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[Hetzer]

Yay! Update!

Proofreading done by Slate (I had quite a bit of errors on this one. >.>)




Chapter 4: Pilots



Airman Michael Diego looked down at the ravaged city of Tokyo from the safety of the cockpit of his F/A-18C Hornet. ’So much destruction.’ He thought and shook his head. He looked out of the other side of his cockpit, more destruction.

Many of the buildings were burning from the aliens’ plasma weapons. Smaller buildings have collapsed from the fighting during the past two hours.

Two hours. Just two hours and a large part of Tokyo is burning. Thankfully some different aliens came down and relieved a lot of the pressure on the lightly armed Japanese Self-Defense Force and assisting US Forces.

As an island nation, it was a surprise that the invaders actually landed down on it. Military preparation for an air borne drop was minimal. The drop ships themselves caused some of the destruction, as they were seemingly guided into buildings and large groups of people.

“There is another one of the armored ones.” One of the pilots said dully.

“I’ll get it.” Michael responded and then maneuvered for the aforementioned armored hulk.

Michael acquired the target and launched an AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-Surface Missile. He then rejoined the formation of the four other remaining planes in his squadron and watched the missile reach its target. As expected, the missile blew a hole through the alien's heavy armor and ultimately a hole into the alien before exploding, creating a large, gaping opening in its armor and body. The body fell into a building it was next to, taking a massive chunk out of the base of the skyscraper.

The squadron continued to patrol the skies over Tokyo, but the fighting is almost over. The number of alien drop ships was small compared to reports around the world, but the forces defending Japan were not equipped with the heavy weapons required to challenge this new threat.
Only when the non-hostile aliens came did the battle for Japan turn
towards the humans’ favor.

Around twelve drop ships landed in Tokyo, and several more to the north. This made a total of around 150 alien troops on the island nation. Indeed a very small number compared to the rest of the world. But 150 alien troops left their mark, but by now, almost all of them are dead.

“VFA-192. You guys are to report to naval base Atsugi for re-equipping. You are then to escort the USS Cushing to Pearl Harbor, and there at Pearl, you along with what is left of Carrier Air Wing Five will be transferred back to the USS Kitty Hawk.”

“Roger that.” The squadron leader said with a sigh.

The loss of the George Washington was a tragedy. The strike fighter squadrons were recalled for its defense, but they were soon ordered away by the Cushing, the only surviving ship of the carrier group. The Cushing claimed the Carrier has sunk and the squadrons should return to Japan to continue defending and await further orders.

The most powerful human force on the planet, the US Navy, lost a super carrier, a breed of naval ship larger than any other, in around ten minutes.

---

“This is Strike Fighter Squadron 192 to Cushing. We are five clicks west of your position and requesting a status report.” The squadron leader said over the radio.

“We have lost all missile launching capabilities, the command bridge has been destroyed, and we have minor hull damage. We have 23 dead and 37 wounded. We recovered 117 men from the water.”

“117? How can that be all? There were 8,000 people on those ships!” The squad leader shouted the last sentence.

“All but one of the ships suffered a massive internal explosion. The one that did not explode, capsized in under thirty seconds. Smaller craft that tried to escape the ships before they were lost were strafed and destroyed.” The man on the radio sounded subdued. “Enough of this. All four strike fighter squadrons are to escort the Cushing to Pearl Harbor.” The radio was quiet for a few moments. “Oh and all fighter squadrons, a few of the flying aliens will be helping with the escort.”

“Uh… Roger that.” Michael looked around, the flying aliens? Those are dragons and griffons! He would love to see one up close. “This is VFA-192 to VFAs 27, 102, and 195. What is your squadron status?”

“This is 27, we have ten planes left.”

“102 with eight.”

“195 has all twelve.”

“Right, 192 has five.”

“Five? Damn, what happened to you guys?” Someone said surprised.

“We flew over a large group of them at low altitude and speed.”

---

They were two kilometers west of the Cushing when Michael spotted five figures that he quickly realized to be the dragons and griffins. The group of aliens began moving towards the formation of fighters. His squadron maintained course and simply watched them come close.

Once they reached the small human planes, they assumed a V formation mimicking the fighters. There were three dragons and two griffins in the group.

A light blue dragon was on the right end of the V, and Michael was on the left end of the human V. The dragon looked at him and gave him a toothy smile. As the dragon would not be able to see his return smile through his flight mask, Michael acknowledged it by doing a barrel roll and a wave once it finished. The dragon’s smile grew wider and it waved back. A griffin near the dragon was watching and it also waved at him.

Michael went back to looking forward with a huge smile under his mask. The friendly gestures helped greatly to relieve tension built up from the recent events.

---

Fighter Squadron Leader Silka Voy scanned for any threats to the bomber squadron they were escorting. Upon finding the signature of light fighters, the fox ordered the squadron into action. “Fighters inbound, they look like Relks. Move to intercept.” Rynar Relks are lightly armored, unshielded, and under armed. Their speed isn’t even much faster than a UTO Standard Fighter. They are the light fighters and they are normally the first to be sent into the atmosphere to provide support where they are even worse, as space fighters are not as maneuverable in an atmosphere.

However, Relks travel in large numbers. Normally they are four times the number of a UTO squadron, which is eight. But UTO squadrons are equipped to handle these pests. They are armed with an abundance of light missiles, and each squad member will lock onto four of the small fighters.

Silka’s targeting computer lit up with the lock signals of her squadron. Once all 24 fighters were targeted, she ordered them to fire. Missiles erupted from the UTO fighters and headed straight for their targets.
The enemy scrambled, but many were too slow and were consumed by a blue and orange explosion created by the explosives in the warhead igniting the fuel in the fighter.

“Nine targets still present. Finish them off and return to formation.” She ordered to them. The UTO fighters, known as Tempests, engaged the survivors with their pulse weapons. Only a few bolts of the green energy needs to strike a light fighter before knocking out critical systems or blowing off parts of the craft. The returning plasma fire, as Relks have no missiles, is, however, powerful enough to take out a Tempest if enough were to hit the ship. But even so, the small fighters are piloted by recruits and offered no real challenge to the better trained UTO Pilots.

“Why do they even make those things? I bet even the bugs would be able to handle them.” Telk, a raccoon pilot in her squadron said amusedly.

“I do not think they would appreciate being called bugs.” Milt the squirrel said in response. Bugs was a nickname given to the indigenous people on the planet below. What radio contact the UTO has had with them revealed that they call themselves ‘humans.’ “Besides,” he chuckled. “I heard those bugs can bite hard. Reports from the troops on the ground say that they pack some mean artillery.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” The raccoon scoffed.

“How can you see it up here?” Silka asked him.

“Exactly.” She could only imagine the grin on the cocky raccoon’s face. She only chuckled in response.

“Bombers here, how about a little bit of distraction work on that cruiser?” One of the Harbinger bombers said over the radio.

“What kind of escorts would we be if we said no?” Silka said to them.

“Bad ones?”

“Pretty much. Just stay back and let us get their attention.”

The fighters accelerated ahead of the bombers and prepared to engage.
“This is the Vengeance to fighter squadrons 46, 72, 98, and bomber squadron 19, we have multiple contacts heading your way, 82 Scythe fighters. Pull back now and await reinforcements.” The scythe fighters are the heavier breed of fighters that the Rynar have.

Silka growled. “Roger that Vengeance, pulling back.” The cruiser they were about to engage was already badly damaged, it would have been a very easy target, as it lost many of its weapons.

“Now why do they suddenly want to defend a crippled ship? Normally they just leave them to die, as its quite useless now.” Telk said confusedly.

“Apparently it is not useless yet, look.” She said shocked.

Fresh drop ships started releasing from the Cruiser and many other Rynar ships. Among them were the much larger heavy weapons drop ships.

“I think the bugs are going to have much more trouble coming.” Silka said.

“All fighter squadrons, be prepared to participate in atmosphere runs in support of the ground forces.” The capital ship, the battleship ‘Vengeance’ said to all fighters.

“Hey Telk! Maybe you will get to see the bugs in action.” Milt said chuckling.

“Maybe. They better not shoot at me.”




I gave up on trying to figure out the command structure of a strike fighter squadron. It's just not on the internet. Argh!

But, I must admit, spending hours researching the Navy was fun to me, if a bit stressful in that I did not find what I wanted.

[gadabout]

nicely done, glad i could be of some 'inspiration' too

[baggy52]

I wonder how the UTO would react if they saw some tactical nuclear "biting"

Nicely done.

[Hetzer]

Chapter 5: Heavy Weapons



“We’re going to get replacements, right? We can’t stay with this ship the whole way. Sure we got the fuel,” Michael eyed a nearby Super Hornet fueling up a Hornet from his squadron. “But we do need sleep.” As it has only been three hours since they started. They did not need fuel just yet, but the squadron leaders ordered it to be done. ‘They must be expecting new orders soon.’ Michael thought.

“We were told to escort this ship to Pearl Harbor, however when we were re-equipped at Atsugi, one of the officers told me that we are really just watching out for the ship in case of another attack, and we should receive new orders soon. But why they would attack a lowly destroyer if they made short work of a Nimitz, I have no idea.” The squadron leader explained.

“Aren’t we needed in other places? I mean come on!” Someone else said.

The squadron leader sighed. “We are. However without a carrier, we do not have a place to re-arm. The West Coast of the US has been hit very hard. Most Airfields have been destroyed and those that are still operational are working to full capacity. Keeping the B-52s and AC-130s and all that other heavy shit in the air is more important than fighters. We would just slow down their rearmament.”

They were silent after that. The pack of dragons and griffons were still next to their squadron. He found it humorous the way they looked at the jets as the Super Hornets refueled their comrades. And he is surprised they are still with them. They would be so much more useful in the fight, not following a ship as it steams its way across the ocean. But their presence does give him a peace of mind.

“This is the Cushing. You guys have new orders. They are dropping more shit down on Earth. The Kitty Hawk is getting ready to go to the western sea board and you are to meet up with her. Thanks for being here, it really helped to put some of the men at ease. Cushing out.”

“Finally. You heard the man. Once Jimmy there is done getting his fuel, we’re going.” The squadron leader said with a new found energy in his voice.

Michael looked at the aliens next to his squadron. The one in the middle looked like it was speaking on its own radio, then it spoke to the others. They then began to fly away. The blue dragon on the end near him, looked at him, and wing wagged at him. Michael quickly responded with his own wing wag, the dragon gave him one last smile before joining his comrades.


---

Nilak likes that one. The little alien in the cockpit seemed very interested in him, he felt it only necessary to play with it. The quick barrel roll it did showed how agile their little fighters are. Fighters in space can barrel roll just as easily, but in an atmosphere they are more sluggish and nowhere near as majestic as what the human’s atmospheric fighter demonstrated.

But then he had to part, as they received new orders to move to the northern part of the large landmass. With the dropping of Rynar Heavy weapons, dragons and griffons are going to be needed far more.

“You looked upset saying bye to that human.” Miliat,his Griffin friend, said chuckling.

“For all you know, he was the one that killed that Juggernaut before it broke your neck.” He said back referring to the massive armored suits that some of the first drop ships brought down.

“Perhaps, but did it recognize me?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then it was not the one, but I need to thank one of them anyway so they can thank whoever did for me.”

---

Aaron watched the jets fly off after they finished fueling up. He always thought the in flight refueling looked liked giving the plane an injection. The aliens meanwhile already left.

“You! Get back to fixing this ship up!” A petty officer a few feet away shouted to him.

“Yes sir!” Aaron went back below deck to tend to any damage on the ship. He was actually glad to be working. It helps pass the time, and he wants it to pass as fast as possible.

He, along with all the other sailors, including the wounded that were not sent to Japan, were being reassigned to the recently re-activated USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. It was decided that since they are fighting giant aliens, they need giant guns, and the 16 inch guns on the old Iowa Class Battleships are the biggest the US Navy has. As the Cushing moved to Pearl Harbor, the old warhorse was being prepared to fight for the first time in almost 20 years.

He was anxious to be aboard such a magnificent vessel. Big, armored, powerful, these ships were the pride of a nation’s navy during the first half of the 20th century. But they were phased out by the Carrier and advancing technology.

But now, now the four Iowas were being brought back to do what they are best at – delivering unmatched firepower.

---

“Someone please remind me why we are helping these bugs. What could they possibly do for the UTO? Steal the Rynar’s food?” Telk huffed while sitting on a crate. Currently they are sitting in the hangar of the Carrier ‘Deliverance’ while their ships were outfitted for better atmospheric performance.

Milt the squirrel glared at him. “Telk, you know it’s UTO policy to assist all alien races. So what if they are vertically challenged? They are being attacked by the Rynar. You know what they do to species they conquer! And I doubt the humans will even be enslaved, just killed!” Normally the Rynar enslave a species and use them to harvest all the resources on a planet to fuel the Rynar War Machine, then they either kill them all and turn the planet into a massive military base, or just destroy the planet if it’s not strategic enough. But the humans lack the physical capabilities to be adequate slaves.

“Yes, yes. But what about us? Why waste the manpower on something that will truly not help us to defeat the Rynar?” The raccoon glared back at the squirrel.

“You do not know that. For all we know, these people have some sort of powerful weapon that could greatly help us.”

“Oh yeah? And why have they not used it then?” Telk snarled.

“What is wrong with you? Okay maybe they do not, but the UTO helped you, the Yarlin, why should these humans not receive the same help?”

Silka held up her paw. “That’s enough. Whether you like it or not, we are here to fight. Even if the bugs are useless, at least we will have dealt the Rynar a terrible loss if we destroy them here.”

“Terrible loss? They breed faster than any species I have ever heard of and their numbers seem endless! If we do destroy them, assuming they do not get reinforcements, it’s really only a minor loss to them. They are as greatly numbered as the UTO and rebuild twice as fast!”

“That is ENOUGH Pilot! They may get reinforcements soon, yes, and that is why we must finish this fight soon. But with people like you spreading such negative thoughts, we might just lose!”

“Yes, flight leader.” The raccoon said with his ears folded back.

---

Tyra watched the human artillery barrage from her prone position rip through the Rynar ranks. Though the explosions are only slightly taller than someone of her stature, there are many of the explosions, and they are very accurate. She noted as any of the lizards that stopped moving were quickly struck by the artillery.

Two of the scrambling enemy troops came her way, and she quickly shot them down.

UTO troops have surrounded the Rynar that gathered south of the city. They can either march into the re-fortified human lines and straight into the sight of their terrible artillery guns, or they can march into the UTO line where they would also meet their doom. They have nowhere to go.

Suddenly the artillery barrage stopped as quick as it started. “Advance!” Someone yelled out.

Tyra got up along with hundreds of other friendly troops and they began to move onto the crippled enemy, and after that they will enter the city to assist in the defense of the North side. However, heavy Rynar drop ships came down North of the city, and she fears for the defenders, as the heavy weapons will show no mercy.

---

“Hey that one looks just like my cat back home.” Ryan said as he looked through his binoculars from atop a Stryker Infantry Fight Vehicle.

“Which one?” Matt asked as he looked through his own binoculars.

“The white one with the black spot on his eye.”

“Yeah I see him,” he said as he quickly found the cat with no helmet. “The one next to him looks like my dog.”

“To his left? The shepherd? Excellent dogs.”

“Yeah man, I love Max to death.”

“Max, eh? My cat’s name is Goliath.”

“Goliath?” Matt put down his binoculars and looked at his friend with a grin, who put his own down and looked back at him.

“He’s a big cat. Not as big as Fluffy out there, but big for a normal cat.”

Matt laughed. “I would hope he isn’t as big as that one.” He climbed off of the Stryker and grabbed his AT4 Rocket Launcher, Ryan followed with his own Launcher. “You gonna say hi to ‘Fluffy’ when he gets here?”

“No, I’m gonna lock myself inside that Stryker. You do not mess with giant cats, man. Just ask any old mouse.”

“Fine, I’ll be sure to ask one when they get here." Matt was quiet for a moment. "You know… shouldn’t we be contemplating the meaning of life or something? I mean what the hell, giant freaking bi-pedal animals. I don’t know what to make of it. If they did not look like Earth animals…”

“Dude, don’t even think about it right now. You can philosophize all you want when this shit is over. But right now, just be glad they’re on our side.” Ryan patted Matt on the back.

Then suddenly their radios started blurting out, “Take cover! Artillery incoming! Find cover now!” They looked over at a nearby battery of 155 howitzers and saw the artillery crews abandoning their guns and running.

The two soldiers quickly followed the artillery crews into a nearby
building. “I do NOT want to be in here when this comes down.” Ryan said to everyone taking cover in the building.

“Well we do not have trenches and fox holes now do we?! Now just shut up and pray they do not shoot at us as much as we shot at them!” One of the artillery crewmen shouted to him.

Giant artillery. This is going to hurt. Right now Matt just wants to curl up as much as he can into his helmet.




Proofreading by Slate. I hope some of the touch up work I did on it clarified some parts. I probably should not have done this at 1 in the morning. >.>

[gadabout]

woohoo! i got quoted!
nice hetzer, this keeps getting better and better

[baggy52]

Excellent work man. Kudos to you.

[Hetzer]

Proofreading by Slate - great job on pointing out the tense issues! I hope I fixed all that up...




Chapter 6: Closing the Gate



An African American Lieutenant shouted “Attention!” that echoed throughout the parking garage. As if punctuating his shout, the garage shook and dust fell from the ceiling. The fourteen soldiers all turned their attention to the officer and a bulky Sergeant standing next to him.

“Alright, listen up. For those that do not know, I am Lieutenant Jackson and this is Sergeant Lamberts. As you can see, no tanks or other armored vehicles made it into here. So what we are going to do is take what we can from the trucks here.” He pointed behind him with his thumb at four five ton cargo trucks. “And we are going to make our way towards the Golden Gate Bridge once they stop pounding us. Hopefully we will meet up with some friendlies with heavier weapons.”

“But sir, those are surplus trucks. We did not find any anti-tank weapons or anything in them.” A Corporal said.

“We know that. So we are not going to engage any of the enemy unless I tell you to. The most we will do is distraction work to assist other survivors, and hope that the five of you that still have your AT4s will be able to take some down. There is also the possibility that they did not even come into the city. But do not count on this.”

Matt and Ryan looked at each other. They still had their launchers, and they will be the prime targets as the aliens will undoubtedly decimate the areas that the rockets come from.

“What about the civilians?” Someone asked.

“Unfortunately I must say they are on their own. I am sure the whole city is getting shelled right now. There is nothing we can do for them now. Anymore questions?” There were none. “Be ready to move out. Once this is all over, I assure you we are going to search for survivors.” The Officer then walked away to continue speaking with the Sergeant.

“Assuming we all don’t get killed.” Matt mumbled to himself when the garage shook from another explosion.

“You say something, Matt?” His friend asked.

“No. Hey Ryan how do you think Maryland is doing?”

“Baltimore is probably getting thrashed and D.C. too, but I think our friends and family are safe. I would hope they would not go out and start attacking the non-urban areas.”

“They could be though. You know how they got Los Angeles within the first few hours? They are probably moving out, attacking the suburbs and all that.”

Ryan sighed and said, “Matt, look dude, we cannot think of this now. I am very worried about mom and my little brother back in Maryland, but they are on the other side of the country, there is nothing we can do. We’ll see how they are once all this is over.” He put a hand on his shoulder. “They’re probably all right. You know how old Mr. Jargon made that underground bomb shelter during the cold war? They’re probably in there, safe and sound. That old guy has enough food in there to last the whole neighborhood for months.”

Matt smiled, “Yeah, safe and sound.”

“You two with the AT4s!” Sergeant Lamberts lumbered over to the two solders. The large man was at least half of a head taller than the two. “Names and ranks.”

“Private First Class Andrew Ryans.”

“Private First Class Matthew Ward.”

“Alright, Andrew and Matt, I am sure you are aware of the dangers of being the Anti-Tank troops, and I want to tell you that you will fire only when you feel the time is right, and not on my order. Any questions?”

Ryan spoke first. “No sir, but you can call me Ryan, sir.”

“And you can call me Matt, sir.”

The Sergeant nodded. “Ryan, Matt, good luck.”

---

Tyra ducked behind the building as another Rynar grunt fired at her. Yire the panther taking cover with her looked up, aimed, and fired at the lizard.

“I think that is all of them, the rest ran into the city.”

“It’ll make our lives easier if they get killed by their own artillery.” She also looked up above the building.

“Easier for the bugs too.” He watched a large ball of plasma tear through one of the buildings, leaving a massive gash in the structure. Many of the buildings have remained standing, but some have collapsed shortly after being hit.

“Well their artillery was terrible for the Rynar, I guess they are just repaying the favor.”

The feline chuckled, “So true.” The humans unleashed so much artillery, that some UTO troops were taking cover in craters created by them.

“I hope they are not getting slaughtered.” She said quietly.

Yire’s ears twitched. “Sure it looks devastating, but it is a lot easier to survive artillery while in a city than it is in a field. Just ask any of these Rynar body parts and you will see I am right.”

“You are correct, but that goes for the Rynar that fled into the city. I doubt the humans managed to hide their heavy weapons before the artillery came.”

The squad leader, a male wolf known as Derel, who is in a nearby crater shouted over to her. “That’s why we are going in as soon as the artillery stops! In fact, here come the fighters now!”

---

The garage has not shaken for several minutes. Matt and Ryan looked at each other, they know any moment now they are going to go out there, and see a great city, now ruined.

Sergeant Lamberts began to bellow orders. “Put your gas masks on! Move out on my order! Be ready to enter a dust cloud with little visibility! Preston you take point!”

All of the total of sixteen soldiers pulled out their M40 gas masks and put them on. Now they all look identical.

“Move it!”

The soldiers moved up the garage entrance ramp and into the devastated streets of San Francisco. As the Sergeant said, the area was engulfed by a cloud of dust created by a collapsing sky scraper. The street was covered in debris. Some huge chunks were in the streets and on vehicles.
A nearby Humvee was the victim of such a large piece, as its entire center was crushed, and the blood of the occupants is spattered on the inside of the windows that were still intact.

As they walked south towards the bridge, they passed by the battery of three howitzers. All that was left of them was but one barrel of the large guns that jutted out of a pile of rubble.

Then they passed a burning tank with its turret blown off. The turret was nearby with its twisted gun aimed upwards, as if still ready to continue the fight. A soldier pulled his mask off slightly to spit, but suddenly began to wretch, likely at the distinct smell of burning flesh in the air. “Keep your mask on!” Sergeant Lamberts hissed to him.

They came upon a massive crater in the street, at least 90 feet in diameter. The only identifiable object inside the crater littered with twisted metal, was the engine hood of a cargo truck, with US Army painted on it.

As they made their way through the crater, one of the soldiers tripped and when he looked back to see what it was, the Sergeant that was next to him had to put him into a headlock to keep him from screaming from the bloody remains of a half buried human torso.

Once they made it out of the crater, they came upon an intersection. Suddenly the ground began to shake. The Lieutenant gave the signal to stop. All the soldiers assumed an alerted crouch stance. Private Preston was alone in the middle of the intersection. The shaking quickly started to become more violent.

“Do not shoot unless I say so.” The officer said to them.

Matt was watching their rear flank, and as soon as he heard screaming and gunfire, he turned around to see Preston as he backed away and fired his M16. Only half a second later a massive scaled foot came down right on top of him, and then it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

A soldier next to him shook. “Jesus Jacob, what am I going to tell your sister?” He sobbed out.

The Sergeant and Lieutenant were quiet for a few seconds, then the officer nodded to his subordinate. Lamberts looked behind him and whispered. “Culver, you’re on point.”

"Oh god." A soldier whimpered out, and moved out ahead of the group.

Once they passed the footprint, Matt cringed at the bloody pasted remains of Preston. To distract himself, the first thing he thought of is why the lizards do not wear footwear. The best he could think of is the shape of their legs makes it uncomfortable and their scales were tough enough. But who is he to ponder the ways of aliens?

Through the clearing cloud, Matt faintly saw the outline of the towering supports of the Golden Gate Bridge far in the distance.

Suddenly as they passed an APC on its side, they heard someone whisper “Hey, over here. Who is in charge of your group?” Four masked soldiers emerged from behind some rubble, with a Corporal at the head of the group.

Lieutenant Jackson approached the new arrivals and upon seeing the rank of an Officer, the four soldiers saluted. Jackson returned the salute and said, “I am Lieutenant Jackson. You are in command of this group, Corporal?”

“Yes, sir. Our Sergeant was killed when artillery struck the building we were in.”

“I see. You are now under my co-“ Before he could even finish, everything shook. Everyone became alert, and the ground continued to shake nonstop. Soon the thinning cloud was revitalized by the new cloud of a skyscraper that finally collapsed from damage.

Once they all realized it was not a giant lizard, they became more relaxed, but still alert. But before the Lieutenant could resume speaking, the ground shook again. This time they knew it was footsteps. Matt readied his launcher, and Lamberts gave them the hold fire signal. Soon the silhouette of one of the lizards rounded a corner and stood there.

Matt shook in his helmet and bit his lower lip. Being up close to a hostile giant is terrifying. He kept an eye on Jackson and Lamberts, one side of him hoped he would never see the signal to open fire, and the other side hoped for the signal before the lizard saw them first.

But with a loud huff the lizard turned around and walked away with thunderous footsteps. Matt let out a breath he did not know he had.

But before the officer could even speak, they all went prone when they heard two cannon shots and the earth shook as a giant fell to the ground. They heard the roar of engines and soon the ground began to shake again, but not as violently as before. Through the dust came the forms of two Abrams tanks. The first one stopped next to the soldiers, the commander’s hatch opened up, and revealed the smoking commander from before.

The infantry set up around the tanks as Lieutenant Jackson spoke with the tank commander. Matt and Ryan were a few meters behind the second tank. They took cover in front of a taxi.

He whispered to Ryan. “I don’t like being with these tanks, we’re just begging to be attacked with these behemoths nearby.”

“I know what you mean, I have a bad feeling about this.” Then they both went quiet, and under his mask Matt became pale. Normally Ryan would have words of encouragement, if he is worried, then he knows they must be ready for anything.

A minute later, the ground again began to shake and all the soldiers readied their weapons and Ryan left Matt's side so they both don’t get killed from one plasma blast. In an attempt to remain as quiet as possible, the tanks shut their engines off and the rear tank readied its weapon to fire while the front one aimed forward.

There were four large figures in the dust, all motionless, all watched them it seems. Then the lizards raised their weapons. “Fire!” Lamberts yelled.

The rear tank fired its shot, and struck one in the chest. The tank quickly started its engine to get moving, but the return fire caused the vehicle to burst into flames. The other tank did not fire but instead moved to find a position with cover.

The area was peppered with plasma fire that made any of their cover useless. Any soldiers that tried to distract them with their assault rifles or machineguns have stopped and were on the ground trying to protect themselves from the burning plasma. Through the clearing dust, he could see a soldier get hit by the plasma, and all that was left, was nothing but a small smoldering crater and some bloody parts.

Matt looked over the Taxi and took aim at the closest alien. They were not even moving, likely relishing in their seeming invulnerability now that any tanks have fell silent. He aimed for its head. He could see a part of its scaled muzzle jutted out of the bottom of its helmet. He then fired.

The rocket went straight for its face, it penetrated through the muzzle and exploded while inside of the giant’s head, which created an eruption of blood and bone out of its face. A morbid fascination kept him from immediately taking cover after firing, he watched the giant is it crashed down to the round, and then he saw its two comrades turn to fire at the source of the rocket.

His eyes widened and he quickly dropped the launcher and began to run. But before he could even get ten feet away from the taxi, it exploded. He let out a scream as a large piece of yellow metal flew into the back of his left thigh and he hit the ground with a thud.

He rolled onto his back and gripped his leg with a scream of pain. He watched two more rockets as they launched towards one of the lizards, one struck its chest and the other its throat, which caused it to the fall to the ground as blood sprayed from its neck.

He saw Ryan running to him from across the street, he dropped a smoking AT4. “Matt!” he yelled. Before he was half way across the street, a tank shell flew over him and struck the last lizard.

Ryan came to his friend’s side and looked him over. “That was a great shot dude, easily the ultimate headshot.” Matt just groaned in response. After seeing the metal shard as his only injury, Ryan picked him up over his shoulder and slowly started to walk back to the tank. He found Lamberts, and the large Sergeant took the wounded Private and easily carried him while he shouted out for a medic.

He was placed on top of the tank while everyone else climbed onto it, all six of the surviving infantry. Lieutenant Jackson was not present. The tank started rolling, and the one medic they had, who managed to survive, started to tend to his leg. Before he could scream at the removal of the metal, he blacked out.

---

Tyra and the four others in her squad moved to the sound of fighting. The dust offered little to see, but it was thinning and they could see the destruction. They heard the sound of human heavy weapons fire, as their primitive explosive propelled weapons are easily identified.

By the time they reached the expected area of the fighting, they were too late. Down the street was the form of a dead Rynar trooper with two huge holes in its chest, and further up were four of them dead, one with its face blown out.

Several human vehicles were burning, one of their heavy weapons platforms, and several wheeled vehicles.

“Where to now?” The mongoose Jeren asked his squad leader.

Derel pointed towards two red towers in the distance. “We’re going that way.”

---

Matt sighed at his leg. Perhaps it is good he is out of the action now. He was placed up against the wall of a building not too far from the base of the bridge. He could see the entire thing clearly from his spot. A pair of nearby engineers were arguing over what to do with the bridge. The lizards have not tried to cross it yet. One argued that they should not blow it, while the other engineer argued that they should destroy the bridge before it became a problem.

Eventually the one arguing that they should not detonate the charges won out. They left the detonator on a sandbag and walked away.

“Hey Matt, how are you feeling, man?” Ryan walked over to him and sat next to him.

“My leg hurts.”

“Ah, you’ll be fine. At least now you get to sit back here and chill.”

“They gave you a Javelin?” He said while eyeing a large missile launcher on his friend’s back.

“Hell yeah, I plan to drop some lizards with this baby.” As if putting him up to the challenge, fighting broke out. The two soldiers looked down the street to see the aliens attacking the nearby defensive line.

“Don’t get killed, Ryan. You’re the only friend I have left in this mess.”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll be fine.” He patted his friend on the shoulder and
ran into the fight. Matt watched his friend leave, he then sighed and closed his eyes. Suddenly there was the sound of plasma striking nearby. His eyes shot back open, and the form of Ryan was replaced by a dissipating cloud of burnt plasma.

He shook his head and told himself that Ryan was not just hit, he just took cover when the plasma hit. Then suddenly a bloody and destroyed Javelin launcher hit the ground a few feet in front of him.

The young soldier looked at it and shook, seconds later he yelled out a pained cry for the loss of his friend.

---

“Take them down!” Tyra’s squad leader shouted and they opened fire on the backs of seven Rynar troopers that were the human line with grenades and plasma fire. All but one were eliminated quickly, the last one took cover behind a building.

Before Yire could ready a grenade to throw behind the building, a black dragon shot out from behind the building with the enemy trooper writhing in his powerful claws. The dragon landed and threw him to the ground, then stomped his skull with his clawed foot.

They approached the human defenses, but saw no humans, at least none still alive. The use of grenades on the small creatures yielded highly devastating results.

A dragon from the Flyer’s unit yelled down to them. “Rynar troops are moving across the bridge, assume defensive positions. Human vehicles have gathered at the front of bridge. I recommend you prepare to shoot at the bridge from the flanks."

“I would have expected them to destroy this bridge.” Jeren said.

“We would take it down with fighters, but the Rynar have set up defense systems across the bridge after they destroyed the artillery.”

“Don’t we have any explosives?” Tyra questioned.

“No, heavy weapons have not come down yet, now get into position.”

“Hey look, looks like that sniper dragon here is going to help.” Jeren said as the black dragon assumed a prone position and set up his accelerated plasma rifle. The furs joined their large comrade and went prone to overlook the bridge. Then suddenly, Tyra noticed small movement near a building.

---

Matt watched the aliens set up to watch the bridge with a shocked look on his face. He could understand them. How is that possible? But they mentioned destroying the bridge. He looked at the detonator and then at the bridge with the lizards moving across it. Where the hell are those engineers?!

He struggled to get up, then started to limp to the sandbag with the detonator. He looked to his left and noticed the black dragon from earlier. The great alien trooper had his rifle scoped in on the lizards and was completely motionless.

Finally he reached the detonator, and with a groan he let himself drop next to it. He picked it up and looked at it. The detonation buttons were labeled one and two. He looked at detonation button two. What does that one blow up?

He flipped the switch guard, but before he pushed the first detonator, he looked at the aliens behind him, they were all watching him. He grinned then looked at the bridge and pressed the button.

Massive explosions ripped through the supports of the great bridge. The bridge looked like it rippled then huge parts broke apart and spilled the lizards crossing it into the water below. He saw the creatures that killed his friend, come to the surface of the water. He looked at button number two. Perhaps… “This is for Ryan.” He whispered.

He pushed it. Then the water below the bridge erupted into great red geysers. A sadistic smile spread across Matt’s face.





Yay! Finally I get to the start of Macro/Human interaction that is not violent!

[baggy52]

Wow. Just wow.


And you seem to only be starting.

[crazyfox22]

Simple one word....
AMAZING!!!

[Hetzer]

Baggy: Yes, it really is just starting. A lot of fighting ahead for our little world.

Crazyfox: Thank you!