Above the extraction point
21:58
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"Attention, all X Corps!" Skandar shouted through his transponder. "I have a visual on our extract, although the LZ is swarming with enemy activity."
Sure enough, two vague shapes ,outlined in gray among the brown and black that covered the plains of the Great Expanse, ran with several darker shadows chasing after them, a handful that resembled beasts with eyes glowing like lanterns.
"Copy." Ari's voice came in.
"Roger!" Mikhail and Heinrich voxed simultaneously.
"Um, not to deviate from our line of thought, but which one is our extraction target?" Zayda asked, confusion evident in her voice.
"Whichever looks like a humanoid feline?" An aviator from Ari's unit, Wolfgang, suggested.
"The feed I'm receiving shows two shapes with feline features," Zayda announced. "Although one has two young within her grasp."
"Zigmar!" Heinrich cursed."Don't these people know better than to place women and young in harm's way."
"The question is which one do we extract?"Skandar asked, the wind howling in his ears from where he stood in the bay of the Laevus, overlooking the fields ahead.
"Just bring them both in for questioning," Mikhail broke in. "It is safer that way."
"I hope you don't mind me rudely interrupting the banter, but you have several bogeys converging on your positions from the north, both land and air-based!"
"Sentery!" Ari chuckled. "It's nice to have you join in on these chats every once in a while. You are correct.I can see the shapes of the Hellhounds zeroing on our extract. They will not reach them in time if we can help it. The rest of you should drop in and extricate our targets while we provide air support."
"Sounds good to me!"
Skandar motioned to Scottie to gather the man and get inside the APCs. Soon, he was seated shotgun inside an Aardvark APC as his men crouched down in the back. After a few seconds, a countdown began and then they were airdropped along with other APCs into the combat zone. The soldier, originally an officer in the Vroengard military, gritted his teeth and clasped the handles as they were parachuted at about 90 Parhertz toward landing zone. Zero gravity was still unfriendly to his stomach after all these years.
"We have touched down! How about you Scottie? Joey?"
"Affirmative!" Both men replied.
"Let's see who can extract our target first!" Skandar smirked. "The losers have to buy them extra Eastern Island sushi!"
"Then you better prepare to empty your purse!" Scottie replied.
As soon as they set off, they came under heavy fire and several low-flying aircraft shot past them. It is up to the Air Division, the bread and butter of Fantine X, to hold them at bay while the extraction happened.
Ari, Strygar, Adlan, I am counting on you all! For Duty and Honor!
---
"Eagle flight, let's take out the fixed-wing supersonic fighters! Adlan, take Honor flight and provide air support for Heinrich and Skandar's forces. Strygar, you and Liberty flight guard our Laevus carriers from enemy fire!"
"Yes, Ari!" Both men shouted in unison before dispersing to carry out their duties.
This is going to be fun! It's been years since I had taken on aircraft. A good dogfight is necessary once in a while to hone our skills.
Adjusting his mask, Ari pressed the throttle all the way forward as the Double Eagle shuddered and picked up speed. In a matter of seconds, the squadron came upon a rival squadron of blue and black warplanes.
"Ludwig, Wolfgang, let's show the Survies what we are made of!"
"Hey, what about us?" a Comet flyer, Breyan, asked.
"Yes, all of Eagle flight!"
Ari came upon a black Hellhound, it's sleek dark shape vaguely visible among the clouds, and once he made sure the target lock was acquired, he let loose a missile. The pilot watched in anticipation as he was sure he'd receive his first kill of the night when the enemy plane banked hard at the last minute, causing the missile to overshoot as it left burning yellow trails.
Wolfgang smirked." It seems like the enemy flyers have learned a thing or two since the last time we faced off."
"Nah, it is just pure luck."
Ari came yanked on the stick as he pursued his prey through the chilly night air. Once he made sure that he was right on its tail, he let loose a burst of green laser fire, disintegrating it. He grinned like a kid on his birthday as the plane parts and components rained down on the ruined ground below.
"Guess who drew first blood?" The lead flyer boasted.
That was when his alarm squawked.Glancing down at the controls, the rader showed a red blip squaring up behind him.
Blast! I need to shake off my pursuer now!
Then, as quick as it had appeared, the blip flickered out.
"No need to thank me." Adlan's voice came through the vox. "I am indebted to you for acting as the bait as I earned my first kill of the night."
"Hey, this isn't a competition!" Ari chuckled.
"You made it one when you announced first blood." Strygar joined in on the banter. "Oh look! I got a kill myself."
Outside the left side of his window, Ari noticed a red fireball blossom. It appeared that the tide was going in Fantine's favor for now. If this kept up, the extraction would be successful in a matter of minutes.
"Lads, let's not get too worried away," Ludwig cut in. "The enemy still has gunships, helicopters, and UAVs we need to take care of. I'm on it now."
"Hey, those were my responsibility!" Adlan whined.
"Well, get on it!" Wolfgang advised him.
Having no desire to miss out on the action, Ari dipped the olive-green nose cone of his Eagle downward as he zeroed in on the low altitude aircraft, letting out small bursts of bright green lasers. Several enemy WASP copters and Stinger gunships either burst into twisted metal or plummeted to the ground in a flaming wreck.
"Hey, that one was mine!" Adlan protested.
"Next time, be quick about it!" Strygar retorted.
"It seems that they are deploying their heavy armor on the ground," Ari murmured as he noticed small dark dots form on the top left corner of his radar screen. "Who can get the highest kill count here?"
---
"We are going in hot!"
Heinrich, in his red and white shocktrooper armor complete with a yellow lightning bolt on top of his helmet, peered over the side of ramp as he, his lieutenant Buraki, and the rest of the shocktrooper squadron prepared to jump into the cool night air in order to extract their target. Once the light on top of the gray walls flashed green, the time had come.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Heinrich and the rest of his troops leapt off the ramp one by one and let gravity lead them to their landing zone. Maneuvering past red and green lasers, the shocktroopers activated their thrusters on their back, gradually steadying their approach to the site. Their heavy armor protected them from shrapnel and other hazards despite being a burden to move around in.
"Shock-1 here!" Heinrich radioed. "Any of you see our target?" He took out his 0.78 rifle and scanned the vicinity for threats.
"Negative!" Voices responded.
Through his helmet, Heinrich could see twisted wreckages of vehicles and broken corpses lying among the blood and oil-soaked ground. He turned on his night vision setting on the side of his helmet as he scanned the area for threats or their objective.
"Ground units, hit the floor now!" Mikhail's voice echoed through the vox.
Without thinking twice, Heinrich and his men hit the floor. No longer than five seconds after, the roaring of warplanes tore through the air as the Air units swooped down and dropped their loads. The ground shook with explosions as if mountain trolls and sky dragons were having a dance off. Once the smoke had cleared off, Heinrich lifted his head up to see what remained of an SFF armored column littering the expanse of the field.
"You're all welcome!"Adlan's voice came through. "The blood of the Survies will forever stain the ground if they stand in our way."
"Target spotted at our 2 o'clock !" Buraki cut in. "Followed by several black and blues, we'll need to provide cover fire if we are to successfully extract him."
Through a yellowish haze, Heinrich spotted two feline shapes, one clasping two kids at her bosom, being tailed by several SFF soldiers with mutant dogs known as Stalkers spearheading the chase. Carefully aiming his rifle at the blood-hungry hounds, the leader of the shocktroopers let out a burst of lasers, lighting up the night. The Stalkers yelped as they fell over limp. One of the enemy soldiers shouted and the rest halted their pursuit of the Kithar and turned their attention to Heinrich's shocktroopers.
"Let it rip!"
Ducking red lasers, Heinrich and his men responded in turn to the enemy. One black armored Survivalist with blue knee and shoulder pads rushed at him like a berserker and the two grappled on the bloody dirt until Heinrich pinned him and beat him unconscious. Glancing up, he saw the two Kithar fugitives rushing past him. He and Buraki surrounded the two before they could get far.
"Relax, we are friendlies," Heinrich, the veteran shocktrooper from Ausland, stated. "You are Bartleby, correct?"
The male Kithar nodded, although warily. "Aye, who wants to know?"
"We are Fantine X and we have been instructed to pick you up and transfer you to the Capitol for your safety. Who is your companion?"
Bartleby glanced at the female Kithar, who looked terrified. Her infant was fast asleep in her arms while the young girl was shaking in fright. "This is Miss Calykko and since I couldn't bring myself to forsake her with the enemy, I brought her with me so she may find asylum in the Capitol maybe. Her husband is in the Kithan military fighting the invaders right now."
"Very well, let's be quick."
A green-striped APC with four sets of guns arrived and the doors opened. Heinrich and Buraki led their extracts inside as the APC guns and the rest of the shocktroopers provided cover fire. Once they were safely seated inside, Heinrich radioed his comrades.
"We got the Kithars. I repeat, extract is successful, however, I request air support."
Outside the window, the dark outlines of SFF Nightmare tanks could be seen emerging from the navy blue background. A massive explosion shook the APC, frightening the Kithars.
Buraki broke the silence, hoping to keep the peace."It's alright, that's just air support."
---
Roughly the same time
SFF Missile Defense Base
"Sir, they are clustered around the open fields like a flock of Nano livestock!"
Hearing the technician's statement, Defense Official Sythe hurried over to the bright screen to see the blips that dotted various positions on the vast plains known as the Great Expanse. A great concentration of the green blips were concentrated to the southwest sector.
"Perfect! Let the Hydras rip! We can knock them all out in one fell swoop." A dastardly grin formed on the Hylian's purplish lips. "What are you waiting for?"
"Um, isn't it risky? We may end up taking out our forces as well." The engineers and technicians murmured in concordance with their fellow technician.
"A few of our armor and men are nothing compared to the massive blows and casualties we'll inflict on our foes! Now fire!" Sythe snapped.
"As you wish, sir."
Soon, the coordinates were selected as bright red dots showing where the silos of Hydra missiles were hidden appeared.
"Countdown to launch in 10 seconds. 10...9..8..."
Yes, I will have succeeded where the others have failed in taking out those meddling appeasers of the Capitol.
"7...6...5...4"
THe Hylian twiddled his thumbs in glee as he watched the countdown reach zero. The female computer voice continued announcing the countdown to launch.
"2...1..0. All missiles now launching."
The base shook as the roar of the missiles heading toward their intended targets reverberated throughout the fields. On the radar, dozens of red streaks trailing smoke appeared. Sythe turned to his underlings.
"Now, my friends, who has some fine Yronyan wine they'd love to share?"
---
The Extraction Point
At that same time
"Good, bring him to the pick up point and we will take things from there using the tractor beam."
Mikhail glanced out of the window of the brownish-yellow Laevus carrier into the grayish dark fields which were illuminated by flames and lasers. He had just responded to Heinrich's affirmation of their objective and was preparing to retreat their forces once they had their informant on board.
"Sir, the Armored carrier is below us." A Laevus crew man approached the Director of Operations.
"Excellent, beam them in."
Mikhail watched as a bright white light flashed from the center of the transport and started to utilize a magnetic field to pull in their quarry. As the forest green carrier was levitating in the air, the alarms of the transport rang out.
"It appears we have a couple Shriekers trying to intercept us," Calhoun muttered from where he was leaning against the grayish walls.
Gazing out the window, the two men noticed two fast-moving black planes with glaring red lights similar to a daemon's angry eyes woosh past the Laevus and head to the suspended APC.
"Fire all anti-aircraft lasers!" Mikhail ordered as the bright lights lining the hallway of the carrier flashed on and off.
From the windows, the crew who weren't piloting the massive air carrier or working on the turrets glanced out the window in anticipation as the screaming SFF interceptors swooped in like hungry ravens. The green lasers fired off in a staccato to nail the enemy ships, but managed to down only one. Mikhail held his breath as the remaining interceptor expertly evaded the green lasers of the turrets and got within range of its target.
Damn! He must be quite an exceptional pilot!
As the Shrieker hovered, the screaming of its engines , used for psychological purposes, died down.
Dear Zigmar, he is going to fire!
Suddenly, the attacking warplane exploded in a massive fireball and a green and tan thunderbolt fighter whisked by,tipping its wing to a cheering crew.
"Relax, no one gets through on my watch!" Strygar's voice came through Mikhail's radio.
"What I like to know is how they got past your wingmen? Didn't Ari task you with defending the transport carriers?"
Before the pilot could retort, the APC that was beamed up arrived in the cargo hold in the next room. Receiving the alert on his transponder, Mikhail was about to go check on Heinrich and the rescued Kithars when the alarms on the Laevus echoed around the halls.
"Oh drat!"Calhoun paled up."We have several fast moving projectiles headed our way."
"Get a visual!" Mikhail ordered as he ran toward the cargo bay. "And set up the shield. "
It wasn't long until they noticed right red streaks lighting up the horizon like angry scars on tissue. Everyone aboard the Laevus stood and watched the streaks get larger as if in a trance.
"Hey, this is Intelligence to Extraction team."Zaydra broke Mikhail and his crew from their trance."Scans are picking up ballistic missiles with powerful yields heading to you from your 1 and 2' 0 clock. You might want to fall back now that you have the objective complete."
"Son of a weirwolf," Mikhail muttered under his breath."Very well." He then picked up his transponder and gave the order to break all engagements and retreat. Glancing back up, he noticed the balls of fire get larger in radius.
Zigmar! If they move as fast as they are, then they will overtake us for sure. For Pippin's sake, things are looking dull for us.
The Director of Operations braced himself before he turned his attention to his peacekeepers. Even though the chances of them making it out of range of the missiles was slim to none, they still had to chance it for the sake of the Offworld.
---
Mission accomplished?
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