Second Chances-First FanFic

[TheN00b]

Second Chances

Part 1

The dart whistled through the air, and Nik grinned in triumph. �Lesse here, that�s� forty-one in row?� I grimaced. �Sounds about right,� I said. Never, ever play against someone with genetically modified reflexes, in any sport. When someone can drill a sixty-yard basketball shot or bank a foosball off the walls seventeen times and into the goal, it�s time to quit. �I think I�m turning in for the night,� I announced, a bit sheepishly. �I, uh� don�t want to beat Sergeant Major Illiovich any more badly than I have to.� Beside me, �Sergeant Major Illiovich� grinned. It must be nice, I thought wistfully, to have everything perfect for you. Nik reminded me of those Old Earth movies I had once adored, where the suave, debonair James Bond fellow waltzed into diabolic plots and beautiful women with ease. The best Nikolai could figure, he was around 117 years old. Of course, the respawn tech made time meaningless, so he really wasn�t sure anymore. Being myself at a youthful 68, that meant that he had established the clich�s and bad old jokes of my time, and that gave him a measure of rueful respect from the others that I would never have. As well as being socially adept, he could hit a Loyalist�s eyeball from 300 meters with his trusty Gauss rifle, and pilot a Mosquito through just about anything you could name. I wasn�t too shabby with weapons and techie stuff myself, but I envied his social ease. None of which changed the fact, of course, that social ease meant exactly nil when you had a tank shooting at you. I slid away from the dart board, and off to the familiar comfort of my quarters along with some well-deserved sleep.

*Beep, Beep, Beep*
I rolled sleepily out of bed, the alarm ringing in my ears. Annoyed, I was about to slap at the alarms delay button, but I suddenly noticed the color of the alarm: Flashing crimson. We were going on a raid.

[TheN00b]

Uhh, no responses yet. Well, here's the next installment. It actually has some action.

Part 2

�All right, listen up people!� said Colonel Zere. Shouted, rather; the noise of the Galaxy-Class Dropship�s engines made it impossible to be heard at a normal speaking level. Not that Zere had ever had any qualms about shouting. The Good Colonel screams often, curses often, and has personally saved my ass, along with the rest of the platoon, more times than I care to count. So we listen to him. �There�s no complicated infiltrations involved this raid. We�re going to pound them with everything we�ve got. Command says we get five Gal�s and five of the new Lodestar-Class Transports to play around with. The Gal�s have the standard Enforcer vehicle load, and the Lodestars will be carrying AMSes. The transports will have a screen of 48 Mosquito and Reaver-Class aircraft� I raised my eyebrows fractionally. That was a lot of firepower for one mission. But there was, of course, more to be said. �We�re headed for Anguta, on Ceryshen.� One of the soldiers quietly cursed. Anguta was a DSC, which meant of course that the battle was probably going to be tough; that explained the firepower. But Ceryshen was cold. If Zere noticed the swearing, he took no offense at it. �We�re going to be doing a standard drop over the tower, with the AMSes being dropped just short of it. Any questions?� There were none, and the Colonel nodded. �All right then, let�s strap in. It�s going to be one hell of a drop.�

Contrary to the colonel�s opinion, we had seen no AA fire as we had exited the warp-gate. In fact, there was something a bit strange about it all. They were only about 1:00 away from the tower, and it looked like Anguta might not be such a hard nut after all.

Ingrid Lopez, the pilot of Galaxy 1, was fine with the way things were going. Just another minute until the drop, and if everything was peachy, that was just the way she liked it. Then the buzzer sounded.

Audre tried to look away as the interior of the Galaxy suddenly turned sharply and flashing red strobes flared on. His attention however, was drawn to the radar screen, and he swore violently. By my reckoning, there were at least one hundred missile locks on almost every aircraft in the convoy, and the lock signatures simultaneously began to belch fire.

[TheN00b]

Jebus, 25 views and no responses. Is anyone liking this, or does it just suck? Anyway, heres the next two installments:

Part 3
Only two things saved Convoy 73. One was the extraordinary piloting by the transport pilots. Slamming methodically at their controls, they managed to survive to near the drop point. But the principal factor in the transport�s survival was the astonishing heroism on the part of the fighter screen. Reavers dived and bobbed directly into the storm of missiles approaching them, trying to absorb as many missiles as possible into themselves rather than into their fragile charges. Rather than trying to dodge, Mosquito pilots were calmly turretting, shooting down individual missiles headed for their cumbersome allies even as other missiles bore down on the Mosquitoes themselves. But even as the fighter screen absorbed much of the Striker and Burster fire, it wasn�t nearly enough. The missiles were too many, and the defenders too few. But even Burster AA MAXes have to reload. Even so, the toll was devastating. Three Galaxies were blown away instantaneously, along with two Lodestars, and even as I watched, a third Lodestar slowly fell from the sky, a massive behemoth brought down by countless gnats. But two of both the Galaxies and the Lodestars survived too within 15 seconds of the drop point, and the soldiers and vehicles pouring out of their holds were on a mission.

Nikolai and I dropped together with the rest of my squad, a perfect double pentagon armed to the teeth with weaponry. Below, we could see the fire slow, then stop completely as the Loyalist troops began to pull back to the base and into the tower, depending on their proximity to the two. The two AMSes were dropped slightly ahead of us, which meant that we would have to charge forward instantly after landing in order to hold them. But we�d manage. Maybe.

As I landed, I pulled my Jackhammer and activated my Surge Implant, causing me to sprint forward at twice the speed of a normal human. Around me, about half of the soldiers were doing the same, while the other half stayed back with the Enforcer�s to provide cover with their Firebirds, Pheonixes, Gausses, and Bolt Drivers. Battle is not a place for lengthy reflection, but I wasted a second thinking bitterly about the problems with Conglomerate technology. Sure, the Jackhammer had power, but at any more than five meters it was rather useless, Which meant that, even with Surge closing the distance rapidly, the chain-gun fire coming from the tower could not be returned until we were at point-blank range. Fortunately, they didn�t seem to have any Pounders set up in the doorways, which was good: charges have a tendency to fail when hit by a constant stream of mortar fire. Also, our charge had set the control of the AMSes firmly in our hands, which meant that we might at least have a chance. Maybe.

Part 4

The Loyalists were holding us off, at least for now, but the flipside was that so far we had been able to fend off any possibility of air strikes on the AMSes thus far. Our single squad of air forces remaining had performed magnificently destroying at least twice their number thus far with no losses, killing Liberators, Galaxies, and Reavers with a calculated abandon that worked wonders. Unfortunately, there were at least 10 Pounder AI MAXes providing an interlocking grid of fire from the balcony down onto our forces, and while our Pheonixes and Decimators downed some of them, more and more kept coming. This battle reminded me of one of the old Earth wars that I had read about; a World War 1. In that war, as in this, troops had to hurtle themselves forward a few meters forward to struggle towards an objective, only to be blown away by artillery and grenades. This war was only different in one way: respawning. That meant that if we couldn�t find some way to break the stalemate, this could last forever. I watched Nikolai charge forward, leading another attack on the bastions of invincibility. It is one the most gruesome, inhumane, and utterly demoralizing feelings in all the world to watch your friend get shredded by a seeming wall of flame. I sighed, and almost turned away, then suddenly had an idea. �Fall back to the AMSes!� I screamed over the com. Most of the soldiers couldn�t believe what they were hearing from me, but the stumbled backwards anyway. �OK,� I said, once we were beyond the reach of the enemy, �Here�s what we�re gonna� do.�

Private Emerald Williams tried not to smile as she watched the Smurfs pull back beyond the reach of her friends. When Sasparov had first presented the defense plan, she hadn�t been at all sure it would work. After all, who had ever heard about a combined force of Strikers and Bursters taking down an entire convoy? But somehow command had dredged up the needed units, and the results had been spectacular. Unfortunately, some of the convoy had survived, which meant that the Republicans couldn�t simply pack up and head home, but it looked like the gutless traitors might just be retreating. She calmly reloaded her Bolt Driver, then sighted perfectly and blew a hole through the back of a straggler�s head.

I smiled. Inside their AMS cloaks, the exact positions of our forces were concealed from the enemy, as were the weapons in their hands. So when the massed Thumper fire began to pour out of the bubbles, the Loyalists were caught completely unawares.
A Thumper Grenade Launcher can fire six plasma grenades before it has to reload. However, it is very difficult to pinpoint exactly the grenade itself will land. Fortunately for the Conglomerate forces, they had had enough time to calculate exactly where to point their guns in order to hit the battlements. This meant that, in less than ten seconds, 600 grenades had fallen on the troopers camped on the tower balconies. What those grenades did to the group was indescribable. Enemies were thrown screaming from railings; MAXes were blasted backwards into walls. And when the dust settled, less than ten out of the original ninety troops were left standing to counter the charge. Thy managed to take out some troopers, of course, but it was not enough. The Conglomerate charged inside, and by the time the stunned Terrans had time to respawn, the tubes were camped and the Command Console secured.

[AztecWarrior]

It doesn't suck. Go by views, not replies.

[TheN00b]

Meh, I suppose. Still, it is a little disheartening when you spend a lot of time on something for a seemingly small response. But thats just me griping.

[TheN00b]

Ah, what the hell. Might as welll go for broke:

Part 5

Lieutenant General Sasparov stared at his display in disbelief. One minute, his forces had easily been holding the Smurfs off, and had maybe even driven them into retreat. The next minute, almost every one of his troops was dead, the rebels had stormed inside, and the tower was taken. It just wasn�t possible! But apparently, it was, and the general began to take steps to make sure that the welcoming party at Anguta would be as unpleasant as possible.

As the Control Console�s color changed from red to blue, Nikolai slapped me across the back, grinning. �Nice job, man,� he said. �The fucking Loyalists won�t have a clue what hit �em, and the colonel even seems pleased for� for once.� He smiled again and moved away, leaving me thinking about our next step.

Sasparov was watching from the walls this time, and it looked like, however brilliant their last move had been, the traitors didn�t have any more tricks up their sleeves. It looked like it was just going to be another boring siege, and that his troops could handle. The first sniper bullets from his troops began hitting the Smurfs from long range, and his eyes narrowed as his apolitical military sense approved of the enemies� tactics. They�d put their MAXes out front, and were hiding an engineer behind each armored suit to protect the engies from stray fire. While an angled shot probably could take out an engineer, that was rare, and when the shots missed, the MAX would stop to bombard the source of fire. Conversely, if the MAX became too damaged, it would merely halt and allow the engineer to quickly repair it. Unfortunately, all the clever tactics in the world couldn�t prevent a bombing raid.
Audre looked away as the last of the MAXes was pounded flat by the enemy Liberators merciless cluster bombs, and he sighed resignedly. The first attack had failed, true, but he had not really expected it to work. Rather, it had merely been a diversion, for when grunts alone find it impossible to take a base, invisibility serves its purpose.
Nikolai looked carefully as the lead hacker penetrated the backdoor�s security systems. The door hissed open, and the infiltrator peeked in, then pulled sharply back as he saw the spiked Pounders inside. Nikolai and the rest of the infiltrators pulled out their hand-held Boomer mines, then hurled them through the doorway towards where they knew the MAXes where situated. Inside, they heard the sounds of panicked movements, but it was too late. Nikolai and his fellows depressed the activation switches, and ten mines went off at the MAXes� feet. Cautiously, they moved inside.
Zere watched the last of them enter the base through the Range Magnifier of his Bolt Driver, then turned to Audre. �Well, they�re in.�

Part 6

Nikolai grimaced as the eager enemy grunt strolled right past him, not more than a foot away. Fortunately, the soldier�s implant�s probably hadn�t initialized yet, which was a blessing; if so much as a single shot was fired, it could bring the entire base around his comrade�s ears, and they all knew it. They were close the Control Console now, and his soldiers were all trying to control a bad case of nerves. Just one slip, one screw-up, and the mission failed.
Emerald groaned as she saw the Smurf bastards move forward again. They�d pushed up to the walls now and her fellow Terrans were defending from the centre column of the base. It was still affective, but the loss of battlements hurt them badly. If they could just sally� but no. �General� Sasparov, that bastard, still didn�t have the guts to move out in force against the Congs after what they�d done at the tower. As a result, this battle might be lost unless her commander suddenly grew a spine, and fast.
Audre frowned as the first Prowler rolled off the line. The Loyalists had so far been able to hold the vehicle terminal, and it might just win them the battle. One of the first steps to the convoy�s success was the neutralization of the Tech Plant at Seth, and they�d allocated a large amount of forces to see that objective carried out. But the enemy there had been amazingly resilient, and they�d managed to finally resecure the place. Now, the heavy tanks the Loyalists had might be checkmate. But Audre knew something that his enemies didn�t; that even as they spoke, a small but powerful group was ever-so-slowly edging its way towards the key to the base�s defense.

The guards here were much more alert, and they were giving the infiltrators a hell of a time getting by them. But knives are silent and deadly, and while the guards were alert, there were not so many as to make the mission impossible. At last, Nikolai saw it before him: the door to the success of this entire battle. Unfortunately, there lay the small problem as to how to silently get past the five Pounder MAXes with Darklight-Vision who were guarding that door. He and his men crouched behind various crates, and he cautiously opened a chat channel. �All right, men, any ideas?� he asked. Hedges responded first. �I suppose we could try Jammering them,� he suggested hopefully. �Take out their DL, then hack it right out from under their noses.� Nikolai shook his head, frustrated. �No can do. It takes two minutes to hack a CC, and in those two minutes those Pounder bastards would be busy telling every Elmo in the base that their DL had mysteriously jammed up. Sorry, it just won�t work. Anything else?� Nikolai was prevented from further talking when he noticed an oncoming enemy soldier. Suddenly, he had an idea.

Part 7

Nikolai watched as Griese carefully took up positioin as close as he could to the doorway without the Pounders seeing him. As the soldier walked by, Griese ever so slightly nudged the Jammer in the soldier�s pouch towards the MAXes. Not a very hard nudge, perhaps, but good enough. The Jammer rolled slowly towards the incoming MAXes, who had just enough time to realize what the rolling object was before it detonated.
Jammer grenades, unlike most other explosives invented for warfare, do not kill, maim, or injure. Rather, the Jammer is a device designed solely for the disruption of electronics, which happen to include implants. So it was that every guarding MAX happened to suddenly have their only tool for finding cloakers deactivated. And, so it was that they turned as one to begin screaming curses at the unfortunate soldier.
Nikolai watched in some amusement, despite the seriousness of what he was about to do. Most of the soldiers were white, according to the racist Terran ideals, but one of the MAXes was obviously Indian, and his plentitude of curses were so varied and diverse that Nikolai could not help but have admiration for him. That was the pity about war, he reflected; kill those who you love most.
After their initial anger had calmed, the Pounders realized that the situation was really not that serious. Sure, they couldn�t see Infiltrators, but what were the chances of some cloaker passing along within two minutes of the stupid accident? Of course, it hadn�t been an accident, and so it was that they were completely oblivious to the Boomers being carefully laid behind them.
Nikolai hoped that the MAXes would keep talking as long as possible. After all, it would be stupid to send the MAXes back to the spawn rooms with tales of how they had been ambushed, at least before they hacked the base. But if the Pounders stopped talking long enough to hear the quiet beeping sounds of the REK behind them, then the Boomers would have to be used. Fortunately, the hack was almost wrapped up, and when it was� Nikolai grinned savagely as the Pounders realized in shock that their charge had been hacked with out a moment�s suspicion on their parts. However, they did not have long to contemplate their mistakes, much less attempt any sort of action; the Boomers behind them saw to that. Silence wasn�t an issue when the whole base knew that you were there.
Audre smiled as he saw the datum pop up on his display. He and his squad had been waiting for that signal, and now it came. �Alright, everybody!� he shouted, �This is it! Charge!� And charge they did. Nowadays, in modern battle, unorganized charges are almost never useful. Mortars send hypervelocity shells screaming at enemy lines to thin out the oncoming troops, and automated defenses do the rest. But in this one case, with the confused Loyalists not knowing where to go or who to look to, the charge worked. Finally, all of his troops got inside. Now, to the Control Console.
Nikolai shouted instantly for Boomers to be placed anywhere and everywhere. He knew that, as soon as they collected their wits, the Loyalists would be falling on him like a wolverine falls on a rabbit. But these rabbits had teeth. Mines were set up in crisscrossing fields of death, making it almost impossible for any enemy to get through. Infiltrators took cover behind crates and carefully waited with loaded AMPs, eager to destroy any onslaught. Several infiltrators took up throwing position with their knives. And that was all they could do. The ball, as Nik would later say, was firmly in the Loyalist court.

[TheN00b]

Part 8

William McClellan moved forward with the rest of his squad, stalking quietly through the corridors with weapons out and DL activated. He was no green recruit to anti-cloaker warfare, having spent more than thirty years as a cloaker himself before deciding he needed a change. So, while the storm of AMP and knife fire from the crates that killed three of his men wasn�t unexpected, it still wasn�t good. The rest of his squad dropped behind crates of their own and returned fire, but McClellan knew that a standoff wasn�t good enough; they had to push through. Still, he�d be content for a while to wear his enemies down.
Audre moved forward with the rest of his men, confident that he could utterly immolate any Loyalist stragglers. Approximately eighty men were with him, but they didn�t have much resistance to worry about; the enemy had pulled back to try to retake their control console. Still, that meant that he would have to push through all the quicker, for if the growing enemy force downstairs smashed Nikolai�s small band of infiltrators, the Loyalists would resecure and would be free to concentrate all of their men on the encroaching enemy.
Nikolai grimaced in frustration as he watched the enemy slowly but surely begin to move in. The bastards were being careful to avoid any more Boomer traps or ambushes, but while they didn�t have all day, they certainly had enough time to be cautious. And cautious troops slaughter infiltrators by the dozen. He looked behind him, and his heart sank further. Try as he might, his troops had taken casualties. He had two Advanced Medics working painstakingly through his lines and reviving the fallen, but it wasn�t enough. The staggering amount of fire that was pouring through the cracks of the wall of crates the infiltrators had erected was amazing, and that fire made it very difficult for the Medics to even get to the dead and dying. If something didn�t change soon, his position was going to be overrun, and there wasn�t a thing he would be able to do about it.
William grinned in triumph as his troops advanced. That bastard Sasparov had finally collected some courage, but at exactly the wrong time: he�d advocated a charge, similar to the one the Smurfs had used to get inside. But William had known that infiltrators loved charges, for charging soldiers didn�t notice carefully concealed Boomers, or knives quietly slitting the throats of their comrades. So he�d told his troops to advance with the utmost caution, and it had worked. All he had to do was retake the Console before the massed Congs relieved the infiltrators, and he�d be a hero. Just a little bit longer.
Nikolai�s spirits rose as he saw the transmission from Audre, telling him that troops were on the way. But he knew that they might not be in time. The enemy was already within ten meters of the CC, and less than seven of his own position. A couple more minutes, and the resecure would be unstoppable.
William�s face contorted in pain as a sledgehammer blow to his back spun him around like a top. Through pain-filled eyes he could make out hulking shapes advancing towards his men, and his heart froze. There were at least twenty ScatterCannon MAXes approaching his men, and that meant that they were absolutely doomed. But his fogged brain still couldn�t comprehend it. He�d had MAXes of his own in the rear guard, so how had the Smurfs gotten through them so quickly� Then he saw the entire force of Congs milling behind the MAXes, and he knew.
Nikolai�s smile could have split his face as he watched his friends come through the door. He walked right up to Audre, and pounded him so hard on the back that his friend spluttered and coughed, but then he grew serious. �Thanks,� he said, and that simple word had more meaning than a sonata.
Finis

[TheN00b]

50 views and no replies? Could someone plz tell me if it's good or not (besides Aztec, that is).

[Jabberwocky]

Don't get so discouraged. People actually read these and enjoy them. I know this because I am one of them. I really have liked the story so far, but it's going to take about a week or so after you actually end the story to pick up good responses.
Once you are done with the story, I'll tell you all about what I really liked, disliked, and found interesting about this fan fic if you want.

[TheN00b]

Roger that, I'll probably do one more chapter to finish it up. Thanks for restoring my self-confidence guys .