the remaining Xian soldiers, now ablaze, were propelled off the far side of the dam, falling to their deaths. The barrels of the guns vanished into the fire and smoke as the platform disintegrated, the guns plunging into the water. There was silence, save for the rumbling of vanishing fire. "We...we did it..." One of the soldiers breathed. "The Major..." "He knew what he was doing." Aderix swallowed. "I guess we didn't know what we were doing when we signed up." "We all knew what we were doing. Protecting our home." "And that's what we did today." The Private took off his armored hat, brushing some soot from the blast off it. Aderix heard the crackling of the radio, back in the monitoring center. Turning and slinging his gun over his shoulder, he ran to the building, the Private following behind.

Aderix fiddled with the radio controls, clearing the signal. "...ask, we held onto your signal frequency, what's your status?" "This is Lance Corporal Aderix, is this command?" "Affirmative, LC. Where's Major Jerask?" "Jerask...the Major didn't make it." Aderix wiped his brow. "That's unfortunate. We saw the blast, what happened?" "We destroyed the guns, sir. We set up their artillery shells to destroy the platform the artillery guns were on. The Xians attacked us as we retreated and Major Jerask was...was wounded. He stayed back and detonated the shells himself." "Well...at least he died for a cause. I'm sending Airships with reinforcements, feel free to ride them back to base. Well done, soldiers." "Thank you, sir."

---

Aderix almost ripped the simple buckles on his flak armor off, throwing the suit onto his bunk and kicking his boots off as he sat down, leaving just the weather pants on. He was glad he had enlisted after the first few skirmishes against the Xian invasion; Neither Toa nor Half-Toa natural armor could withstand the piercing impact of a bullet, so the guys who made the equipment soon made the combat gear the soldiers had come to know. It was a little bulky and not the most attractive clothing, but it helped stop you shooting your allies and helped stop bullets, so he couldn't complain. The weather pants were just to keep the cold and wet off a soldier's legs. Redis appeared in the doorway. "You alright LC?" "Yeah, fine. You can call me Aderix, you know." "Alright. Those reinforcements flushed the Xians out of the dam. Command's mustering everyone on the front to push the advantage before they can counterattack." "Back to the front..." Aderix sighed. "Not until tomorrow, at least. Hey, if you want, me and some friends are gonna be playing games in the mess hall. We don't have those fancy chips they have in official games so we're using bullet shells, if that's fine." Redis offered. Aderix thought. "Yeah, it'd be nice to get my mind off everything. I'll come around in a bit, don't wait for me." "Aye. See you there, then." Redis nodded, vanishing again.

Another soldier, a Vo-Toa, appeared, going in the same direction. "Hey, you're that Aderix guy, yeah? Fifth Company, then you got pulled into Jerask's lot, right?" She asked. "Yeah, that's me. Why?" "You and your friends got placed in my group. Sixth Company, Fifth Squad. I'm Sergeant Ilyias." She walked into the room, sitting on the bunk opposite him. "Alright, fine by me. You the squad leader?" "Uh huh. Mostly recruits, new enlistees just out of boot camp." "That'll be a fun ride." "Well, it's one way to get em used to it." She smiled. "We doing something simple, then?" Aderix asked, looking up. "Simple enough. There's this museum, full of fish or whatever the Ga-Folks made. Not that interesting as is, but it's three stories of snipers and machine guns." "Not so simple, then." "Actually, it isn't that complicated. Command is devoting an entire artillery gun to destroying it, if it stays an operational Xian position they'll tear into our troops. We reach the position, plant the beacon and watch it go up. Or, down rather." "Then what? We go home for tea and biscuits?" "Unfortunately not, Command needs every pair of hands with a gun for a large-scale siege of two positions, closer to the shore. We just need to take that museum out so the troops don't get slaughtered trying. Or, more slaughtered, probably." "So once we kill the tower we go join a suicidal blitz charge. Fun." "Probably not suicidal, we will have snipers covering the assault. Anyone pokes their head out to point a machine gun at us, their head turns into a flesh donut." "That's a phrase I'll have to remember." Aderix huffed. Both smiled. "I'll look forward to fighting with you, LC." Ilyias stood up, walking back out.

---

Aderix wandered into the mess hall. About half the people in here were either alone or with one other person, save for the group of six-odd soldiers, several of whom were still clad in military gear, in a rough circle on one table. Redis poked his head out of the group, waving Aderix over and telling one of his friends to budge over. With a smile, Aderix walked over, sitting down next to the Private. "Guys, this is LC Aderix. I was fighting with him earlier today." Redis introduced. Several of them simply gave him a nod. "Corporal Danis. Nice to meet you, Aderix." One man held his harm out towards him, hand open. Aderix shook it and nodded. "Likewise, Corporal. What we doing here?" "Little game the PFC over there invented. No name yet. You pick a card and bet your...bullet shells. He shuffles his deck and picks a card. If you get his card, you get double the...shells. Here." Redis pushed Aderix a small pack of cards and six bullet casings. Aderix picked up the cards, looking them over. They were literal pieces of card, with one through to ten written on them. "What happens if nobody gets the card?" Aderix asked. "Everyone gets their shells back." The PFC answered. "Okay, everyone, make your bets." The Corporal pushed two shells forward and placed a card with '6' on it down. Aderix glanced back down. Two felt like a safe number. He pushed four shells forward and placed the Two card down. Everyone else did similar. Without looking, looking upwards in fact, the PFC shuffled the cards in his hand, cracking his knuckles before drawing one at random, placing a card down. Three. One of the soldiers raised a victorious clenched fist, before pulling eight casings to his little pile and placing his card back. Redis pushed two of Aderix's casings into a middle pile and the other two back. "Once again, everybody." Redis scanned the group.

Time flies by when playing some crude form of gambling, apparently. Aderix had had some moderate success at the game, and had a neat little pile of twelve casings by the time they decided it was time to end because it was dark outside and the captain would probably get angry if they played into the night. The PFC took back everyone's cards and pocketed them, shoveling the casings into a small sack. "Night, everyone." The PFC waved as he left. Everyone gave a wave back and an acknowledging "Mmm.". Aderix leaned over to Redis. "Not very talkative, are they?" "They usually are. Probably just thinking. Also, conversation topics might drift to the war effort." "Wouldn't be surprised." "Yeah. It's not they're unfriendly, just a little quiet." Redis stretched his arms as he stood up. The Corporal came up to Aderix. "Nicely played back there, LC." Danis nodded. "Thanks. Beginners Luck, probably." Aderix shrugged. "Hang onto that, if you can." Danis grinned. "Gonna need it, been placed in a squad of new enlistees, right out of training." "What, all of us?" Redis asked. "Yup. The Sergeant seems pretty nice, though." "Great. New guys. Watch the friendly fire statistics spike." Redis groaned. "It'll be fine. We were all new recruits once too." Danis sighed. "Redis is still a Private." Aderix grinned, crossing his arms. "Excuse you I could be a Sergeant by now, I just don't like being in charge." "Redis you've been in the army for a week." Danis pointed out, eyebrows lifting. "Sergeant in a week, what a miracle trooper." Aderix laughed. Redis grumbled. Aderix grinned, patting him on the shoulder. "Calm down, we're pulling your leg. Anyways, it's time to go. See you all tomorrow." Aderix sighed. "Yeah. Tomorrow." Redis pushed past, walking out of the room. "What's his issue?" Aderix raised an eyebrow. "Ah, he just doesn't like people calling him a rookie." "Makes sense. Certainly knows what he's doing." "Yeah, he has actually refused a promotion to avoid being in charge, though. Say, who's that Sergeant you mentioned?" Danis raised a curious eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Ilyias, I think she said." "Oh, the blue one? She's a looker, isn't she?" "It was hard to tell with all the gear she still had on." "Well, she was just on a patrol before she came here. Anyways, I'll see you around, LC." Danis turned, heading down to the opposite bunk rooms block. Sighing, Aderix walked back to his room.

Mere minutes after he'd arrived, placing his gear in his footlocker so it wasn't on his bunk, Ilyias walked in. "Oh. Sharing a bunk room now, are we?" She gave a huff of surprise. "Maybe they want us to get acquainted." Aderix shrugged, pushing his boots under his bed. Ilyias stepped closer, sitting next to him, leaning to the side and supporting herself with an arm, showing off her curves. And, well. Danis wasn't wrong. Aderix went silent. "That's one way you could put it." She grinned. Aderix rubbed the back of his head. "Uuuh..." He blinked. Her eyes went wider and her grin changed to the joking kind of grin, patting him on the shoulder with her other hand before standing up again. "I'm joking, man, calm down." She sighed, shaking her head and sitting on the opposite bunk. "Military professionalism and all that." She smiled. "Does it really go that in-depth?" He asked. She shrugged. "I dunno, probably. Anyways, night." She rolled over and lay flat, thumping her head onto her pillow. Aderix looked around, gaze returning to the Sergeant every now and again. He shook his head, turned and lay down, face in the pillow. He had more fighting to do tomorrow.

---

Redis and Ilyias were the only people Aderix recognized on the small Airship's interior. These were much smaller than older, civilian Airships and moved much faster as a result, only designed to carry a squad or two and nothing else. Ilyias, who had been standing up the entire trip, eyed Aderix before gesturing to him. "LC, want to explain to these rookies what we're doing here?" She moved her hand from pointing to him to pointing in the general direction of the squad. Aderix stood up, Ilyias stepping to the side to let him stand up fully. "Alright men. Command is planning a large scale assault on a Xian position. But overlooking our main attack route is a museum, maritime stuff or whatever, and it's crawling with Xian snipers and machine gun nests. Don't get me wrong, we're not doing some suicide charge at some snipers, don't be silly. Destroying this position is critical to the attack, so we just need to find it and launch a beacon, and command will bring it down with artillery fire. Understand?" "What is the building the attack is aimed at, sir?" One of the soldiers asked, clutching his rifle like it his own soul. Aderix turned, looking to Ilyias. She sighed, looking down a moment. "It's an old warehouse. It's by a river, so the area's pretty exposed to rough wind and so on. So, the warehouse is largely underground, has a fancy loading elevator and so on. We're thinking they'll try and stockpile weapons and supplies there, so command wants us to retake the facility before they can. The surrounding terrain on the approach is too rough and unsteady to try and circle it, though, so command is focusing their efforts on that big old flood drain leading to it." She explained. The soldiers nodded. "Coming in for a landing. Good luck soldiers." The pilot called. The Airship lowered, the landing spikes on its underside digging into the dirt and bringing the vehicle to a halt. Raising their guns, the ten soldiers hurried to get off the aircraft. "Okay, once you're done I'll come pick you up and bring you to the staging area." The pilot called to them. Ilyias nodded, and the pilot took off again, the Airship flying into the distance.

The soldiers were visibly rookies, but they had hung onto military training better than some recruits Aderix had seen. They did their best to cover several approach angles and tried to avoid dispersing, but they were too focused on keeping watch to keep close and every time they spotted a possible spot for an ambush half of them focused on it and left several spots open. Either way, it had so far been quiet. As they neared the top of the hill, Ilyias motioned for the squad to lie prone, which the rookies died, dropping like bags of rocks, while Aderix, Redis and the Sergeant slowly lowered themselves, a motion the rookies watched like some form of motion capture device. Aderix crawled up next to Ilyias, rifle at the ready. Three soldiers on patrol. She turned, pointing to two of the rookies. Eager to show off their shooting skill, they crawled up next to her, taking aim. "Make sure you hit, you two. Want to take them down clean." Ilyias whispered. They nodded. One immediately aimed, virtually pressing his eye against the rear sight he was so determined to be accurate, and fired. And, sure, enough, hit home. At the base of his target's skull. Killing them instantly. Ilyias and Aderix hesitated for a moment, caught off-guard by the tremendous shot, before firing too, quickly bringing down the other two soldiers. "Well. All I can say is, good shot." Aderix blinked. "Yeah, well done recruit, like, what even was that." Ilyias gave the rookie an approving thumbs up. "I wanted to be a sniper but I don't think the sergeant at the boot camp heard me." The soldier scratched the back of his head. "Let's keep it moving!" Redis prodded the Sergeant. "Yeah, let's go." She nodded. The group stood up, the recruits mimicking the sergeant almost perfectly. Brakas see, Brakas do, as they say. Although Aderix had never heard anyone say that.

The squad reached the top of another hill, lying flat at its peak, the recruits not clattering onto the floor, trying to lie down slower. They were learning. The Museum was in view, and Aderix could already spot several machine gun nests. "This is too easy..." Ilyias thought aloud. "A blown up Museum is a blown up Museum, and any Xians it takes with it is a bonus." Aderix shrugged. "True enough. You got the tag gun, Morus?" She asked, rolling to look down at the squad. One of the rookies nodded, pulling a very wide-barreled gun off his back and passing it up to her. She nodded, taking the gun off him. "Sniper, this thing arcs its shots, like when you throw a grenade. You think you can land a beacon on the roof?" She asked. The rookie sniper crawled up, and she handed him the gun. He took aim, taking a moment to register the sight on it. He tilted it up and down several times, before going absolutely still for just a second. He pulled the trigger, and with the THOOM of an air-powered weapon the device raced through the air, arcing down and landing on the roof, bouncing a few times before landing and deploying. "Well done. Now, everyone, get down low and brace for a lot nod noise!" She warned, turning and ducking behind the hill. The sniper dropped the gun, sliding down. "I'd say watch the lights, but we're hiding from them at the moment." Aderix huffed. Ilyias smiled. A distant boom signaled the artillery gun firing, and a shell raced through the air, leaving a faint white trail behind it. It raced out of view and a loud, thunderous boom of destruction shook the hill and the ten soldiers, the orange glow visible over the hill. The noise continued, changing to the cracking and crumbling of falling debris as the building fell apart, collapsing. They stood up, peering over. The Museum was little more than bloodied rubble now, only a few bits of wall remained. Ilyias started cheering, doing a fist pump as she cheered, the rookies quickly joining in. "We did it, man!" "Yeah! Step One, blow up a building! Step Two...the hard part." Aderix stopped for the moment. "Trust me, it'll be fine!" Ilyias grinned, hands clapping onto his shoulders. Aderix couldn't help but grin also. Redis came up, cheering, joining in as the Airship flew on its approach.

---

The Airship had swerved quite suddenly, landing at a pump control hub with a large variety of sandbags and other defenses around it and along the flood drain. The soldiers had gotten off, and the Captain had congratulated the squad on completing their objective. Ilyias had pointed out their rookie sniper's uncanny ability, and the Captain had agreed to let him join the snipers up above the large flood grate blocking access to the sewer. "Well. This is that Part Two, Aderix." Ilyias placed her hands on her hips, sitting against some sandbags. "Sure is. You sure it'll be fine?" Aderix crossed his arms. "Yeah. Sniper support, no hostile sniper museum, a small army..." She pointed to the rubble of the destroyed museum, which indeed would have overlooked the flood drain quite menacingly. "When you put it like that, yeah, I guess." He shrugged. Numerous squads of soldiers appeared from behind the control hub, having arrived from the dirt path behind it, joining the ranks already lining up behind the sandbags. The squad of rookies walked up, led by Redis. "We're all set to go, what about you two?" Redis asked. Ilyias picked up her rifle, and Aderix slung his off his back. "Yeah." They both answered, circling around behind the sandbags to join the unit. "Alright soldiers! Prepare for attack!" The Captain ordered. The soldiers braced themselves to start running for the offensive. It was then that Aderix's mind was flooded with thoughts of the flaws in having all these troops charge the facility on foot, in the open. He dismissed it. A sniper fired through one of the building's windows. "Radio! Do we have comms with the recon Airships?" The Captain called. Both the man on the radio on the building and a trooper with a back-mounted radio gave him the affirmative. "Charge facility on my mark!" He called. Aderix could feel the tension in every single soldier here, it was palpable. "Mark!" He yelled. With a vicious battlecry chorusing through the air the soldiers sprinted towards the warehouse. Occasionally a sniper shot would be fired from the warehouse at them, but it was quickly responded to with their own sniper fire. They were closing the distance oddly fast. Maybe this wouldn't go so badly after all! A grin crossed Aderix's face as he ran. Then they started to slow as the loud, low-pitched whirr of the warehouse's mechanical loading lift drummed aloud. Three sets of six pillars or tubes, all arranged in circles, came into view behind the main facility. The lift reached its peak with the wheeze of air. The sets of tubes begun to rotate. It was then that it clicked in the army's collective minds. "Artillery!" One soldier yelled. "Retreat!" Another almost shrieked as the first barrel fired. The soldiers turned, fleeing for whatever cover could be found, or just trying to get away. The shell landed, several soldiers launched through the air with it. Two more barrels. The guns were starting up. The shells landed left, right and center. Aderix was trying to look up as much as forward to try and evade shells. One landed at the side near him, the shrapnel ripping two soldiers to pieces, the shockwave knocking him down as more troops sprinted right past. One ran past, but skidded to a halt, coming back. Ilyias grabbed him by the arm, hauling him up. "Come on, we need to go!" She shouted over the terrified screams of the fleeing and the dying. "W-Whu..." Aderix grabbed his head, his mind still blurry. Redis ran up. "What are you doing?! We need to leave!" He cried. "Aderix got knocked down, I'm not leaving him here!" She snarled back. The Private sighed, and Aderix felt his hand clap hard on his face. He shook his head, crying out. His head started to swim a bit less. Enough to function, at least. Explosions were still tearing into the ranks. "Come on LC, we're leaving!" Ilyias explained. He nodded. Yeah, he knew, this was still happened. Redis gave him a tug to get him going and ran off ahead, Ilyias staying with him. As they ran back, closer to the now destroyed control hub, Aderix noticed one thing. The bodies had piled up fast.

CHAPTER THREE
Aderix woke up in bed. Opening his eyes and looking down, the first thing he noticed was he was in the infirmary. Looked like it, at least. Second thing he noticed was that he couldn't see out of his right eye. Reaching up, he discovered it was because he had a bandage over it. Third thing he noticed was that the infirmary had several other people in it, but after what had happened, he would have expected more. What happened. Right. That. Did that happen? That felt surreal. Nobody had something like multi-barreled rotary artillery before, let alone three straight onto the battlefield. A doctor walked past, checking on two other patients before noticing Aderix was awake and walking over. "Ah, Lance Corporal, you're awake." "Yeah. Think so at least. How long have I been out?" "Only about eight hours. It's just getting dark outside now." "Wait, so..." Aderix peered past at the other wounded. "Yes. They're all from earlier today." The doctor sighed. "Where are the rest? Surely there are more wounded than that." Aderix's gaze returned to the doctor. The doctor shook his head. "Unfortunately...the losses were heavy. Catastrophic, some are saying. Everyone in here is a lucky man or woman. You, probably the luckiest." "Me? Why?" "Well, for one, you still have all your limbs. Two, you only had some shrapnel stuck in you, nothing intravenous." The doctor gave a more relieved sigh. Aderix blinked, and the doctor noticed. "None of the shrapnel got inside you and nothing was damaged inside. You'll recover fully." The doctor rephrased. Aderix nodded. The door swung open, the doctor leaning back to look. "The Lance Corporal is awake, Sergeant."

Ilyias was there in a moment. "Hey Sergeant. Come to make sure I'm okay?" "Come to make sure I've got a survivor. A lot of the squads don't." "Anyone else in ours make it?" "Couple of them. One guy who just got lucky and our sniper friend. Brave fool stayed back to give the retreat as much covering fire as he could." "Tell him I'd give him a promotion." Aderix smiled. She grinned. "Will do." She patted him on the chest. "Is he good to go, doc?" She asked. "Should be fine, the bandages are just to help contain any bleeding he might have had. I just want to keep him in here tonight, I'll let him out tomorrow. Is that fine?" "Should be fine, yeah. Rest up, LC, we need every pair of hands we can get." "Two sounds like a good deal now." Aderix sighed. Ilyias rubbed the back of her head uncomfortably, gave him a wave, and walked out.

---

Sure enough, the next day the doctor had taken off his bandages and gotten him out the door, telling him to come back if anything was wrong and to take it easy, the usual stuff. Ilyias and Redis had welcomed him back warmly, Redis jokingly saying 'Welcome back to the living'. Much to the chagrin of other soldiers. "Watch what you're saying man, you might upset someone." "Yeah, probably shouldn't have said that." Redis scratched his chin. "What...what kind of losses did we have?" Aderix asked. "Command estimated one out of every ten men survived." Redis looked up, recalling the information. "Yep, that's it. We're down to a tenth of our size until the higher-ups decide it's time to send us reinforcements from the main army." Ilyias added. "I thought they would have by now." "They intended to, but delays slowed things down. A couple of the guys are saying its probably a good thing." "Why's that?" "Less casualties." Ilyias sighed, hands in her pockets. "They did manage to bring us one thing though." She added, leading them up to a window. An Airship lowered to the ground outside, and crewmen unloaded crates with the help of the pilots. "What's that?" Redis asked. "Ammunition. Lots of it, by the looks of it." Aderix answered. "Is command planning something?" "Command's always planning something. With what we've got up here, though, I can't say for sure what." Ilyias' gaze turned, eyeing the command tower across the airfield.

Aderix had taken a seat and...not done a whole lot. Ilyias had gone to find out exactly what numbers they had left, and the rookie sniper had appeared. "Hey. You look rough." The sniper sat down next to him. "Explosive shells tend to do that." Aderix muttered. "Yeah, I could see everything from up there." "The Sergeant told me you stayed back to give us all covering fire." "Yeah, well, I wasn't about to let enemy snipers give us even more casualties." The sniper shrugged. Aderix gave him a pat on the back. "Takes guts to do something like that, kid. Several of the guys here probably owe you one." Aderix smiled. "Lead by example, I guess." "Say, whats your name?" "Private Korius, sir.". Aderix nodded. The comms speaker beeped loudly, before a low but loud siren started blaring. "All units, prepare for combat!" A voice ordered. Several of the soldiers, unquestioning, got up, hurrying off. Redis appeared in a door, Danis not far behind, sliding to a halt when he saw the pair. "Redis, what's going on?" Aderix asked, leaning back. "Xian unit moving up, they're trying to hit the base. We're gonna try and surround them, they've captured some water plant, right in the open." Redis explained, pointing out the far window, running off without a word, Danis not far behind. "Come on, we better not leave them waiting." Korius stood up.

---

The Airship lifted off, the squad all armed and ready. Whereas before the rookies looked eager, almost excited, these men, Korius and the other Private who survived included, looked uncertain. "I'm gonna put you down near a hill to the plant's north-west! It looks like an excellent firing position! Just get up there and keep them down!" The pilot called out. "Sounds like a plan. You heard him, squad! We're gonna play Whack-a-Vortixx with bullets! Keep your eyes down-lane and try and keep on-target!" Ilyias barked. The soldiers all nodded. "Looks like it's your time to shine, Korius!" Aderix called to the sniper. While he most certainly still wasn't a proper sniper, his rifle had been modified with a longer barrel and a scope. Korius nodded. "I'll do my best, sir!" Korius shouted back. The Airship begun to lower, the plant coming into view. "Is the plant important?" A Private asked. "It's one of several that filter and pump clean water directly to other Metrus! This one draws it from the lake down below, and pumps it to Ta-Metru! So, yeah, kinda!" Redis called out, shouting over the loud whirring of the engines. "Hold on, window coming to view. It may be a fortification, what can you see, soldiers?" The pilot asked. Standing up, Korius crouched by the back of the troop bay, leaning his weight on the side as he raised his rifle, looking down the scope. It took him a moment. "They've got Belt Rifles! Two of them, both pointed right at us!" He called back. "It's too dangerous, I'm pul-!" the Pilot called. The Xian guns started firing, just audible over the Airship itself, bullets raining into the aircraft. Bullets that didn't hit the engines pierced the armor, immediately cutting down two soldiers, and those that hit the engine only helped the Airship descend faster. Five bullets tore the Pilot apart, the man slumping to the side. "Get down!" Redis called. "Somebody get to the front of the Airship, or we're gonna crash!" Aderix called out, pointing to the now open cockpit door. "Does anyone even know how to fly this thing?!" A soldier shouted, gripping his seat for dear life. The Airship hit a rock, probably the side of the hill they were trying to land on, the engine ripping clean off with a near-deafening screech of metal. The Airship begun rolling. A couple people managed to hold onto their seats, everyone else tumbling. Aderix grabbed the side of a seat, catching the sniper's arm with his other hand. Ilyias managed to grab the cockpit door, retracting and gripping it with her feet too. One man fell from his seat, tumbling out the back and falling out of view. A moment felt like an eternity as the aircraft plummeted.

Everyone was thrown to the far side as the Airship crashed into the lake, the interior rapidly flooding. A dead body floated inside. Aderix reached over, shaking Ilyias, who shook her head and opened her eyes. Redis was helping pull Korias out of the sinking aircraft. She nodded, pushing away from the seats and out towards the back, Aderix not far behind. Once they were clear, they begun swimming upwards. Aderix turned, watching. Only the fading, blinking red warning lights were distinguishable in the silhouette. Turning back, he swam up, reaching the surface. The engine had landed in the water, burning and slowly sinking. The man who had fell out had impacted the rock before landing, now floating, motionless save for his bobbing on the disturbed surface. "Come on!" Ilyias called, motioning for the LC to follow. Aderix begun swimming for a small shore, where another dead trooper was. The survivors washed ashore, but Aderix felt hands gripping his pack. Someone pulled him to his knees, hauling him upright. "Staff Sergeant, look! It's our old pal, the LC!" Aderix heard. Wiping his face and opening his eyes, he saw the face of another trooper. Off to the side, he saw other men pulling the others ashore. Another soldier walked over. "So it is! Aderix, we thought you were dead!" The man got to one knee, patting the LC on the cheek and laughing. It was then it clicked. Fifth Battalion. Second Company. Eight Squad! His lot! Blinking in mild disbelief and standing up, he grinned as he exchanged nods. "Well, you were the ones who fell into the lake, I thought you were the dead ones." He coughed. "You'd think so. We got lucky and made the landing. We managed to collapse some fancy house into the lake a little after they got the radio tower back online, then we reached an extraction point and they carried us back to base." The Staff Sergeant laughed. Aridex grinned. Ilyias came over, almost limping, pointing to Aridex. "He did that." She spluttered. "Did what?" "Got the tower back up." She coughed. "Well, Aridex, ain't that a surprise! Looks like you've been making friends too." One of the troopers, a man Aridex knew as PFC Origgun, smiled, patting the LC on the shoulder. "Sergeant Ilyias! I thought you'd be trying to make alternate entrance points with explosives or something dangerous like that." The Staff Sergeant helped her stand upright as she continued coughing. "Nope. We were just going to land on a hill and provide suppressive fire. We got that miracle rookie sniper who helped cover us back at the warehouse." Ilyias cleared her throat. "A little bundle of heroes, Eh? Aridex the hero of the Dam Battle, the brave sniper rookie who probably saved a lot more people than he's given credit for and Sergeant Ilyias!" Origgun laughed. "Huh? What did she do?" Redis asked. "Well for one, she helped hold back a pillar of the Xian Army during the first invasion, with nothing but a captured Belt Rifle and a bad attitude! Second she played a pretty big role in the defense of Ta-Metru, rigged all the entrances to the Metru with explosive traps so the men could focus on shooting down enemy aircraft." The Staff Sergeant patted Ilyias on the back. "You give me too much credit." She wiped her face, picking up and checking her rifle. "Maybe. Anyway, come on, they need all the hands they can get." The Staff Sergeant gestured to the dirt path leading back up the hill.

---

They skidded to a halt as they reached the top of the hill, back near where Aderix and his squad were meant to go. The two Belt Rifle gunners still stayed at their post, unaware of the two squads. One of Eighth Squad slid to a prone position, mounting a scope on his rifle. Korius sat his rifle down, lying next to him. They nodded to each other, before taking aim and firing. The throats on both of the gunners exploded as bullets raced through them, the two soldiers gurgling as they dropped. The Staff Sergeant ran over, taking cover behind the wall, arming a grenade and lobbing it in. Two more screams were cut short by the blast. The soldiers got behind the wall, standing up, rifles raised, at the same time. All quiet. Vaulting through the window, they kept their sights on the doors. One burst open, two Xians hurtling in. Everyone fired at least two shots, and the soldiers were cut down. Silence.

"Clear, for the moment." Ilyias stated. Aderix approached the left door, pressing himself against the wall next to it, turning and aiming down. Four more Xians. "Not clear!" He called, firing a shot, hitting one of them in the shoulder. They fired back, and Aderix took over. Origgun slid behind the door, poking his head and his rifle out, firing two more, dropping the soldier Aderix hit. The burst of fire sent back ripped through the door, a possibility the PFC hadn't considered, two striking the soldier. He tumbled back with a cry. Redis grabbed one of the Belt Rifles, hefting the bulky gun and storming over. "Make way!" He cried. Aderix stepped back, letting Redis past. He got to the doorway, pointing and shooting, unable to raise the gun to aim. The belt clattered on the floor as bullets raced down the hallway, tearing the other Xians apart. "Now it's clear." He grumbled. "Good thinking Private. Corporal, get the PFC out of the way. Someone check the other door." The Staff Sergeant ordered. Aderix and Ilyias hurried to the other door, taking cover and aiming down it. Nothing. "Clear!" Ilyias called over her shoulder. "All going to plan, then?" Aderix huffed. "In the end, looks like. You know this lot?" "Yeah. My old squad, I thought they were dead. The room they were in fell into the lake at the Dam Battle, see." "Ah. Makes sense. Well, we take our victories where we can." "I guess. Say, back at base one of Redis's friends make this little game. I could show you it, if you like." "Not right now." "No, here now, let's play a game right this second." Aderix stared Ilyias dead in the face. She stared back, blank. His dead-set look changed to a jesting grin and he patted her on the shoulder. "I'm kidding!" He laughed. She grinned, shaking her head. "Alright team, let's move!" The Staff Sergeant ordered, pushing the door open completely. Ilyias and Aderix stood up, turning and rejoining the unit.

Gunfire was loud in the next room, echoing through the building. The Corporal, on point, kicked the door open, revealing a grueling firefight. The soldiers dived behind cover, one man hit by two bullets almost immediately. Aderix, at the far right of the crates they hid behind, poked out of the side, firing three shots at a Vortixx firing at Redis. The Xian stumbled, crying out, a fourth shot fired by Korius ripping a hole in him and knocking him down. A big Xian turned, rifle in hands. Aderix fired again, the bullets lodging themselves in its armor. It's turn. The being fired two shots, both flying deep into Aderix's shoulder. With a cry, Aderix rolled back, dropping his gun and gripping the wound. Korius, still ready to fire, took the shot, dropping the Xian. Ilyias crawled next to him. "LC! You okay?!" She asked. He turned. Concern was visible in her eyes. "I-I'll live, I'm just hit! Gah!" He snarled. Drawing his pistol, he held it out above cover, firing five shots. Another soldier went down, before Aderix got back behind cover. "Take it easy, man, you're wounded!" She turned. "The LC's hit! You got a medic?!" She called to the squad. "Nope! He's gonna have to manage until we can get out of here!" The Staff Sergeant called back, firing another two shots. The whirring of an Airship rumbled the building, and the firing momentarily stopped as an aircraft came into view, swinging around to reveal the mounted Belt Rifle at the edge of its troop bay. The gunner fired, ripping into the Xian defense. With the added fire of the troops, the invaders were torn to pieces, the soldiers cheering as the last of them went down in a hail of fire. Gunfire was heard outside. "The Xians are running for the hills! I repeat, the Xians are retreating!" The gunner on the Airship called, which only helped to boost the cheering. Aderix only had a smile, though. He was too concerned with having been shot. The Staff Sergeant came up to them. "Sergeant, get you and your pals out of here, just take the PFC with you. We'll finish up here." He pointed to the wounded Origgun. Ilyias nodded. "Roger that sir. Come on LC, let's go." She sighed, helping Aderix to his feet.

---

The extraction Airship, however, did have a Medic, who carefully pulled the bullets from Aderix's shoulder, sealed the wounds as best he could and wrapped the shoulder in a bandage. "Sorry I can't do more." He had apologized. "Masks of Healing aren't common, and the ones we do have are being used back at base." Aderix had waved him off, telling him it was fine and that plenty of people had recovered from worse without them. As the Airships neared base, however, a dim orange glow caught Aderix's attention. Almost as if he was triggered by him noticing it, the Pilot opened the cockpit door. "Uh, you might want to see this..." He pointed out the window. Ilyias stood up, walking into the cockpit. Aderix stopped at the door. She stared out the front window, face in utter disbelief. "What is it?" Aderix asked. She simply gestured for him to come over. He stepped inside, looking out. Home Base was on fire. A lot of it, anyways. Smokey pillars were just visible above the flames as they rose into the darkening night sky. Only a couple of the buildings were still properly intact, the barracks, armory and air control tower were ablaze, the tower having outright collapsed. The ground control building and command tower were still standing, however. "Bring us low, Pilot. Real low. And try to let us use the gun." The Sergeant ordered, pushing past back into the troop bay. "What's going on, Sergeant?" Korius asked. "They've hit our base. Hard. Most of its destroyed, looks like." "They...the plant...was it-?"Redis started. "The attack on the water plant was a distraction. They knew we were running out of men and set the distraction to draw our fighting forces away." Aderix turned, walking into the troop bay. "You want to use the gun, Aderix? You're wounded, it'd be easier on your shoulder." Ilyias asked. He nodded, stepping to the back and grabbing the handles on the gun, fingers at the ready on the triggers. Korius and Redis raised their rifles, ready to start shooting. "Okay, coming in low. Fill em with lead!" The Pilot called. The Airship swung low, Xian troops coming into view. There were surprisingly few, perhaps most had left after the initial attack. Aderix pulled the triggers. The gun started rattling, bullets racing. Sure, many of them missed, but through raw volume and the added, more accurate fire from his friends either side of him, they cut down the Xians before they could properly respond. The other Airship swung in low on the far side, doing the same. Aderix pelted bullets at some soldiers running to take cover in the burning barracks, Korius sniping a Vortixx about to open the door. Aderix spotted some Xians trying to bust into the command tower, which stayed locked shut. Survivors? He turned the gun, firing at them and ripping three down. He tried to fire on the other three as they ran, but the Belt Rifle ran out of bullets. Drawing his rifle he leapt from the aircraft,  Landing with a thump, raising his gun and firing. The others landed too, Korius picking off the guy at the front, the second soldier tripping over him as he fell. Aderix shot the last one down as Ilyias shot him in the head, Redis picking off the one who tripped. They hurried over to the command tower door as other troops landed, banging on the door. "This is Lance Corporal Aderix with Sergeant Ilyias and Privates Redis and Korius! It's clear!" He called. The door unlocked and swung open, revealing a soldier, rifle raised. He lowered it and sighed when he discovered it was not a ruse. "The commanders are up top. Are you it?" he asked. "Negative. There are still other units mopping up at the water plant." The Sergeant shook her head. He nodded. "Alright. Get in here." He pushed the door open wider, revealing a crude sandbag barricade, or box barricade rather, two more soldiers behind it. "Anyone in ground control?" Redis asked. "Probably. The entire building locked down when we came under attack, and we haven't seen the Xians get inside. You should talk to command." One of the soldiers answered, pointing to the stairs with his rifle. Aderix nodded, and they headed up.

At the top, two more soldiers were waiting, rifles at the ready. One of the commanders turned, noticing the battered soldiers. "Are you from the attack forces?" He asked. "Aye, sir. Most of us who came back on the two Airships are wounded, though. There are still others cleaning up at the plant." Ilyias nodded. "Plant was a trap..." He grumbled. "We know sir. Good thing those Airships had mounted Belt Rifles." Aderix slung his rifle over his shoulder. The commander looked at him directly. "You wounded, son?" "Aye, sir. It's fine though, medic already patched me up." "Good. Well, the base is bust, as you can probably tell. But, the higher-ups have managed to get supply moving again. A couple of Airships with some troops are already en-route now, so we have that. We're short on just about everything, though." "What about ammunition, sir? We saw all those crates getting unloaded before." Redis asked. "What do you think they used to start those fires?" The commander pointed out the window, in the direction of the barracks. Redis rubbed the back of his head. "What do we do now, sir?" Korius asked. The commander thought. "We can't just sit around, that's for sure. The Xians have hurt us, and both of us know it. We need to gather everything we have left and hit them, hurt them too." "The warehouse. At the moment those fancy artillery guns are their biggest asset. If we can get rid of them, that'll hurt them pretty bad." Ilyias suggested. "True. We can't risk another head-on assault, especially with the numbers we have left." "Then we need to attack from a different angle." Aderix crossed his arms. "Like where? Either side of the warehouse isn't terrain we can move troops on, and trying to circle around it is suicide. They've got us in a checkpoint we can't get through." Redis scratched his chin. Aderix looked out the windows, at the Airships. "We attack from above." He suggested. They looked to him. "What? How?" Ilyias asked. "We drop from Airships, straight onto the warehouse. Artillery guns aren't AA weapons, and they can't fire straight onto the warehouse." "Its a good idea, but how do we stop our soldiers from pancaking themselves when they land?" The commander asked. Aderix wasn't sure about that one. "Same way the Airships stay off the ground." Korius pointed. "Levitation Kanoka are still things, right?" He shrugged. A moment passed. "What's your name, soldier?"the commander asked. "Private Korius, sir." "Well, Korius, consider yourself promoted."

---

The other troops had arrived back from the plant, to find the base heavily damaged, but the fires were extinguished and what supplies could be salvaged were brought to the ground control building, which had been largely converted to house what men were left. Thankfully, some old offices weren't in use anymore and they had managed to put bunks in there to give the soldiers some degree of privacy. Aderix lay on his bunk, looking over his unloaded rifle. Apparently, they were originally going to make rifles operated with a bolt, but somebody persisted, knowing it would automatically be inferior to Xian rifles, and some bright spark had managed to make the gun load the next shot using the weapon's recoil. Ilyias appeared in the doorway. "You alright? Or are you just wearing those bandages for sympathy?" "I'm wearing it to be sure I'm not going to bleed out or something." He put the gun down. She walked in, sitting at the end of the bed. "I doubt it, you weren't really bleeding much before the medic patched you up." "I'll take it off in the morning." He sighed. She grinned. "Hey, weren't you gonna show me that game?" She asked. With a sigh, he sat up. Redis had taken the bag the PFC had used full of the cards and casings, after the soldier had been killed in action during the first assault on the warehouse. Reaching over, he pulled the bag closer. "What're you doing with that?" Danis asked, having spotted them without being spotted himself. Aderix looked up, caught off guard, but relaxed when he saw who it was. "Showing the Sergeant the PFC's game." He responded. Danis walked in. "Let me show you. You only played it once, LC." He took the bag, opening it and taking out the cards, kept in a separate bag. Ilyias grinned. "He did better than you on your first go, Danis." Redis walked in, sitting next to him and crossing his arms. "I guess I don't have Aderix's 'Beginner's Luck'." Danis grinned. "Gonna need all the luck we can get." Ilyias sighed. "Both now and later." Aderix joked. "Alright, so what you do is..." Danis started.

About halfway through, Korius had joined in as well. Ilyias got the hang of it fairly quickly, and made Aderix's luck look meager, having almost half the pile by the end. "Lights out!" Somebody called. With a sigh, Danis scooped the casings back into the bag and took the cards. Korius and Danis left, while Redis clambered onto the top bunk, flopping into it with a thunk. Standing up, Ilyias only really had to rotate before sitting down again on the opposite bed. "Night, Aderix." She smiled before lying down. With a sigh, Aderix lay down, staring up at the bars holding up Redis' bed. "So, dropping onto a warehouse held by the enemy in a probably suicidal mission to blow up said warehouse, Eh?" He whispered. "Your idea." "True. Better than running at it." "Fair enough. Did command tell you what we're doing?" "Not really. You're squad leader, after all." "Yeah, good point. You're like my second-in-command though, pretty much." She shrugged. Aderix grinned. "But anyways. Our little team's being given the bomb. It's a timed elemental store, jam packed. If something opens it early..." "What element?" "Half Plasma, half Fire. Everything will dissolve. Anything explosive will go off. Hopefully, it should be enough." "If we plant it in the right spot, at least." "We want to bring down the whole warehouse, so planting it next to the guns isn't what we're going for. We're gonna try and get under it, plant it on some structural beams." "Melt everything and bring it down from below." "Exactly. Our entire assault force is being devoted to, pretty much, making sure we get there alive and intact." "I feel honored." "If you want. As you said, though, it's probably suicidal." She sighed, rolling over to look at him. Aderix simply responded with 'Mmm'. She sat up, getting out of her bed and walking next to his on her knees. He sat up a little. "We could all die tomorrow." "The optimism is palpable." He joked. She huffed with a smile. "But seriously." She sighed, sitting on his bed. He crossed his arms, watching her. "I've seen a lot of friends die out here, and friends are hard to come by out here too. You can never be sure wether you're going to see someone again." "Ilyias, where are you going with this?" "I might not know if I'm going to see you again. Wether one of us dies or both of us." "We'll be fine. We've gone through everything before this and lived." "Chance has a strange math." "So does luck." "Hopefully our luck will hold out." She swallowed. "But in case it doesn't..." She lifted her legs up, rolling and lying on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Almost instinctively, he wrapped his around her back, their faces within a little finger's reach from each other. "Let me have this..." She whispered. Aderix wasn't about to refuse.

CHAPTER FOUR
Aderix woke the next day, Ilyias still lying on him, fast asleep with his left arm around her. Right, that. Hopefully a soldier couldn't be demoted or something for that. He patted her back with his hand. She made a long, quiet moan, the 'No I don't want to get up today' kind. Sighing, he shook her instead. She shifted, making another moan before sleepily opening her eyes. "Hmmm?" Was the only sound she made. "Think it's time we get up." He murmured. Closing her eyes for a moment, she sat up, groaning and stretching her arms. "Judgement day." She muttered, rotating and standing up. Aderix sat up a little. "Yeah. Hey, even if things don't go exactly according to plan, at least we should probably still get to blow stuff up, so that'll be fun." "You can put it that way if you like." Ilyias smiled as she pulled up her pants. Aderix grabbed his gun, looking over it and placing it next to him as he grabbed his gear. "I'll meet you outside, yeah?" The Sergeant gave him a wide grin as she left, finishing putting on her body armor and doing up the latches. Aderix sighed.

Outside, Ilyias waved him over to a table, where they were already eating breakfast. Ilyias had gotten him one already. "One last ride, Eh?" Korius smiled. "Hopefully, yeah." Ilyias nodded. "Until we have to go kick em on their own turf, that is." "Or kick them off it." "No, probably not. We don't have any plans on conquering other nations, it'd probably be more to make them surrender." Aderix shrugged as he ate. He looked up and around the room at the other soldiers. Most of them looked...surprisingly upbeat. Optimistic. Probably just trying to keep their spirits high. Or they were the ones who arrived somewhere around midnight, so they had no idea what had happened. Out of the crowd, he spotted Danis. Giving him the biggest grin on the face of Mata Nui, and giving him a thumbs up. Oh no. He knew. Had he told anyone else? Who else knew? Aderix's gaze hurriedly returned to his food.

The soldiers had moved out almost as soon as everyone was done eating, they had just enough time to grab their weapons and ammo. Aderix was just behind Ilyias, more like to her right and slightly behind, the soldiers jogging along behind. Redis, Korius, Danis and three other soldiers. Out of the corner of his eye, Aderix watched Eighth Squad jump into another Airship. They were a good team, and apparently lucky like Mata Nui himself intended them to live, what with them surviving the fall at the Dam Battle. The squad clambered into their Airship, sitting down. Ilyias walked to the front, opening a crate just behind the cockpit, picking up and throwing Levitation Disks to each of the soldiers. "Alright, you know the drill. We're hitting the warehouse again, we need to destroy those artillery guns." Ilyias started. "But not like last time. We're dropping directly onto the warehouse, using these to slow our descent." Aderix tapped his disk. "Once we're there, we need to reach the main storage area just below the facility, and plant an elemental store on one of the main support pillars." He explained, as Ilyias picked up the last thing in the crate, a short, wide cylindrical object with a button and a timer on it, handing it to Aderix. "The rest of the squads here will be to help us get there and make sure we get there alive. But that doesn't mean you can just sit around and let everyone else do the work." He continued. "Aye. I expect everyone here to fight at their best, we need every fighting soldier to kill as many of them as they can." Ilyias nodded. "And stay alive while we're at it." Korius added. Ilyias nodded again. The Sergeant pushed the empty crate off the Airship, and the aircraft took off.

---

The group of about five Airships flew in close formation. Redis looked out, side to side. "Is this really it?" He called. "Yup. We technically have more troops, but command is scared to leave the base undefended again in case they attack a second time. We also need troops to hold the line in case we fail." Ilyias explained. "Warehouse in sight! Gear up and prepare for a combat drop, troopers! Good luck down there!" The Pilot called. The soldiers stood up, readying their guns and making sure they still had their disks. "This is it, people. Make every shot count." Aderix called out. The Airships slowed, coming to a halt. "Deploy, deploy! Go, go, go!" Ilyias shouted, the troopers running and leaping out the back of the troop bay. The fall felt...a little gut-wrenching. Probably because they weren't actually developed for plummeting huge distances and their instincts were screaming at them that they were about to die. From their perspective, it most certainly wasn't quiet, though. The soldiers drew their Levitation Disks, readying them. Ilyias held up her hand, holding up three fingers. Then two. Then one. Then none. The soldiers virtually threw their disks under their feet, boots thumping hard into the circular objects, their fall immediately decelerating. With little more than a thump, the soldiers landed, abandoning the disks. Two squads landed on the main loading pad, near the three giant guns. Two more, Aridex's included, on the roof. The fifth made some kind of aerobatic maneuver and landed on the metal balcony out the front, hurling grenades through the windows as they did so. The squads on the pad hurried, taking cover behind the wall as a few bullets raced past them from inside. Aridex, Redis and another soldier hurried to the edge of the roof, Aridex's gaze meeting the eyes of the Staff Sergeant, motioning for him to throw a grenade inside. Drawing one, lying down and pulling the pin, Aridex threw one inside, arcing his arm downwards, the explosive flying cleanly inside. The short cries were interrupted by a blast, and the soldiers stood up, firing through the windows. "Clear." One stated. The Staff Sergeant gave Aderix a thumbs up before the soldiers vaulted through the window.

"What now, Sergeant?" A soldier called to Ilyias. "We get inside." She called back. "It's clear down here, ma'am!" The fifth squad called. The soldiers dropped down to the platform below, the other squad remaining on the roof. "We'll stay up here, ambush any trap they set for you when you try to leave!" The other squad called down. Aridex gave them a salute before following his own squad. Aridex got on one side of the door, Danis on the other. He nodded to Aridex, and kicked the door open, Aridex crouching and rotating, poking his gun inside, firing three shots into a Vortixx running past, dropping him. "Okay, let's move!" He called. Three soldiers ran past before he joined as the fourth. They spun at the end, pointing their rifles through the two doorways. The two men behind Aridex fired a few times, Aridex helping the fifth squad drop some Xians, said squad then vaulting through the window. Some offices. It was unlikely there would be a route down in here. He stood up, turning. Some crates blocked view of all of the room. Perhaps.

"Squad, search the room! Redis, Corporal, watch the offices." Ilyias ordered. Aridex kept his rifle raised as he and some other soldiers poked around every corner, finding either dead Xian troopers or none at all. Aridex turned a corner, finding a staircase. "Found stairs! Down!" "Good work, LC! Alright, let's move!" Ilyias called. They were stopped by whirring outside, and some Xian Airships landed outside, soldiers jumping off. Fifth squad hurried to the wall, taking cover. "Get down there and plant the bomb! We'll keep them off you!" One of them called. Nodding, Aridex's squad and one of the squads that landed on the pad headed down. "Where's third squad?" Ilyias asked. "Staying in those offices, helping the others." A soldier called back.

Soldiers were waiting for them down below, but hesitated when they showed their faces. Too slow for Korius at least, a shot from his barrel dropping a Xian almost as soon as he spotted them. The soldiers vaulted the railing, landing behind some crates and taking cover. Four soldiers drew grenades, Aridex included, hurling them over. The blasts cut the Xian gunfire down, for the moment. Up above, they heard the cracking of guns. "Good luck up there..." Danis murmured. Aridex poked his head out, rifle double-tapping a surviving Vortixx soldier. With a string of angry bullets flying both ways, the Xian defense was cut down, only one trooper going down. "Let's move, get that bomb planted! It won't be long before more show up!" The Staff Sergeant called. Aridex smiled. It was his old squad that had followed. Aridex took the device off his back, planting it on a large pillar. "Well, at least we've gotten this far." The Staff Sergeant laughed as he approached. "I thought you lot had stayed in the offices." "Nope. You know Eighth Squad, we don't leave one of our own behind, even if they're in a different squad now." He patted Aridex on the shoulder. "Okay, it's planted and ready to arm! Is our exit secure?" Aridex called. Redis, stood near the stairs back up, listened. The rifle fire was interrupted by the loud rattling of Belt Rifle fire, only marred by screams. "Not any more. Looks like they've brought some heavy weapons." Redis shook his head. "We need another way out." Ilyias scratched her head. "Those guns. When they rose up at the massacre, were they..." Danis started. "On the loading platform!" Korius ran to a console, tapping a few buttons. With a wheeze the platform started lowering. An explosion outside shook the building. The three giant guns came into view as the platform came into the storage chamber, stopping with a low, mechanical clunk. Aridex hit the button on the device, the timer spinning to '3:00'. And going down. "Okay, we've got three minutes! Let's go!" Aridex called.

The soldiers begun running for the large platform, as Xian soldiers started hurrying down the stairs. One took a shot at the troopers. Redis cried out. Aridex spun on the spot. "Private!" He called. "Get out of here! You got three minutes, remember? I'll make sure you get it!" Redis called back, drawing his gun and firing. Bullets rained, stopping them reaching the base of the stairs. Ilyias pressed a button, and the lift begun its ascent again. The soldiers raised their guns, pelting the staircase as the Xians attempted to get down it. Aridex was reminded of the building he had met Jerask in as he dropped a Xian, where they had done this exact same thing to make a walkway into a kill-zone. The lift rose out of view, the dull thuds of gunfire not lasting much longer. The roof squad was still there, albeit missing two members. "Come on! We're getting out of here!" Danis yelled. The soldiers turned, spotting them, and begun running for them. Another Xian Airship swung past, coming to a stop behind them. Belt Rifle at the ready. The squad was ripped to pieces by the automatic fire. Aridex and the others raised their guns, firing back. Korius got on one knee, taking aim. With a precision shot he put a bullet through the Airship, the bullet ripping a hole in the pilot's skull. The Airship spiraled down, exploding as it hit the ground, but the roof squad was gone. "Come on, we're short on time!" The Staff Sergeant gave Aridex a pat on the shoulder as Eighth Squad begun running. "LC, come on, sir!" Korius tugged at Aridex's arm. He shook his head. Right. Escape. He ran with his squad, people he had come to know as they sprinted, getting as far clear of the warehouse as possible as the loading lift started to descend again. But short one member. As they reached a short hill, somebody yelled. "Get down!" As the squad crossed the hill. "Take cover!..." Aridex called, the soldiers dropping prone behind the hill. "...and watch the lights." He snarled. A mere moment later, the bomb went off.

A plume of brilliant orange and red blasted from below, billowing from the descending lift and exploding through the windows of the facility. The lift dropped sharply to one side, the guns toppling. A moment later, they too exploded as the facility above toppled and fell into the fire in a loud chorus of crashing and creaking. Gone. Everything there was gone. Eighth Squad, and several members of his squad, started cheering. They had won. With less casualties than he expected. Than anyone expected. As the crashing started to die down, leaving only the crackling of fire and the occasional blast of an artillery shell exploding, the Airships begun their return. "Hey, LC! Look, smile, man! We won!" Ilyias had wide grin on her face, hands clasping to Aridex's shoulders. "Without Redis, though. Or those other squads." He sighed. Ilyias stopped for a moment. "Well...at least he died for a cause, they did. They knew what they were doing. And it's a cause that worked. We're here because he isn't, they aren't. That warehouse, those guns, are gone because of that. And hey, look. We were lucky, weren't we?" She smiled again. "A lot more could be gone. We could all be gone. And another thing..." She wrapped her arms around him, stepping closer. "Neither of us are gone." "Looks like you were wrong, then." Aridex smiled. She grinned, looking down for a moment before back up, eyes meeting his own. "Just my luck." She smiled. As she slowly leaned closer, as did he, just over her shoulder, the LC saw Danis giving him another wide smile and a thumbs up. And he rolled his eyes.

---

The Airships landed back at base around midday, to the cheering of the soldiers who had stayed back to defend. The troops stepped off, rifles slung over their shoulders, as the commander stepped forward. "Well, soldiers. All I can say is I'm surprised. I will admit I did have my doubts about this mission." "There'd be less here if weren't for the others, though. We were lucky." Ilyias rubbed her shoulder. "They will be remembered. As for you, though, the soldiers back home are calling you all heroes. Everyone else, too, most likely." The commander swallowed, before nodding. "Just doing our duty, sir." Korius saluted. The commander saluted, and the soldiers saluted back, although a little less refined than his. "Head on to the...well, it's like the barracks now, isn't it? Go get some rest and something to eat. You've earned it, soldiers. You should feel proud." "Sir, yes sir!"