Cromwell II

[AztecWarrior]

TRIVIA: Who can tell me when the word 'Cromwell' was used to signal an invasion? I do know the answer.

The New Conglomerate and Vanu Sovereignty had been hurt hard after Operation Hobbes, an offensive on all fronts. The Terrans now controlled 5/8 of all outposts, a majority. The New Conglomerate would not ally with the Vanu, still remembering the savage attack that ensued after the alliance. The NC lost their foothold on three continents due to the first alliance. When it broke up, the NC sweeped in for easy kills. Thus, the alliance would be pointless. Hope for the two separatist factions seemed gone, as Terrans were slowly winning.

However, this was all planned by someone in NC Command. A massive strike force was being assembled on icy Ceryshen. The Modus Operandi: The desert outpost of Clan Draconus Lupus, the clan who accounted for the most of all losses during the Hobbes offensive, was going to be invaded by a commando force. Due to the distraction, Terran forces would come onto the continent.

That's when the massive main fleet would strike.

2,000 soldiers stood ready to strike. Why was this force not in the stronghold? Spies. They ranged from the person who didn't want to TK but still felt allegiance to another faction to the occasional 'money for info'. While not every person in the stronghold was a spy, there were probably less than fifty, with communications, electronic maps, zoom views, the world was small.

So despite Ceryshen not being fully NC, the force assembled right there. The 8th fighter group was going to be the vanguard of this attack. In it were ten squadrons: the 81st-88th (Mosquito), and the 89th and 90th (Reaver). Reavers doing air to air were an anomaly. Like lefties, they are far and few between. But man, do they fight. The first Reaver squadron was led by Lt. Major AztecWarrior. They would be, literally, the first units in the desert.

The go code for the invasion: Cromwell. It was not the first time Crowmell had been used as an invasion code.

After the success or faliure of the CDL attack, the rest of the invasion fleet would attack their continents.

The Lieutenant Major was found smoking in the barracks, talking with the rest of his men. A few would be flying for the first time.

"Hey Aztec (he didn't like being called 'sir'), what's the desert like?"

"Well, I've flown there once. Can't tell you why. It's dusty and hot. Sandstorms are there like snowstorms here. The air is real hot, so there will be a lot of lift. Don't get shot down. There is no water for miles. If you do, go to the nearest base. Steal some water and come back. I'm serious."

The intercom came on.

"All personnel. report to briefing room. All personnel to briefing room."

The room is massive. It was the size of about a cafeteria, and it was still packed full. On the stage, a general went up to the podium and a hologram came on, illustrating the various groups moving as he spoke.

"The first wave, the 81st , 82nd, and 89th fighter squadrons, will take off and perform a sweep all the way to the LZ. After clearing the area of fighter opposition, the 81st and 82nd will CAP around the base while the 89th goes for ground targets. The Galaxies will land at the LZ and then advance to the base. After fifteen minutes, the rest of the 8th fighter group, the 127th infantry divison, and the rest of the 43rd will attack.

"The rest of you will take off for Cyssor, all in one. This will take place thirty minutes after the start of the CDL raid.

"Weather reports show that a sandstorm is directly over the desert gate and should be there for about five minutes, then clear up. The LZ is clear. The sky is, guess what, cloudless. It will be sunset when you arrive.

"The Cyssor gate is clear, but directly in our path is a thunderstorm. We are not sure whether this will move out in time. If it does not, you will be re-directed in flight.

"The go code for this invasion is 'Cromwell'. It starts here. Gentlemen, the fate of Auraxis, your children, and humanity as we know it rests on your shoulders. Get ready!"

The Lt. Major gathered his things and began to write a letter when he was done preparing. He was in his flight suit and half done with the letter when the intercom came on.

"Cromwell."

[Sando138]

Pretty good... if you need a 'contact on the ground' at some point, you have an extra right here...

EDIT: sorry, i forgot, I have to withdraw my proposal as an extra. according to my timetable (which intersects with yours at Eureka) Sando is currently establishing a fighting force using Vanu/NC hybrid Tech, Reaver Mk. IIs, in my thread 'Silver Falcons', and i doubt unless the fighting goes on for several weeks at the Draconus Lupus base, Sando would not be there. Aztec wouldn't have seen him again until probably after the Reaver Mk. II is given a Baptism of Fire in liberating several outposts on Cyssor...

[AztecWarrior]

He grabbed his pilot's harness and ran down to the temporary hangars. Due to the savage CDL attack, the hangars were still being repaired. The aircraft were being stored in tents.

He jumped into the cockpit. The top closed. It was night on Ceryshen, but they would be going a few time zones back, so that the attack would occur at sunset. The cockpit was dark except for a few red lights, illuminating the backup, analog instruments. Two color multi-function displays were in front of him, but the vital information was projected onto the cockpit front window. The left MFD was displaying the Joint Radar System, basically a combined log of everyone's radar readings with a terrain map underneath. The right MFD was a weather map. He switched it over to the target continent. As expected, a sandstorm would be over the gate for five minutes after he arrived.

The ground crew pushed the Reaver out of the tent. He aimed the engines upward and applied full throttle. He flew up to about 1,000 meters and then the engines turned horizontal. He zoomed forward with the rest of his squadron following.

The callsigns were: for Reavers, Freedom (Aztec commanded flight 1), for Mosquitoes, Liberty, and for Galaxies, Independence. Enemies often listened to the radio chatter, so every mission the aircraft types were given revised callsigns. This would not confuse them for long, but it was enough to leave them confused for the vital first few minutes.

Eventually, Freedom flight 1 reached the gate. They flew through. Almost abruptly, they were spat out in the middle of a desert, illuminated red by the setting sun. Dust, however, came in and obscured view. Radar showed no enemies. Liberty flights 1 and 2 came in, then ten Galaxies.

Dust was everywhere. The pilots were, literally, flying by instruments. They were trained to do this, of course, but VR is nothing like real life. Suddenly, the female computerized voice in his Reaver uttered a warning: Missile launch, 3 o'clock.

He turned his head to see the missile but saw only the dust. He dove down to 100 meters. The missile came out of the dust, leaving a white streak in the air. It missed him by inches.

"Freedom 1-1, we have a mud spike 090. All flights, take caution."

'Mud spike' is pilot slang for a radar tracking them. Then he realized: did CDL fire that missile?

"Freedom 1-1, breaking formation, all flights, continue. I am searching for the SAM launcher."

"Roger that, Freedom 1-1." came from the leaders of all four flights.

This was practically suicide due to the dust. He could not see anything. He turned on his Low-Level Radar Navigation system, which worked like an Earth dolphin's echolocation. His radar sent out a ping in every direction. The pings came back, and he was given an outline of the terrain on the cockpit window. The problem with this was that it gave the enemy an increased radar signature.

After a few pings, he noticed several human-like figures up ahead. He got closer, and the images got clearer and clearer. He got so close that the armor type came back. It was a Medium armored Terran. Aztec fired off a rocket at where he was. He was sitting in a foxhole, alone, turning in every direction, trying to get a lock. He had missed a spot. The rocket hit, blowing him to bits. He landed the Reaver, jumped out, and ran down to the person's armor. There was no clan tag. The operation was still a surprise. His life sign transmitter would be out, but people died all the time on Auraxis, so the bases wouldn't worry. He got in his Reaver again.

He flew back to the flights. The dust storm ended, and they were blessed with sight. However, they saw five Terran Mosquitoes ahead, and they were painted with CDL decorations. Liberty flight 1 chased them, and the main flight continued.

Eventually, Liberty flight one came back four pilots short. CDL was good. But not AS good as the New Conglomerate!

The Landing Zone was one kilometer from CDL's base, which was in a valley. The first force would attack from the south, while the second would attack from the north.

The burning, red sun started to get very low over the horizon.

"Ceryshen CT to all flights, things should be getting dark, turn your lights on."

All flights turned on their lights. Beams of white lights illuminated the desert and hopefully would blind any Vanu with their Lancers. The Lancer was a big problem for a pilot. There is no warning, only a beam coming at you REALLY fast. At least they weren't guided and had less range.

Ten miles away, CDL was having a good time. You know, Margarita Mondays. Hamma was cooking. The place smelled of the grill. Everyone was either dancing or drinking, and some doing both. Although moderately. Drunk pilots tended to crash into desert oasises *cough HAMMA cough*. So now you had to show your ID before a drink.

eMa went up to Manitou, doing bar duty.

"So, can I have another?"

"Just one more."

He slid her a beer. She winked back and took it. The campfire was burning and the radio playing 'Margaritaville', an old song about someone who can't finde a salt shaker for his Margarita. It was sung by some guy named 'Buffet.' Why would someone be named after a feast?

The person doing radar duty, new on the job, decided to go have a quick cold one. Just as the door hissed shut, blips started appearing to the south. First one, then ten, then thirty-five.

In-cockpit, Aztec used his Range Magnifier. He saw the LZ. It was clear. No music in his cockpit. Radio silence at all times unless it was severe. He turned to see the base. He saw a fire. Was the base on fire? No, no, it's a campfire. He scanned the area. The defense platforms were close by, but unmanned. The vehicles were also unmanned but close. He saw the bar. His blood went cold as he saw the same woman who had killed him. He did not want that to happen again.

At base, the radar operator had forgotten the screen and was now dancing with another new soldier, this one female. He was in the right place at the wrong time. At his desk, reports started printing out: Patrol HX-255 downed by enemy raiding force. Scramble fighters.

"Independence 1-1, radio silence off, we are now landing at the LZ."

The doors opened. Five Vanguards, four Lightnings, and a Sunderer exited the Galaxies. They turned off their lights, put on night vision goggles, and took up positions.

Squeeky was sitting down, enjoying a beer. eMa came to him and pulled him out of the chair and started dancing with him.

Just as this was happening, phase two of the raid began: attack.

The newbie came back from dancing. He remembered, asked for her number, and sprinted back to the control tower. He was mortified at the sight. Over forty blips were converging on the base! Printouts from command started coming in from all over the place: WARNING: Raid-sized force inbound! Take defensive positions! He was about to turn on the loudspeaker when the first artillery volley hit the tower. The tower collapsed and fell onto the defense wall.

eMa, Squeeky, and everyone stopped and looked skyward.

Runing the tenseness of the moment, the music kept on playing.

"Wastin' away in Marga...

KA-BOOM!

Yes I am, yes I

KA-BOOM!

Lookin' for my lost shaker of

KA-BOOM!"

"Freedom 1-1, targets destroyed!"

Hamma ran to his Mosquito. Despite the famous lake-crashes, he was probably the best that the Terrans had. As he was taking off, a rocket hit right where he was a moment earlier. A Reaver, wing number 0450, flew right above. Everyone knew that number. That guy had a bounty on his head.

SAMs and flak started to chase the attackers. Freedom 1-7, who actually specialized in tanking and piloting as secondary, gave the artillery coordinates. The artillery took out a few tanks, but then the tanks hit Freedom 1-7, who blew up mid-air.

eMa grabbed her trusty mini-chaingun. After warming it up, she gave 0450 a good burst. Aztec heard the hits and looked at his right MFD which changed automatically from weather to damage. He learned that his right engine had taken a few hits and was now stuck horizontal.

Squeeky grabbed a rocket launcher. He fired, downing a Mosquito. That Mosquito hit a MAX, crushing him and, being unable to get up, he burned in the fire.

Aztec saw a whole line of Mosquitoes start taking off. He let loose a hail of rockets which sent them back down.

Aztec saw another Terran Mosquito flash right by. He gave chase. The thing turned left. He turned left. He gave it a few rounds of chaingun, but not enough to knock him out.

Hamma saw that he had a Reaver on his six. He pulled upward. A rocket hit the Mosquito. The Mosquito started to smoke. He lowered the throttle to zero, and the Reaver flew past. He gave it a good burst of chaingun.

"Warning. Engine fire. Warning. Right wing damage. Fire extunguished. Warning. Fuel leak..." crooned the female voice.

"Shut the HELL UP!" He punched the right MFD, breaking it, which did no good, as the thing now said "Warning. Cockpit damage." He was just fuming at this point.

A tank shell hit the ailing Reaver. It simply could not take any more. Where was the second wave?

Somewhere back there, the second wave had not even taken off! There was some chain-of-command confusion. This works wonders for the enlisted man, as he always pays for the general's faliure. Never the general.

Squeeky fired a SAM at a burning Reaver. It hit, causing the Reaver to lose a wing and enter a dive.

"Warning! Eject!"

"F**K YOU!" Aztec started cursing at the voice until he realized that he was going down, and fast. He pulled the lever between his legs. Explosive charges blew the top off, and the seat flew out. The Reaver crashed into the bar, lighting the hut on fire.

[AztecWarrior]

Back at the LZ, the artillery troops reported back to command. "Operation sucessful- reinforcements are being called in." And it was true. Mosquitoes started appearing from the north.

This was not on Aztec's mind as he floated down. He saw tanks moving out, MAXes being loaded into Sunderers, and everyone shooting at aircraft, even with Repeater pistols.

He hit the ground. Reinforcements started to appear. So at least the mission had not been that much of a tactical faliure. His death would not be in vain.

Acutally, there was one slight mistake. He would not die.

As he hit the ground, high ranking members of CDL surrounded him. There was no escape. He decided to fight. He had a few small arms on him. He reached to get his Suppressor, only to find that it was gone! He reached for a MAG-Scatter. Gone! AMP? Gone! MAG-Cutter? Gone!

What the HELL? It then hit him. He had grabbed someone else's harness! This person had not bothered to load it. With nothing better to do, he reached for the sky. Among the people around him were Squeeky, and Manitou. Then he turned around, and his blood ran cold. eMa was pointing three chaingun barrels at him. A few others were with them.

He was handcuffed and taken to the generator room.

They were having a great time while walking there.

"So, what are you going to do with your 25,000 credits?" said Squeeky.

He realized that this was big: there was a bounty on his head! He must have been real good against those Terrans.

"I don't know. Maybe a better apartment than we have here!" said eMa.

For Aztec, the pieces began to fit in the puzzle. CDL did not take prisoners! "There must have been some serious cash on my head" was running across his mind. How much? He decided ask. Big mistake.

"Say, how much is on my head?"

"100,000 credits. We've split them between me, the tanker, Hamma, and eMa." said Squeeky.

That's a lot. Enough to buy your own Reaver. They passed by a radio room, where there was constant chatter. He caught a few words.

"Ceryshen, where the hell is wave two?"

"Ceryshen to Independence 1, they've just taken off.."

"Tell the general this: F**k you. That wave was supposed to be here by now. We are taking heavy causalties!"

This did nothing to improve Aztec's morale. Eventually, they reached the room. There were no prisons on this base.

"Let me handle this." said eMa, and the interrogation began. She knew what she had done to him. She would now turn this against him.

"We know your name. You are the single most prized non-officer target on Auraxis. Did you know that?"

"Did you know that your Hamma there..."

She hit him in the head with an armored glove.

"I AM ASKING THE QUESTIONS! Now answer the question. Did you know that..."

"No, I..."

Another blow.

"Wait for me to finish! Did you know that you are the most prized non-officer?"

"No."

"Is this a reprisal raid? Is this for what we did to you on Ceryshen?"

Ceryshen. The thought flashed across his mind. Falling, hit ground, bleed, shot, falling, hit ground, bleed, shot, falling...

"Yes." He had sworn to keep true to the NC, and he would not reveal the true intention.

"Squeeky. Go tell command that."

He did.

"Now, our spies tell us that you went on a secret mission on this continent not too long ago. What were you doing?"

"I never went on that mission."

She hit him with the barrels of the mini-chaingun. He fell out of the chair.

"SIT THE HELL BACK DOWN! WE KNOW THAT YOU WERE THERE, YOU STUPID *racial slur*..." said one of the ones that Aztec did not recognize.

This pushed him over the limit. He got up and tackled the man. He was biting him when felt a dart in his back. He fell off the man, and lost consciousness.

[AztecWarrior]

He slowly regained consciousness. Everything was blurry. The sound of the generator seemed far away. He was in manacles, chained to the wall. Hamma came up to him. He said nothing but stared at him. He then smacked Aztec across the face with a Repeater pistol.

eMa was also there. The interrogation began anew.

"I've been thinking about what you told me back on Ceryshen. You're right. Fear of death isn't working. So we won't kill you. Instead...Squeeky, show him.'

Squeeky approached with what appeared to be a headset. He got closer, and Aztec's blurry vision saw that it was the headset of a polygraph. Polygraphs, or lie detectors, worked by measuring your pupil dilation and your heart rate. If they went up too much, you were lying.

"We're going to ask you some questions. If you lie....Hamma, bring it out."

Hamma brought a torture device. It was connected to a battery and therefore shock torture. He approached Aztec and gave him a little voltage.

The pain was beyond anything that he had felt before. It seemed that every cell in his body was being shocked. He trembled uncontrollably. He screamed to the top of his lungs. He fell back down, sitting on the floor, back to the wall. eMa put the headset on him and connected the heart rate monitor.

"Okay. Let's start off easy. We've heard rumors of a second wave. Is it coming?"

He thought for a second and then answered.

"No."

Despite lying, he was right.

Back at base, someone had reasoned that the attack had already met its goals. Why continue? The extra forces were assigned to Eureka, and off they went.

By a miracle, the machine said that he was telling the truth.

"Fast learner, I see. Number two. Did you go on a secret mission on this continent?"

"No."

Beep!

She grabbed the shocker handles and gave Aztec a thirty-second burst.

"Let's try again. Did you go on a secret mission on this continent?"

If they know I'm lying, why ask? thought Aztec. Then it came to him: they wanted to torture him for information but also for fun.

A secret's a secret.

"No."

Beep!

She kicked him under the ribs and then gave him a burst with the shocker. Sixty seconds.

I've got to concede something, or they'll kill me.

"Did you go on a secret mission on this continent?"

"Yes."

The system only responded to yes and no answers, so eMa had to narrow it down.

"Did you kill anyone?"

"No."

"Did you use a vehicle?"

"No."

Beep!

Third strike.

He got a 90 second burst of electricity. After this, he just couldn't take it anymore. He struck eMa in the face. She was close enough so that the chains were slack, and he could move.

All the people present in that room started beating him. He tried to fend off their attacks, but they had armor on. He had just the black jumpsuit on. The armor had been removed.

"Let's give him some cool-off time." said Squeeky.

"Agreed." said eMa.

Aztec lied there on the dry, dark cell floor. He was too sore to even move. Too sore even to move his lips to pray. He was bleeding from his mouth. It even seemed to hurt to think. He could only think of one thing, repeated over and over.

Send the second wave.

He then thought of how in the movies, men never cried, not even under the worst torture. The movie directors should be tortured. He started to cry.

[AztecWarrior]

Squeeky walked away from the torture chamber, laughing and joking around with eMa.

"That guy got owned. Dirty."

"Yeah. Thanks for helping me when he punched me."

"Come on, anyone would have beat that NC till he started crying.."

And they stared laughing. But not for long. The intercom came on.

"All troops, report to briefing room immediately. We are going into Red Alert." The red strobe lights came on.

The two rushed to the briefing room. They were given their armor and weapons. Something severe had happened. The commanding officer, Manitou, spoke. The hologram next to him illustrated the moves he spoke about.

"As you all know, we recieved a surprise attack by the New Conglomerate three hours ago. Had the general's forces not arrived, we would probably be under siege. However, this was the tip of the iceberg.

"We have just recieved word of a massive attack on ALL fronts by the New Conglomerate. Everywhere, NC forces are attacking bases. We have at least three continents expected to go into complete continenal lock within six hours. This, ladies and gentlemen, is doomsday. Our forces are stretched thin, so the base can't recieve any more help if attacked. Therefore, I am ordering this base to full alert. For the time being, we shall stay here. Expect many respawns from the tubes, so get ready.

"This continent is apparently spared from the attack. A counter-attack will be occuring in the next four hours. We may go for Ceryshen or Eureka. We are not sure. All troops, battle stations!"

Battle stations. That meant a constant combat air patrol over the base, tanks manned, all aircraft in the air, all troops by their designated delivery units.

"Are there any questions?"

eMa raised her hand.

"What are we going to do with the prisoner?"

"eMa, you've always been a woman of action. I'm asking for an exception to the rule here. Just let him be. He can't escape, and if he would, where would he go? This is a military base on red alert, surrounded by a desert. But for good measure, we are going to install bars around his desingated area. Any other questions? Good. Move out!"

A figure appeared, right on the stage. He pulled the pin of a grenade. He dropped it and ran. However, the audience was fully armed. He was shot to death there. The grenade went off, wounding but not killing Manitou.

Everyone ran up to see who it was. It was a cloaked NC spy.

Back at Ceryshen command, within a restricted area, a few radio operators started swearing. They had just lost a spy. They, however, got the important parts: Aztec was alive and a counter-attack was expected.

"Run down to the respawn tubes. See if he's there."

"Yes, sir!"

"I just hope that our second agent can find Aztec."

The whole squadron was visibly upset with the capture of their commander. He was their beacon. He was always friends with every one of them, despite outranking them. Someone at command made a wise decision and 'edited' the report on his health. They thought that he was being treated semi-fairly and not being tortured.

The second agent, Black Widow, used Range Magnifier to zoom in on the compound. She had been called in all the way from the Stronghold at a moment's notice. She could identify which room that Aztec was in, but there were no windows. She would have to enter.

She entered the wide main gate unnoticed. A sandstorm was beginning, so the mysterious footprints-without-a-foot were covered up. She slowly and quietly entered the generator room where he was being held. She saw him on the floor, crying. He was now behind bars. She walked up to him (still invisible), and you can imagine the shock when a piece of paper comes out of nothing and falls to the ground.

"Ssssh. Read it."

She left. She didn't have the tools to get him out of the cell, nor the firepower to get him out of the base.

Aztec, still sobbing, opened up the note. It read:

This is Ceryshen command. We are aware of your current state and have not forgotten you. A rescue team is on the way. It will arrive in five minutes. We need you to stand as far away from the back wall as possible. Delivered by: (signed) Black Widow.

He was a bit happier, but he knew something they didn't: the base was on red alert.

He faintly heard an incoming Galaxy.

[AztecWarrior]

Trivia answer: It was used by the British in WW2 to signal an invasion of Britain by Germany. The code was used, but Germany did not invade.


eMa sat down at a table next to Squeeky and their squad's Sunderer.

"To be 100% honest, I am afraid of the guy. I mean, he killed me! Point-blank with the MAG-Scatter. I remember the respawn tube- I couldn't do anything. Then I couldn't see. Then my eyes came back, and everything above my eyes was missing!"

"Don't worry. He's behind bars now. He can't hurt any of us."

They held each other's hands. Then the alarms came on. The buzzers started, and over the intercom came: "WARNING: Attack inbound. A Sunderer convoy, with Vanguard escort, and a Galaxy. All troops, attack! They are to our north!"

They entered the Sunderer. eMa got one turret. She loaded the chaingun with a 1,000 round belt of 12mm bullets. Squeeky got to drive. It was his second cert. Other CDL members got into the seats. Engines droned as fighters took off.

Hamma boarded his Mosquito. The two MFDs lit up as the key was inserted. The instrument cluster came active. Weapons systems displayed, showing the 12mm chaingun as full.

The attack plan was as such: Intercept the convoy. Anti-vehicular units would take out the two Vanguards, and then the infantry would move in for the three Sunderers.

Three miles away, a Sunderer was pushing 120 MPH on the dunes. The gunners were scanning the area. The Vanguard tanks were a bit behind, as this Sunderer was the scout. The heat was horrible. These were military vehicles, stripped of every consumer conveinence in the interests of price and production speed, so no A/C.

"Hey, Sarge. Can we open up a window or two?"

"Negative. You ever caught a desert sniper's bulltet?"

"Nope."

"It's not fun. The guy burrows in there, can't see him, then WHAM! two people dead. The bullets penetrate like hell."

Four Mosquitoes appeared, closing in fast.

"Sarge! We got's Mosquitoes coming in fast!"

"Open fire!"

The twin chainguns of the Sunderer lit up. Tracers flew by the Mosquitoes. Hamma nearly took a hit to the window glass.

"Hamma, going in!"

He pushed the stick down. His chaingun lit up. The bullets rained down, killing a turret gunner. A 12mm got him in the upper torso, ripping off everything above that. Blood spurted everywhere and got into the interior. A second soldier took up his chaingun.

Hamma kept on firing. A burst landed in the engine. The Sunderer exploded and burned.

"Hamma, I got one!"

Over the radio, the other NC forces were alerted. The plan was this: The Vanguards provide anti-vehicular protection, the infantry goes into the base, and the Galaxy lands to get Aztec out of there. Black Widow was aboard. She would guide the extraction team. They were all in Stealth Suits.

The Galaxy flew over the base, its 20mm cannon igniting fuel tanks and blowing apart unarmored personnel. One man with a leg blown off ran into the doorway of the generator room.

"DAMN ALL OF YOU! DAMN ALL OF YOU F**KING NEW CONS!"

He took out his pistol. He was about to shoot Aztec when a 20mm shell landed near him, blowing off his arms. He died on the spot of blood loss.

The Galaxy was wreaking havoc. Ammo left outside exploded, blowing a hole in the outer defense wall. Manitou, despite injury, picked up a rocket launcher. He aimed it straight at the oncoming Galaxy. He fired. The rocket flew towards the wing. There was virtually no time for the pilot to react. The rocket hit, creating a fireball. The wing fell off. The Galaxy crashed into the ammo dump, creating a massive explosion.

Squeeky's Sunderer stopped within sight of the convoy.

"Go go GO!"

An anti-vehicular MAX and four standard soliders exited. The chainguns roared. eMa saw her tracers hit the windshield of the enemy Sunderer. After a few seconds, it exploded. The other Sunderers arrived, firing.

"We're taking fire! Get out!" The NC troops got out. They took cover behind a rock and fired back.

"Bilko! Fire!"

The Vanguard, king of armored combat, unleashed its main gun on the infantry. It blew apart a few Terrans. The Terran MAXes got smart and unloaded rockets into it. It blew up, but not before taking out a MAX. The other MAX saw a Vanguard taking aim. It fired its Pounder at it. After a few shots, it blew up. However, it did take out a few Terrans.

The Terrans advanced. Combat became soldier-to-soldier. One Terran, when she saw a friend lying dead due to a Gauss, charged and killed three before being cut in half by a Sunderer's chaingun. The Sunderers charged. That's when the Mosquitoes came in and gave the the last remaining Sunderers hell. They downed a Mosquito but died.

Aztec waited on the other side of his cell, waiting for a Vanguard to knock over the wall. It never came.

Squeeky's Sunderers and the Mosquitoes landed. He heard the cheers, and his fears came true. The attack was a faliure.

Faliure.

Faliure.

I'm a faliure. I got myself shot down.

He then realized it- every single day would be hell. Torture in the morning, torture midday, torture in the evening. Bread and water for years.

The psychiological problems from being shot down in Eureka came back. Paranoia, self-doubt, fear.

He started to cry heavily.

And so it is.

He remains there, tortured daily, fed scarcely, with a shattered mind.

[Sando138]

I'm hoping you arent planning on keeping Aztec spending the rest of his life being tortured. you have a good storyline going, and i hope this isn't the end of Aztec.

[AztecWarrior]

Wow. During direct conversation, I get referred to in the 3rd person.

Anyway, it won't be the end. But don't plan on him getting out very soon.