Operation: Phoenix, Battle for the TRES Corps HQ, Part 9

        by CyberPyro (cybrpyro@iac.net)

        "Target!" yelled Lieutenant Baker, citing coordinates to the cannon's
gunner.  The top of the Ace Hardware store had a good vantage point to fire
their WCannon[tm], and the gunnery crew swung the barrel around to fire at
the on-rushing enemy.
        A barrage of ion blasts, intermixed with rail gun fire, streaked from
the darkness towards the rooftop.  Lt. Baker slammed backwards, ion blasts
cooking him in his armor before he landed on the cement.  The gunnery crew
exploded in a cloud of gore, titanium spheres (rail gun ammo) traveling at
mach 3 ripping them to pieces.
        The WCannon[tm] shook violently as it tipped over, ion blasts melting
its components into molten goo.  The dual flame throwers' fuel tanks
superheated, exploding in a roiling column of flame.

...

        "Red, Blue, Green Wings," ordered Lt. Mordrid, "X'hirjq fighter
groups coming in fast.  South by southwest."  They banked hard right,
accelerating towards their enemies.
        "Yellow, Black, Gold Wings!" yelled Warrior Athena, "heavy fighters
coming in.  Due south."  The DE craft banked hard, their targeting computers
already picking out the sleek black X'hirjq craft, though the humans could
hardly make them out.
        Proximity alerts screamed through the Jihad air group, light fighters
suddenly becoming visible.  The screams of dying men and women filled the
channels, enemy laser cannons and missiles inflicting murderous damage on
the smaller fighters.
        The X'hirjq fighters, the element of surprise gone, tried to avoid
the incoming fire from the Jihad.  Most succeeded, but several spiraled to
the earth a flaming mess.
        Explosions erupted across the night sky, the Jihad and X'hirjq
fighters engaging each other in a battle for air superiority.  Whoever won
here stood good chance of claiming victory over the entire campaign.

...

        "They're here all right," said Ensign Osborne.  He and a couple of DE
Troopers were stationed half-way between the Shi Shi Ski Town and the TRES
HQ. Why someone wanted them to guard this empty warehouse and surrounding
area was beyond him.
        "Hopefully the field units will hold them," said Trooper Icarus.
Lieutenant Hamil groaned from inside the warehouse and apparently stumbled
over something.
        "Ya all right in there, Lt," asked Osborne.  A loud *clang* sounded
from within the warehouse, followed by two heavy thumps.  The Jihaddi, wide
eyed, looked at each other.
        "Fuckfuckfuckfuck," muttered Osborne under his breath as Mattson and
Trooper Zeus covered his advance with Icarus.  Icarus shoved the door open
with the end of his XRifle[tm] and entered, Osborne right after him.
        "Oh god..." said Icarus, spotting the halves of Lieutenant Hamil.
Osborne cried out, firing his XRifle[tm] at random, as long, thin silvery
needles hissed through the air and punctured his body armor.  He fell to 
floor, his XRifle[tm] still blazing as the needles pierced his upper legs
and expanded in his flesh.
        "Get in here!!!" yelled Icarus, firing in the darkness, unable to
find a target despite the light flashes his rifle generated.  Osborne
disappeared into the darkness, hauled up into the I-beam structure above the
warehouse floor.
        A one of the large gates, used to admit trucks, rolled up revealing
Ensign Mattson in his light BattleArmor and Trooper Zeus in his Exoskeleton.
Osborne's screams ended abruptly, blood splashing down from the metal
framework overhead.
        The warehouse lit up, Zeus and Mattson discharging clusters of flares
into the darkness.  Icarus, spotting a target fired on full auto.  Crates
exploded in burning fragments as a X'hirjq danced backwards, plasma bolts
melting sections of her armor.
        "Yeah!!" yelled Icarus, "You want.." a crackling sphere of energy
streaked out from behind a crate and struck his chest.  Bio fragments flew 
across the floor, leaving a balanced pair of human legs that fell over a
split second later.
        The two remaining Jihaddi spotted the killer of Icarus, a X'hirjq in
an Exoskeleton, and fired all their weapons.  The alien staggered backwards,
blue-green phosphorescent blood splattering crates and walls.
        Zeus' side erupted, plasma bolts ripping through the minimal armor of
the Exoskeleton and searing into his flesh.  Mattson returned fire, trying to
back out of the warehouse, but several armor piercing shells removed him from
active duty.  Permanently.

...

        The X'hirjq came in unexpected ways to the battlefield.  The Jihaddi
had laid mines, hoping to take some out before the shooting became, only to
watch as they jump jetted over them.
        The two opposing forces met in the streets of Clear Springs, quickly
turning the stylish town into a blasted, crater filled battlefield.  Windows,
walls, cars, statues, flag poles, fire hydrants, and everything else that
made up a town was completely shattered, either destroyed as clashing suits
of BattleArmor fought with one another or from stray weapons fire.
        As the warring forces fought, blasting the town into rumble, Fire
sprang forth.  Free from the places that normally contained it, Fire played
gleefully throughout the town, consuming everything to could get into its
fingers.
        Nor did the countryside fair any better.  Huge shells from the
Jihad's artillery landed periodically, turning a placid field into smoldering
ruin, shattering buildings, or otherwise removing any evidence that living
things could survive in this environment.
        The sky above the hellish conflict thundered and crackled, thousands
of Jihaddi and X'hirjq craft dueling for control of the battlefield.  Anti-
aircraft fire from the Jihaddi filled the air, giving the otherwise dark
night a pleasant glow that one could use to read a magazine.
        Explosions blossomed like miniature suns, signaling the departure of
another combatant from the aerial contest.  The atmosphere itself began to
take on a hazy quality, the fumes from destroyed fighter craft and explosions
polluting the air.

...

        Captain Nickels yelped, the front of his heavy BattleArmor
disappearing with a metallic scream.  His complaints ceased, the Devourer's
other claw shredding the Jihaddi's armor and its user in one attack.
        The Devourer, sensing another enemy, spun around to face a Wrath of
Arioch-clad Jihaddi.  Its gun fired, spewing hundreds of depleted uranium
as the uncloaked X'hirjq.
        In a panic, realizing it couldn't re-cloak, the X'hirjq fired its
chest mounted laser.  Four crimson beams shot forth, two melting tracks
across the human's armor.
        But the human's gun, glowing red hot, continued to pour shells into
the alien's shielding, collapsing it a brief moment later.  The Huntress
charged, her claws raised high, as the shell ripped through her armor.
        Two short, rapid blasts from the human's rifle finished her off.

...

        "Sir, they're everywhere!!" whined Lt. Commander Margolis.
        "Deal," said CP as he slid away from a barrage of missiles.  A car
behind where he had been exploded, flipped over in mid-air, and landed.
Bursts of well timed plasma sizzled back at the alien, melting armor and
destroying its rocket launcher.   Bullets sparked against CP's armor as the
alien's chain gun found a mark.
        A brick wall beside the Lt. Comm exploded outwards, leaving a large
circular hole.  Margolis snapped around, the BattelArmor's face plate filled
with blood from the inside, as he struggled to survive the rail gun shot he'd
just taken.
        CP fired his jump jets and intentionally landed on an iron grating.
With a metallic groan it gave way, dropping him down a freight elevator shaft
into a business' basement.  Above him, three more TRES Marines lost their
lives is the super long ranges of the X'hirjq gauss cannons.
        "Dammit," he swore, punching through the thin basement wall into the
service tunnels beneath the streets.


...

        "All Wings!" yelled Lt. Mordrid, very conscious he was addressing a
fraction of the people who had started this battle, "we can't hold the field
much longer.  Concentrate all efforts on covering our group forces.  Don't
let their bastards strafe our people."
        Weary pilots grunted their acknowledgment.

...

        CP surfaced a few blocks away, the fighting a little lighter here.
        "Sir," broke in Mordid.
        "I know," replied CP, audibly distressed.
        "Cover us as long as you can, Lt," ordered CP.  "We're not able to
hold onto this town anyway."
        "Understood," answered Mordrid, closing the channel.
        "Mysterium," said CP, getting the busy Admiral's attention.
        "What can we do for you?"
        "Pull all your artillery people back.  Now.  We're leaving the town
and Mordrid's about to loose control of the skies."
        "Dammit.  All right, they're on their way out now."
        "Good."

...

        [Mistress!] said X'ff'aa'zx.  [The Jihaddi are retreating!]
        [Excellent.  Inform the Exoskeleton squads: they are not to escape
into the base.]
        [As is your will.]
        [Inform Z'zz'qii'a that her bombers may proceed as scheduled.]
        [They are on their way now.]

...

        "Mysterium!" yelled Mordrid in to the comm.
        "What is it?"
        "There's a whole slew of bombers coming in fast from the North.  We
can't spare anyone to intercept.  Get those people OUT of the artillery
positions now!"

...

        "All personnel: Retreat to the HQ," ordered CP.  Across the blasted
city, weary Jihaddi abandoned the defensive positions and headed north.
        The X'hirjq seemed to recognize their opponent was fleeing and
attacked the rear ranks, intent on keeping them from leaving.

...

        The southern most portions of Clear Springs geysered upwards, a
rolling barrage by the TRES artillery covering the retreat of the ground
forces.  Entire buildings shattered like fine crystal underneath a sledge
hammer, their remains scattering about leveled neighborhoods.
        The Clear Springs Malls, in the process of burning to the ground,
took several shells and collapsed like a house of cards.

...

        The shelling of the city forced the X'hirjq to fall back, leaving
the Jihaddi free to sprint away from the battlefield.  The distance grew
wider and wider with every passing second, the Jihaddi showing no concept for
obstacles beyond those they couldn't shove out of the way.
        As the main body reached the outer limits of the Clear Springs,
completely ablaze by this time, huge X'hirjq craft roared across the valley.
Their monstrous black shapes outsized the assault fighters, clearly marking
them as bombers.
        The northern ridges of the valley lit up, thousands of high explosive
bombs from the X'hirjq landing among the Jihad's artillery.  Concussion waves
beyond count rolled across the valley, starting avalanches at close range,
and ringing the ears of those farther away.
        That which held the X'hirjq at bay from the retreating Jihaddi's
unprotected flanks was gone.  Nothing but distance stood between the Hunters
and the Hunted.


                                                                CP

Copyright, Pyrokinetic Productions, Inc. (1996)