Operation: Phoenix, The Battle for the TRES HQ, Pt 2 by CyberPyro (cybrpyro@iac.net) The hallway to the Ellipsoid of the TRES HQ reverberated with the heavy footsteps of my Wrath of Arioch BattleArmor. Twenty feet away the sealed door I could hear the chaos from inside. JihadNet had been massively mailbombed and everyone panicked; their convenient form of communication had disappeared. The doors to the control room snapped open and I stomped through, into a room of bedlam. Techs yelled at each other, other worked diligently to fix the problem, and still other held a group discussion, trying to figure out who was to blame. "Attention!" I yelled, my voice piped through the BattleArmor's external speakers. A few techs stood at attention, saluting, while others continued to bicker and discuss pointless issues. "I SAID 'ATTENTION!,'" I yelled, powering up my assault BattleArmor's plasma cannon. The noise of such a weapon's charging, being rather distinct among unarmored people used to the drone of communications, ripped through the room leaving only silence in its wake. All the techs snapped to attention and saluted. "That's better," I said, powering down my weapon. "Our inter- connections to the Jihad are gone; we can do nothing about this. We'll have to live with it. From now on, we'll use our old methods of communication. "Whoever did this doesn't stand a sponge minion's chance of passing a Mensa exam at being called honorable or brave. They chose one of the most cowardly methods to attack us imaginable, thinking they could destroy us or break our morale. All they've done is inconvenience us: nothing more, nothing less. Shovel out your mail boxes and get back to work. "I want this center back up in 30 minutes. No excuses, no delays. Dismissed," I ordered, turning around and stomping off towards my quarters. ... Twenty-five minutes later I sat in full battle uniform at the head of a company of TRES Corps officers gathered in the briefing room. When the last member of Alpha Squad was seated, I walked to the podium and addressed the company: "As you all know by now, we have a massive army of b'harnate forces heading our way from the south. The good news: TRES Intell reports close to four hundred thousand sponge minions, with various armaments, approaching with HellWyrm, b'hii j'haa, and b'habii b'hopp bots as heavy back up. The spongies are only equipped with conventional weapons (M16s, plasma rifles, etc) and lack any protective gear beyond standard body suits. "Alright!" said Raeth, member of Alpha Squad. "This will almost be a mopping up operation." "I doubt it," said Lt. Jaina, breaking her meditative stance long enough to comment. "The bad news: They are simple cannon fodder. Behind them is an army of sixty five thousand (65,000) X'hirjq troops, thirty five thousand (35,000) of which are equipped in BattleArmor. From all our data on the X'hirjq, we can expect their armor, class-to-class, to be superior to anything we have," I said. "Without the cannon fodder, the X'hirjq would be a serious threat to this HQ and its survival. With these additional forces, they are deadly. We cannot afford any wasted effort, ammunition, or lives in this battle. Every shot, movement, and life counts. Nothing can be wasted. "As you are all aware by now, Fleet Commander Samhain is no longer with us; he died at the hands of X'ehmahr, a X'hirjq warrior, in WEDJEE's Iowa base. Commander Inagei, now Fleet Commander of the Doberman Empire, is MIA, presumed to be fighting for her life against the bimmers in Atlanta. The DE is staggering and off balance from the X'hirjq attacks. "They are now trying to take our nerve center, this HQ. If we fail, combined with the Doberman Empire, three fourths of the Jihad will be destabilized and vulnerable to annihilation. This means, to be explicit, if we fail here in this battle, the invasion will be lost before we've really had a chance to fight. "Does everyone understand the gravity of this situation?" I queried. One by one, everyone officer gravely nodded his/her head. "Good. Lieutenant Commander Hiroshi, you have the floor." The Lt. Comm. of the marines from the G.L. Pride strode to the podium and cleared her throat. "As per orders, we've evacuated the town below us. All useful supplies, especially Jolt, are in the process of being shipped here now to serve as additional stores. Further, we have laid numerous mines, traps, and other obstacles to hinder the advance of the enemy army. We are fully prepared to fight a scorched-earth war against the invaders." Hiroshi bowed to the officers present and took her seat. "Alright, other than that, we will be deploying 2 miles south of the town for our first confrontation. I will command the field offensive. Admiral Mysterium, when he arrives, will coordinate the artillery and snipers. Admiral J-Rock and many Dobermans have sent messages that they are coming as well. Hopefully, they will make it here before the b'harnate army arrives. You are to retreat *only* to avoid excess losses. Remember: we must minimize our losses and maximize the damage we inflict. Don't expect any quarter from the X'hirjq, you won't get it, and don't underestimate them. That is all. Dismissed." The assembled officers stood in unison, saluted, and filed out to their respective commands. ... Two miles south of Clear Springs, the shi shi ski town, highway route 87's 6 lanes were completely blocked by a wall automobiles that had been hastily assembled and welded together. Stretching to either side of the half mile-wide granite canyon, through which the highway wound, were pits, caltrops, sandbag walls, and other obstacles. TRES Corps Marines in BattleArmor stood silently, idling, warm inside of their environment-controlled armor. The wind picked up as the sun started to set, bringing thick, heavy snow with it. A terse message from the HQ informed me that a blizzard from Canada was making its make down into Colorado -- alot of snow was expected. As the wind whistled through the barrel of my plasma cannon, Lt. Jaina stirred from her constant meditations. "What was that?" she asked, shaking the snow off of her armor. I interfaced directly with my armor's sensors, using my cybernetics to full advantage, and scanned the audible spectrum. There it was, faint by sickeningly sweet: the Hell Wyrm War Chant, played at incredible volumes from stereo speakers with thousands of voices singing along. The Wrath of Arioch's visor switched to telescopic mode, sighting several miles across the electromagnetic spectrum. There. Thousands upon thousands of red blips, human bodies in lavender winter gear. Scattered among them were huge metal robots, their colors truly horrid to behold. The first wave of the attack had arrived. To be Continued in "Battle for the TRES Corps HQ, Pt 3" CyberPyro Copyright, Pyrokinetic Productions, Inc. (1996)