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A Desert, A Dragon, And A Gun

Chapter 4

"Move, move, move Ackim, flank it from the back Irayo, you're with me Ahina tend to Nylris, make sure she's okay, as soon as she is get back here " They followed Alratar's orders without question or complaint. His mind was racing for an answer on how to destroy the battle mech. It had already proved it self much more than formidable by taking out Nylris. She had gotten out of the way, but the large bullets had hit a tree next to her sending many sharp splinters through the armor and into her scales.

"Sir, what about the plasma cannon?" Irayo's voiced hissed with delight, this had actually been a battle worth fighting for him. He had never met an opponent man or machine that could last this long against him or the unit. He had been constantly fighting for about a half hour and this thing wasn't letting up on them. The armor of the mech. was so thick that almost nothing could even put a dent in it. With each step it took it left a twenty foot wide, five foot hole in the ground due it its massive weight of around sixty tons. This thing could maneuver better than any other machine.

"We have to use them sparingly. If we do we won't be able to find its weak point the gun will just melt it. So, for now just keep attacking until you can find its weak spot." Ackim landed behind the mech. and fired upon it with a large chain gun he had brought along. The mech. kept walking forward as its upper body turned around fully, bringing its weaponry to face Ackim. The hot barrels continued to rapidly spin as the fired the large calabur bullets. Ackim jumped to the right behind the cover of a thick tree. The bullets crashed into the ground were he just stood and began to follow him. He jumped high up into the tree as the bullets ripped through the bottom of it and continued moving to the side.

The tree started to fall with Ackim still in it. It hit the ground next to the mech. and Ackim jumped at it. He landed on the upper part of the cockpit and dug his claws into the metal plating. They went in, but only enough to hold his body weight. The mech. started jerking left and right until Ackim was thrown off and into the forest. Upon landing he jumped right back up and continued to fire at the mech. Alratar and Irayo were already on its exposed flanks and began hacking at it. Their blades barley scratched it, leaving some marks on the things legs. It quickly spun around and began shooting at them.

There was a loud sound off in the distance as several fifty calabur bullets began to rain down upon it. They came one after another in a straight line and hit the same point at the front of the cockpit which looked like it was made out of cut diamonds. The bullets bounced off it leaving the clear casing unscathed. The mech. pointed one arm to where the shots were coming from and one in Alratar's direction. They began to fire simultaneously, Alratar jumped into the sky avoiding the large shells but it was unknown to him of the fate of other shooter.

Irayo began slashing at it with his blades, which were doing no better than before. Ahina came down from the sky in a dive bomb, avoiding the deadly haze of gunfire. She began shooting at the machine with her rifle, but to no avail. Ackim switched over to a rocket launcher and started firing them upon the mech. They hit, but did nothing other than slow it down. They faded back into the forest hoping to get away and try another plan of attack, but it followed them with great speed. What ever got in the machines way was knocked over and crushed under its weight.

As they ran through the forest it continued to shoot its large bullets at them, its ammunition supply seemingly endless. "That's it, Nyris get two plasma cannons ready at the cities northern gate, I just about had it with this dam thing "

"Yes sir." The com. clicked off with the sound of Nylris grunting as she rose from her resting place. Irayo's laughter could be heard over the com channel, delighted of the news.

"Sir, I don't think Nylris can make it here without reopening her wounds."

"Don't worry about her Ahina, she'll live." The com clicked off as the team focused on dealing with the mech. while Nylris prepared the cannons. They circled around the machine in various patterns and continuously changing directions to avoid fire and to confuse the piolet. So far their bullets and blades did little more then scratch it. Even when focused on a single point they did little damage. Irayo's frustration was evident in the way he attacked. It was more of a rampage then anything else, like an angry child trying to fight its father.

"Sir the canons are ready and will fire on your command."

"Excellent, everyone fall back and watch for shrapnel." The unit scattered in different directions, hiding themselves among the bullet ridden forest. The piolet sat in his machine unmoving and confused as to what was happening. I bright blue light seemed to catch the eye of the piolet as the mech. turned to face it. The canon fired and the bright beam of plasma fired and hit its target.

The piolet tried to evade but the mech was unable to maneuver quickly enough. The plasma beam hit its legs, but did not destroy them. Unlike the rest of the forest area the mech remained standing only with its legs melted to the ground and the rest of its circuits either fried or melted. Much of the mech's armor was either melting or a boiling pile of metal. "Cease fire I repeat cease fire "

"Roger that sir, standing by for further instructions."

"Alright, everyone get down here and lets see if we can salvage anything, over." Alratar emerged from his place of hiding and quickly walked over to where the mech was last seen. There were several puddles of boiling metal scattered around the mech as more continued to drip off the body of the machine. Irayo was already there, admiring the damage of the plasma canon, but much more in awe of the fact that it was completely obliterated.

"Think they have any more of these things?" He asked, not really caring who heard.

"Probably, though I doubt they have more then three or four more of these things."

"Think the piolet's still alive?"

"Only one way to find out, open the cockpit."

"My pleasure." Irayo walked over to the cock pit and grabbed hold on the latch. He began to lift it slowly, as if wanting to scare the man, if he was still alive. It opened with a loud hiss and snap as the hydraulics fought to keep it closed. The rest of the team had arrived and watched Irayo lift the hatch. Inside was a man holding a small calabur pistol, with nothing on but an atmospheric helmet and the standard Russian special ops uniform. He panicked and shot at the armored thing in front of him. The bullets ricocheted off in different directions, the man ceased his constant firing when one of his own bullets pierced his shoulder.

Irayo quickly ripped the gun from his hands and tossed it into one of the piles of boiling metal. The man coward in the back of his own seat as he was now left helpless. "So sir, what should we do with him?"

"We'll bring him back to the city, let the natives decide what to do with him."

"Why don't we question him first? See if he can tell us anything about there military."

"Fine, just don't be too physical. I have a strict policy against torture Irayo."

"I know sir." Irayo grabbed the man by the chest and tossed him over his shoulder. "Common meat, lets go talk someplace a little bit private." The soldier started crying out in Russian, most likely for help, as he was dragged off by Irayo. He was silenced when Irayo's fist met with the piolets gut, knocking the wind out of him and silencing his cries for help.

"So what now sir?"

"Well for now we gather up the survivors from the city and begin moving to our destination."

"But what about Irayo sir?"

"He'll catch up when he's done, for now we must continue with our mission. We don't have much time to carry this out and since one of their precious machines destroyed, we probably won't have much time till reinforcements arrive here either... I'm surprised you forgot about it Ahina."

"Sorry sir, I must've lost my thoughts in the battle we had just fought."

"No matter, lets move out now before we waste anymore valuable time."

-Military outpost, northern Alaska, time 2300 hours-

"Alright meat, lets get a move on This is what were getting paid for so hurry up " A man dressed in dark digital camouflage barked orders at his soldiers. The warmth of the cold steel inside provided only shelter against the harsh arctic winds and snow storms. Other then that it was just a piece of steel with lights inside. Another man dressed in similar fatigues stepped next to him, a black mask covered his face and dark shades shielded his eyes. The only difference being that one was slightly older then the other.

"I trust you trained these men well Sargent?" The older one asked, his voice ridden with an old Japanese accent.

"Ah, General Hara, what a pleasant surprise. Yes, the men here have been trained to perfection in the art of arctic espionage. Which I assume is what you will be using them for."

"Of course. There have been recent reports of enemy patrols along the frozen fronts. I would like to investigate this first before moving on to the primary objective."

"Yes, I've heard about this and have already told the men."

"Good, now how many men do you have here?"

"Exactly 327 sir, how many are you taking with you?"

"I'll only need ten Sargent and one additional computer technician."

"Ten huh? Alright then you'll have your ten men. I'll make sure they're the best we have to offer."

"Good see that you do, also I want each of them equipped with a blade of sorts, at least two feet long."

"Yes sir... sir permission to speak freely sir?"

"Granted."

"What use could these blades have sir?"

"We're going to infiltrate and enemy outpost and download data from one of there terminals, and hack into their mainframe from that point. The blades will be used once we're inside to stealth fully eliminate the enemy presence. If bullets were used, the alarm would be raised, and our mission compromised."

"Ah, I see sir, good thinking. I can see why you were chosen to lead this mission."

"I wasn't chosen Sargent, I volunteered... please make arraignments to depart within twenty minutes."

"Yes sir." The Sargent stiffened for a solute as Hara walked passed him. He walked over to the exit and stepped outside into the cold, frigid wasteland. He stood out in the snow as the wind whipped across the parts of his body that were exposed to the air. Alone and in the dark, he stood tall and proud as the winds tried to push him down, just like the old days.

-Military outpost Southern Russia, 1300 hours.-

"Comrade Warrad, come and take a look at this " A man called from behind a small screen, monitoring the global activity.

"What is it corporal?" The general jumped out from his seat and raced over to the small video screen. He took a look at the small screen the man was pointing to and nodded to him. "Send this to high command immediately and put this on the main screen. The man responded with a simple, "Yes sir," and did as told. He grabbed a red phone off the wall and turned on the base intercom. "All command personnel, repeat, all command personnel report to briefing room 223 immediately " Warrad slammed the phone onto its rack out of frustration and moved towards the Sargent, "I need a copy of this video sent to briefing room 223 ASAP."

"Yes, sir " The young man shouted, his voice shaking slightly in fear. Warrad spun on his heel and quickly marched out of the room, passing several men and women rushing to their posts and toward the main screen to find out what had happened. He walked down the hall looking at the number on the doors until he found his destination. He opened the door quickly and marched into the room which was now filled with all the necessary officers. A man wearing the signs of a major stood and spoke deeply, "General Warrad, what is the meaning of this emergency meeting of sorts " He said as the rest of the base command stood and saluted.

Warrad returned their salute with one of his own and spoke, "At ease men." They all complied and waited for the general to take his seat at the front of the table. As he sat, the rest sat down with him in one fluid motion, showing off great timing and instinct through one simple motion. The general folded his hands and leaned in, a serious and depressing look plastered on his face. "As you all know, a large amount of our infantry men were annihilated some time ago by an unknown force using highly advanced plasma weapons." The Major who'd spoken before stood quickly.

"General, with all do respect, what does this have to do with our current situation?"

"Everything Major, now please take your seat or I will have you court-marshaled " the Major slowly sunk down to his seat, fear planted on his face about the tragedy that had befallen his fellow comrades. A knock came to the door and the Corporal from before entered carrying a disk. Without word nor saying he entered and handed Warrad the disk and marched out. He held the disk for everyone to see, "Those of the weak hearted please leave now..." he stated. As he expected, not one man nor woman moved from their seats.

Warrad pushed a greed button by his seat and the wall behind him began to lift and reveal a large screen. He placed the disk into a receiver located at the bottom and it automatically began to play, show a satellite video of their invasion to Mongolia. "This is approximately recorded three hours before we lost contact with the strike team. As you can see our progress is going well and the invasion deemed an almost complete success. Then this happened..." The screen then turned to static indicating that the satellite had been disrupted and fried. "The invasion went on as planed and the mech was sent in to destroy their capital. As planed the infantry had retreated for their own safety. The audio recordings prove this to be fact." Warrad sat up and faced the officers concerned faces. "Then its stated that contact was lost with the mech and the unit retreated. They had claimed to have heard a loud noise followed by a pressure wave that sent most of them onto their backs. They then retreated to Russian held borders for reinforcements."

"When they gotten back to the mech they found this." Warrad pushed a button and the screen changed to an arial picture of the mech, in its destroyed form. The group gasped in amazement and fear as the picture was shown to them. The pools of liquified metal, still boiling hot and the melted armor and plating of the mech shown in every detail. "This was done by the same kind of plasma weaponry we've encountered from before, and as I've warned you all before, it has destroyed our greatest war machine with ease. Also, the piolets body has gone missing and is presumed alive, the video recovered from his helmet is still quite disturbing..."

The video screen turned to static for half a second and then reappeared as the piolets cam, just as his mech became fried. The piolet was shouting in terror as the circuits blew and shot sparks onto him. They soon stopped and an erie silence fell onto the cockpit as the piolet ceased his screams of terror. Chatter could be heard from outside, the dialog muffled by the chamber. The cockpit started to shake and rattle. The piolet panicked and immediately grabbed his side arm and pointed towards the slowly opening door. The piolet shot at the large metallic creature that stood before him. The bullets bounced off the creature and his gun was tossed aside by the creature. The video came into view of all five of the creatures as the piolet was pulled out of the cockpit by the one who had opened it. The video stopped and Warrad addressed the audience.

"The rest of the base bas most likely seen this video by now. These creatures here are from America, it has been determined through English that their leader is keeping our piolet alive for questioning. These creatures are not human as shown here." The recording went back to when the cockpit was being lifted up and paused it. Apart of the image was enlarged and showed part of the creatures lower leg. "Gentlemen these shown here are scales, presumed to cover the creatures entire body. What ever these things are, they are certainly not human and they must be dealt with as soon as possible... you're dismissed... further discussion on our standing at this moment will start at 0900 tomorrow. Be there if you have even the slightest thought to contribute to aid us, no idea will be shunned and all will be thought through with all possible outcomes... that is all."

Warrad stayed inside the briefing room and continued to watch the video over and over again, looking for something he might have missed. He studied the several pools of bubbling metal, the burnt trees and ground, and most importantly the scales on the one they call Irayo. If they were going to recover their piolet they would have to act quickly. He might have recovered some valuable information on these creatures during his captivity, if he's still alive. Though high command has undoubtably thought this through, maybe the military can use this video for enlistment. Warrad sent the next hour thinking of how to present this to the public.

-Small life raft off the coast of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska,0200-

General Hara was towards the front of the raft, six on each side rowing with special paddles designed for sea travel. The technician was in the back right rowing along with the other men. Seated next to him was his second in command for this mission, Sargent Gomez, a highly trained soldier in the arts of stealth and infiltration, an also ex hitman. They didn't have to travel far, only about seven mikes actually. The hard part would be slipping through their defensive ships undetected. "Sir, defensive ships are up ahead, we're close." Gomez said quietly. Hara looked up over a wave and saw the fog lights of the Russian battleships and cruisers.

"Gomez, can you stop the mainland from here?" The Sargent pulled out a scope belonging to his rifle and looked down past the ships.

"Yes sir, land is about a mile away from here, we'll make it if we leave from this spot."

Hara turned around and addressed the rest of his team, "Alright men, put on your suits and get ready for our departure." With that said Hara began putting on his own diving gear. As soon as they were all ready, they jumped into the frigid water, taking a few moments to get used to the cold water now engulfing them. "Alright, follow me and maintain radio silence until we reach the shore, stay close and good luck." Hara put down his mask and dived down into the deep, dark water. The lights on his mask were only bright enough to see ten feet in front of him, his only guide being a simple compass.

He looked behind him for a quick second and counted eleven pairs of lights. Good, everyone's keeping up, he thought to himself. Hara looked ahead and saw the cold steel bow's of the Russian navy ships. He went down deeper and his men followed him into the darkness. He quickly checked his bearings and with a slight change of course he was on his way. It wasn't too long before they passed the ships and reached land, the currents helping them slip through undetected. The beach wasn't far off from the ships positions and the went into the mainland undetected. The storm in this area was just a slight snowfall, masking their presence. They set up a small concealed camp around a random group of trees.

"Alright, rest up, we'll begin out operation in a few hours. Gomez, you have first watch, we'll rotate every half hour. I suggest you all get your equipment ready before you pass out." Hara spoke softly and quietly before stripping himself of his seagoing equipment. He walked over to the several black boxes, containing most of their equipment and readied his battle gear along with the other soldiers. Gomez had already pulled out his long range rifle and started to scan the area from atop a tree. Just as Hara was about to lay down he climbed down.

"Sir, our target is about two miles from our current position and is lightly guarded. Guess they never expected any force to slip by unseen."

"I don't think so Sargent, keep watch for any suspicious activity, they could be expecting us." Gomez nodded then returned to his post atop the tree. Looking with well trained eyes around in and around the base, taking out unfortunate soldiers that strayed to far, their screams lost in the wasteland.

The shifts rotated and everything so far was going according to plan, the men were well rested from their trip. Hara was on the last watch before the unit left their camp. He looked at his watch and as it hit 11:30 he began to awake the men from their slumber. They awoke and readied themselves quickly. Covering their remaining equipment with blankets and snow, they moved out into the darkness. Step by step they moved through the fresh powder swiftly and effortlessly. Appearing to be one with the light snowfall they were within 500 yards from the front gates of their target. "What's the defensive situation on the outside?"

The Sargent moved up from behind him and lay on the snow, his rifle aimed down toward the base's main entrance. Two shots were fired by his quick response. "Zero men guarding sir, and no cameras posted Sir."

"Good work, alright, take 5 men and move to the right flank, I'll take the left." With a few simple hand signs Gomez and five other men went to the right, disappearing in the darkness. Hara then took the remaining four and technician to the right. Following a rounded he met with no resistance as he made his way to the base. He came to the front wall and Gomez soon made his appearance coming into the bright lights. They moved close to the opening door and slowly opened it by an inch. He stuck a small probe inside and looked around the room and quickly pulled it out.

"Sir, it's empty." Hara opened the door and slowly made his way inside. Looking around he found it to be empty, not even security cameras.

"I got a bad feeling about this." He said under his breath. They unit walked inside carefully, scanning the entire area for anything unusual. He and the Sargent slowly walked out and into the corridor and saw nothing but a few doors. There was a loud crash behind him as the main door became sealed shut. A wall slid out from the hallway crushing the unfortunate man in its path. He heard his men yelling and screaming as the sound of gas came from the other side of the wall. Then, the wall in front of the two opened and two shots were heard, then silence...