Zoids: Reflections (Introduction, notes and story)

[milicron]

First, welcom to our Fanfiction. As with all fanfiction, it takes place in an alternate universe.

In order to fully understand what is going on here let me explain a few background details and assumptions. This will make the story flow much better for you.

First of all, this story was written by my wife and I, it's based on the table-top role-playing game we run with our church-group every weekend. The characters as presented are based on a series of numbers and skills listed on a sheet of paper. Weather or not the charater suceeds at a given task is determined by dice.

At the end of each game session, either her or I type out what happened, sort of a story-summary for the session. This includes what happened to a given character, what happend to the Zoids and stuff like that. We fill in the details and make it flow more like a short story, and the end result is what you are looking at now.

ASUMPTIONS AND UNIVERSE CHANGES:

First, in our alternate reality the events of NC/Zero take place about 50 years after the events in Chaotic Century. The events in Fuzors take place about 10 years after that. Bit, Leena, several Back-Draft characters and others have tiny minor roles in the story.

We also assume that both the Empire and Republic of the CC exist, and do so on the same land-mass... like the United States and Canada. Nyx is our enemy in this story... think a composite of every agressive nation in Earth History.

As our story opens, it is about 5 years after the events in Fuzors, our characters are taking place in the semi-final battle before the Royal Cup.

Last note: As this is based off of a RPG game, some of your beloved Zoids may differ than the raw stats on the box or as portrayed on screen. I had to do this to balance the game and make it fair for everyone.

Now, our characters:

Dramatis Personae

STONECYPHER TEAM:

Gladys DeCamp: Vice-President and Operations Manager for Stonecypher Extrusion. Tomas DeCamp's mother. Visualize her as the sweet old lady that everyone knows.

Tomas DeCamp – Stonecypher Extrusion Inc. Mining expert. Pilots a huge Mad Thunder modified to strip-mine iron ore from hills. 31 years old, when the story opens he has been dating Maria for over two years. 5'9 inches tall, 150 pounds.

Maria "Dizzy" Ford/DeCamp – Stonecypher Extrusion Inc. Master Mechanic and pilot of a highly modified Gordos. Also trained to operate the enormous Siesmosaurs Zoid. Maria is a short feisty redhead of undetermined origin. Her pockets are often full of tools, most of which she uses as weapons when someone makes her angry.

Katrina Panache – Extraordinary pilot and master aerial combatant. Katrina holds a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering, and designs her own aerial Zoids. Despite her skill in the air, Katrina dreams of being a rock-and-roll star and is often seen listening to and analyzing live rock-concerts. Friend of Maria, has a minor crush on Tom.

Linda Rowe – Mercenary electronic-warfare expert hired by the Stonecypher Team. Pilots a highly modified Dimetrodon crammed full of ultra-technology electronics and computer-assisted signal analyzers and jammers. Linda also aspires to be a musical talent, she dreams of setting up a recording studio with her winnings.

Ivan Slightwind – Freelance Zoid pilot who joined the Stonecypher Team originally as a cook. Once it was discovered that he also owned a Shadow Fox he was offered a position in the team lineup.

Kevin – Operates a rotary die-cutter in Building Three of the massive Stonecypher Extrusion factory near Victory Point. Likes to gamble. Somehow Kevin managed to win a fully-operation Geno Breaker from someone under somewhat questionable circumstances.

GWEN-FOX TEAM:
Raoul Alexander Fox, Ultimate Siesmosaurs. Visualize as George Kastanza's father from Seinfeld.
Angherd Gwen-Fox, Ultimate Siesmosaurs. Visualize as George Kastanza's mother from Seinfeld.
Amy Wolf, Iguan
Blair Woolwacker, Energy Liger II

ZOIDS BATTLE COMMISSION:
Commissioner Gordon Peerless
High Commander Enrichard
George Aloe
Simon Cockrhine

FROM NYX:
The Angel/Eva Bahrain – Mastermind behind the entire invasion. Desires to unite all of Zi under the Nyxian banner.
Ivana Rozhkov – Nuclear scientist
Helmut Kanzler – Nuclear scientist

[milicron]

PROLOG:

"YOU'RE ATTENTION PLEASE! BY ORDER OF THE ZOIDS BATTLE COMMISSION THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF WEAPONS ARE NOW FORBIDDEN ON THE SEMI-FINAL BATTLEFIELD: REPUBLIC SUPER-CANNONS. IMPERIAL HYPER-BEAM CANNONS. HIBLITZ VULCAN CANNONS. ANY TYPE OF MUON-LASER OR HEAVY PARTICLE-PUMP LASER. BY ORDER OF THE ZOID BATTLE COMMISSION YOUR TEAM IS DISQUALIFIED FROM FURTHER PARTICIPATION IN THE ROYAL CUP."

Tom DeCamp slammed his fist into the console. "But WHY?! That's all I want to know! We're THIS CLOSE and they go off and do this to us!"

Dizzy Ford patted him on the shoulder. "Well it's not all bad, the Gwen-Fox team is in the same boat as us. Look on the bright side, at least you won't have to face Ultimate Siesmo again."

Tom managed a weak grin. "Yeah, there is that. But I'm almost positive we could have whuped them this time around."

Dizzy sighed and motioned for Linda Rowe, the team's electronics expert and Dimetrodon pilot to join them. "Call Gladys and tell her we're headed for the Doyal City plant, we'll camp out there until the Royal Cup is over then we'll head back to Benden."

With a sigh Dizzy took one last look across the battlefield, at the judge capsule, and at the dejected looks on the faces of her teammates. Maybe next year…

***
24 hours later.

Despite being kicked out of the Royal Cup for having the wrong kind of weapons, the mood at Doyal City Plant Camp was downright cheerful. The workers in the smelting plant were always eager to show off their skills to Dizzy, General Manager of Stonecypher Alloy Extrusion (Benden City Plant). After a tour of the production facility and a meeting with the local managers she headed out to the camp site where the Stonecypher Team Zoids were being stored. Passing the enormous Mad Thunder Zoid she headed right for the large party-tent tent next to the Dimetrodon.

Inside, the pilots were gathered around a screen watching the final battles of the Royal Cup. A thick cable ran from the back of the screen to outside the tent… and connected to the spinal array on the bright red Dimetrodon.

"Two and a half million credits worth of Electronic Countermeasures makes for one heck of a television receiver," quipped Linda Rowe.

Dizzy laughed and poured herself a cup of bug-juice. "Who's left? Anyone we know?"

Tom looked at his note-pad "Rodgers Team Vs Iron Mountain Team… and The Angel Vs the Ligers Three…. And now it looks like the last battle is going to be The Angel vs. The Rodgers Team. Just in time, pull up a chair."

Dizzy pulled up a chair and watched the drama unfold on the screen. Looking around she noticed that Katrina Panache was missing. "Tom, where is Kat?"

" Oh, she's watching some music program on the other monitor outside." Tom shrugged.

Dizzy got up and walked outside to find Kat. She did she heard Tom mutter "Damn that Bio Kentro made rather quick work of the Gun Bluster."

Kat was indeed watching a concert and barely looked up from the screen. "Hey, boss" was all she said.

Suddenly the signal went and the screen filled with static. "Hunh, wonder why she changed the lyrics, that was her best song…" she tapped the side of the monitor.

Dizzy tapped the monitor too. "That's odd let's go see if Linda is having problems."

They walked into the other tent, just as the pilot of the Bio Kentro made a strange salute at the camera. "Linda, we lost the other signal."

At that moment Kevin poked his head in, "I lost my signal to Portview City, Linda."

Seconds later Gordon announced he had lost his connection to the Sha Cha Village Casino.

…it was only by shear chance that Tom looked out of the tent flap and saw the speck in the sky.

"SHIELDS! RAISE THE $&(*!!! SHIELDS LINDA!" Tom sprinted out the flap as Linda leaped up to the cockpit of her Zoid. The information clicked in her mind and Dizzy tackled Gordon and Kat to the ground and covered her ears…

…for a moment there is a crackle of static energy as the shields snap online, then the world turns black and white. A noise so loud it has a physical presence, a taste, a smell...

Then silence.

"Dear god. Someone nuked Doyal City."

[milicron]

CHAPTER ONE: Aftershock and Preparations

Sha Cha Village. Portview City. Doyal. Port Harmony. Victory Point.

"All gone. Someone nuked all our bases on both coasts." Dizzy looked grim. "This means we're now at war."

Tom nodded. "Watch this." He hit the replay button on the screen, and they watched transfixed as the pilot known only as The Angel announced her real was Ava Bahrain. "Now is the time to redress centuries of unfair policy and repression. With a storm of cleansing fire we shall take back what rightfully belongs to all the people of Zi, not just the elite." With an odd salute she turned, put her helmet back on and climbed aboard her Zoid, the Bio Kentro, and moved away from the camera.

"We're at war with Nyx. Ava Bahrain is the daughter of Kiser Mikhail Bahrain. Those bast—" Dizzy cut him off.

"No more profanity. Watch your mouth. First things first… Linda contact Benden if you can see if they were hit—Tom are you ok?"

Tom was pale and shaking, "My god, if I hadn't seen that speck we'd all be dead… holy—"

"Good work, now lets deal with surviving the next 48 hours. We can't stay here if the winds shift we WILL be dead, Doyal is a radioactive pit now." Tom nodded, and tried to steady his hands.

Linda tapped her headset and pointed at the screen. "Got 'em. Gladys DeCamp online now."

"OH THANK GOD! HOARK! IT'S DIZZY! Listen! Dizzy! We're at war! Nyx nuked most of our costal bases, the ZBC has activated the Civil Defense program." Gladys's wizened old face appeared out of the static. "Where are you at? You need to get back here NOW—"

"Doyal, we're aware of the nuclear attack. Can you get the Hover-Barge down here before the winds shift?"

At that moment Kevin threw open the tent-flap "Dizzy! We got wounded out here! The Gwen-Fox team caught the tail-end of the shockwave and it flipped the Whale-King out of the sky!"

Gladys gaped "Doyal?! How did—RIGHT! The shields on Dimetrodon and Mad Thunder-- Listen, I've been reactivated I have to go to a briefing I'll send the barge down gotta go now—" and with that the signal cut off.

Even before the screen dimmed Dizzy was in motion, outside the tent. She jumped into the team Jeep and with Kevin and Tom headed south, towards the crash-site of the Whale King.

Two hours later the damaged Zoids and injured pilots of the Gwyn-Fox team were enjoying a meal around the huge bonfire at Camp Stonecypher. "Tonight we mount a patrol. Mad Thunder is to be manned at all times, as is the Dimetrodon. Full scans every moment of every hour. I want the functional Molga to circle the camp, and when you get the Rhymos up again I want that one out there too." Dizzy pointed at the map. "Two of you are to keep watch over the cliffs, I fully expect a landing force to arrive by sea. I'm not positive about that, but why else would they nuke a major port-city?"

Amy Wolf, pilot of the Gwen-Fox Iguan unit raised her hand and asked "What about checking Doyal for survivors?"

Tom shook his head. "There is nothing we can do, I'm sorry. It's horrible to think that but what could we do? We're hard-pressed keeping ourselves alive right now and caring for Angherd."

"Right, I just wanted to be sure." Amy nodded, then got up and left the table. "I'm going to check on her, be beck in a while."

Dizzy looked grim. "Good idea not telling her what Katrina saw, she'd be heart-broken."

" I wish we could help them, but what can we do?" Tom looked outside at the plant, now shut down. "And what about the workers?"

"Well the workers can come with us, it'll be a tight fit. Well those who stayed here and didn't go back to the City. As for the plant I'll disable the laser-furnace core and destroy whatever stock is on hand—what's up Linda?"

Linda grinned.

"The Calvary is here!"

CHAPTER TWO: Recovery and Departure

The wind from a single Whale-King on final approach is impressive. It can knock over those who are unprepared…

…so imagine the wind from a dozen Whale Kings.

"A dozen of them! All with ZBC markings!" Dizzy exclaimed.

Linda pointed in the general direction of Doyal "I saw 30 more headed for Doyal too!"

Dizzy closed her eyes for a moment. "Thank god. Now, let's go great our visitors."

At that moment, the sun was blotted out for a moment and a huge fish-like shape descended from the sky. "The Hover Barge!" Dizzy changed direction midstep and ran for the enormous green transport.

At the ramp Dizzy and Tom were met with a shock. Old Gladys DeCamp. In full Imperial Military uniform.

"That's Colonel DeCamp now. Stand up straight, and raise your right hand." She produced a book from the pocket of her coat. "Left hand on the Book. Now, do you Maria Ford swear to uphold and protect the Constitution of the Empire of the Central Continent even at the expense of your own life and or freedom?"

Without hesitation Dizzy replied "I swear to uphold the Constitution of the Empire at even at the expense of my life and or freedom."

Colonel DeCamp then turned to Tom and ask him the same question. He too accepted. The Colonel then motioned to Hoark (also dressed in uniform) and he presented her with two hats and two small boxes. "Then with the power vested in me by The Zoids Battle Commission and the Combined Military of the Central Continent I hereby confer upon you Dizzy Marie Ford the rank of Commander-General and upon you Tomas Xavier DeCamp the rank of Captain. May God have mercy on your souls." She handed them both a hat and a box. Both of them put on their hats and Gladys showed them how to pin the rank-insignia on their jumpsuits.

"Now that crap's over with let's get everything loaded and head back to Benden. I'll induct the rest of the team on the flight back. We got enemy troops landing in three places, we'll be stopping at Benden just long enough to refuel and for you to set affairs in order at the plant."

Tom asked "You said combined military does that mean the Republic is going to assist us?"

" Correct. They were hit hard by the missiles, and in fact they approached the Emperor twelve hours ago and offered full military assistance. Think of it as payment for all the assistance we gave them during the Chaotic Century." Gladys looked right at Tom. "In fact as soon as we're done at Benden we'll be headed over the border to Wallechinsky to pick up a pair of Shield Ligers."

"Oh I bet Kevin will be excited to see those. Geno-Breaker candy." Dizzy to Gladys "now who has the higher rank here? Me or him? I'm not familiar with the military ranks."

Gladys nodded. "I'll brief you on the flight home. All team leaders are given the rank of Commander. Second in command is the Team Captain. Everyone else will either be an Ensign or a Lieutenant or a Lieutenant-Commander depending on the type of Zoid they pilot. I'm in charge of six teams, and I answer to the General. He answer to the President. Support team members are all enlisted ranks. Like I said we have to get going, now prepare your Zoids for departure!"

With that she turned on her heel and walked off towards the nearest Whale King. Dizzy and Tom exchanged looks, shrugged and headed off to their respective Zoids.

[milicron]

CHAPTER THREE: Organization and Romance

The flight home was more or less uneventful. Three days passed while the members of both teams received basic instruction from Gladys on rudimentary military protocol and procedure. On the fifth day they circled Benden City. Gladys explained that an incoming missile was deflected by an incredible blind-luck shot from the Blue Thunder team's modified Elephander and most of the explosion occurred outside the city in the desert. "However the west side took a lot of damage, but it's not as bad as Doyal or Sha Cha Village. Both of those cities and the military bases are total losses… and no one made it out of Portview City alive." She closed her eyes. "Three million dead. We're going to make them pay for that."

Upon landing at the Stonecypher building Dizzy noted three strange Zoids on the landing field. "If I'm not mistaken those are Storches, but I don't recognize the third…" she hit some buttons on the console, "and it's not in Phenotype's All the Worlds Zoids Database either."

Gladys looked smug. "That's a Rainbow Jerk. Pea-Fowl type. Fresh off the assembly line. My personal ride." She looked Tom. "What? Didn't know your mother was an ace pilot?"

Tom shook his head. "I knew you were a pilot in the War, but an ace?! How many did you shoot down?"

Gladys's grin turned vicious. "Thirty Seven. Sixteen in a Redler with booster cannons and the rest in a modified Zabat. Third highest score on the Empire side."

They exited the Hover Barge and Dizzy ran down the corridor to her office. She threw several items into a sack, and grabbed two Stonecypher uniforms off the rack. Running out to the production floor she tossed a dozen spray-cans into her sack, grabbed an entire case off the rack, and threw everything onto her large CraftMaster tool-box. She pushed the entire pile out the loading dock door to the hover barge. Moments later Tom appeared and told her that Colonel DeCamp was waiting to brief both of them.

***

Col. DeCamp poured two glasses of tea. "Ok, first item to deal with and I apologize it's a touchy subject… being both your mother and your commanding officer." She winked at Tom then continued. "I know the two of you are lovers, in fact everyone within 50 miles knows. Now, there are rules about this sort of thing in military service, so either cool it or get married."

"Married!" They both nodded.

Gladys nodded. "Ok, after we're done here grab two witnesses and get your butts back in here and I'll take care of it myself. Bet you didn't know I was a minister as well eh?"

" Is there anything you haven done in the last 60 years, mother?!" Tom laughed.

Gladys snorted. "Plumber. I never learned to be a plumber. Frankly, pipes scare me," she shuddered.

Both Tom and Dizzy laughed.

"Ok, seriously now. Angherd requires surgery, she's got internal injuries. Frankly she's lucky to be alive at all. That means Alexander will be staying behind, I'm putting Dizzy Nevermore in command of the Ultimate Siesmo, and she's in charge of the Gwen-Fox team until further notice." Gladys shuffled some papers "last item to deal with is the last battle you had with The Angel."

Dizzy looked grim. "That strange Zoid of hers was damn near impervious to our weapons."

"Now imagine hundreds, maybe thousands of them invading your homeland. What did you do to defeat her?" Gladys leaned forward, and tapped her pen on the papers.

"I stepped on her. Then Dizzy blasted her in the arse with her Supercannons." Tom looked thoughtful. "Imperial Hyperbeam cannons, Hiblitz Vulcan Cannons, Muon lasers and pumped plasma weapons! THAT'S why we were disqualified! Somehow someway she had us disqualified from the semi-finals because we're the ONLY team with Supercannons and the ONLY team to ever defeat her!"

" Don't forget the Gwen-Fox team has several Hiblitz cannons and that Energy Liger has a pumped-plasma cannon." Dizzy ticked off the weapons on her fingers. "Gun Bluster has several muon-lasers and I remember Amy telling me that she modified Iguan with a micro-scale Hyperbeam cannon."

Gladys looked up from her notes. "This was what I was thinking too. Hopefully someone can get word out to the field, because right now the ONLY thing slowing them down are CPCs and certain types of blade weapon. Ok, go get a couple of witnesses and get your butts back here. We're leaving in two hours."

Both Tom and Dizzy jumped up and ran out the door. Gladys headed down the hallway to the vending machines. Hope they like cheeseburgers because I don’t think the machine stocks wedding cake she mused.

CHAPTER FOUR: Reflections and Evasions


The wedding ceremony of Tomas Xavier DeCamp and Maria Hernandez Ford lasted less than 10 minuets. As it was a rush operation no rings were exchanged, and the vows were lacking in style and romance: "Do you X take Y to be your wife under God and Imperial law? And do you Y accept X as your husband under God and Imperial law? So be it, you are now man and wife. Kiss, grab a cheese burger and soda and make ready for departure."

An hour later as the huge Hover Barge made its way to Wallechinsky Tom walked from the control room to the cargo bay to check on Mad Thunder. As he climbed down the ladder to the cargo area he heard music. Donna Rosin's popular ballad "Reflections" as sung by Britannia Spheres. As far as remixes go this one isn't too bad, but what's up with the lyrics? As he expected he found Katrina Panache sitting on the leg of her modified Fire Phoenix Ground Attack Special. What he wasn't expecting was the array of computer equipment nor the pair of large speakers. "Hello! Here now what's all this then Kat," he asked.

"Watch." She reached for the rewind button.

On the screen, the singing idol Britannia Spheres finished singing a cover version of a popular song "Loving U" As she finished a man in his late 30s ran up to her, pulled her aside and whispered something to her. She turned pale, and her hand shot to her mouth. Recovering her composure she whispered something back to the man, and he ran off as fast as fast could be. Britannia fiddled with her watch for several moments, then she turned and consulted with The Band for a moment.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Due to circumstances beyond my control I have to cut short tonight's performance! Before I leave I'd like to sing an EXTRA SPECIAL version of my number-one hit Reflections! Without further delay…

Through the mirror of the mind
Time after time
I see reflections of you and me

Reflections of the way life used to be
Reflections of the way universe should have been

You're all alone now
No love to shield you
Trapped in a world that's a distorted reality

Happiness they took from you
And left you alone with only memory

Through the mirror of your mind
Through these tears you are crying
Reflects a force you can control

Although I am gone
You need to keep holding on
To the happy time
Oh when life was fine

As you peer through the window of time
Looking over the yesterdays
And all the love I gave
All to you

All the love that was wasted
All the fears that we tasted
All the pain

Through the hollow of your tears
You see a dream that's lost
From the hurt
That you they have caused

Everywhere you turn
Seems like everything you see
Reflects a reality that shouldn't be

In you we put our faith and trust
Right before my eyes the world has turned to dust…

After all the nights I sat at home and wept
A handful of promises are all that's left of helping you

Reflections of the way life used to be
Reflections a world that shouldn't be…
In you I put my faith and trust
Right before my eyes the world has turned to dust…

Thank you! Thank you! Simon, you KNOW what you have to do! Thank you and good----"

A bright flash washed out the scene, then static.

**

Col. DeCamp shook her head and sat back in her chair. "It's a message all right, no doubt about it. She knew what was about to happen, and tried to warn someone, question is who."

Kat frowned for a moment. "If I remember the gossip sheets correctly she dated a scientist named Simon for awhile but I don't remember what happened to the relationship. She's had more boyfriends that I have pairs of socks."

" …and indeed that's a lot of socks, I saw your suitcase." Tom winked at her.

Offended, Kat sputtered "Hey! My feet sweat when I'm flying!"

Col. DeCamp motioned for them to both be silent. "Good work Ensign Panache. As Intelligence isn't my specialty—"

Both Tom and Kat sniggered.

"—you know what I mean! Honestly. As I was saying I'm not part of intelligence I'll forward this up the chain of command they'll know what to do with it. Dismissed!"

Tomas and Katrina got up and left the makeshift command-office. "You know I think I liked her better before." Katrina shook her head.

Tom nodded. "I know what you mean."

CHAPTER FIVE: First Mission and First Battle

"This is Hover Barge Century Starling requesting permission to land at Wallechinsky International Aerodrome. Repeat, this is the Hover Barge Century Starling requesting permission to land at Wallechinsky International Aerodrome. Requesting approach data, come in Wallechinsky International… Tom, they haven't answered I'm taking us low over the field." Dizzy was concerned. Having flown to Wallechinsky several times she knew the control tower should have answered by now.

Tom wasted no time. "Request permission to prepare Mad Thunder for immediate deployment? I have a bad feeling about this."

" Do it." She tapped the PA button. "ATTENTION ALL HANDS! NOW HEAR THIS! MAN YOUR ZOIDS! REPEAT: ALL HANDS MAN YOUR ZOIDS! Col. DECAMP TO THE CONTROL DECK!"

Tom dashed for the ladder. Dizzy's fingers flew over the control boards. Shields to hot reactive standby. Defense turrets to automatic. Engine controls re-routed. Fuel pumped from outboard tanks to inboard armored tanks…

Col. DeCamp tapped Dizzy's arm. "What's going on? No response from the tower?"

"No ma'am. Request permission to land anyway." Dizzy looked to Col. DeCamp.

"Granted. Take us in." Gladys strapped into the empty ejector seat.

As the enormous Hover Barge approached the field, three massive Bio Tricera Zoids reared up and opened fire with pulse-weapons. A fourth stopped smashing the remains of the Control Tower and opened fire with a back-mounted weapon pod.

"THOUGHT SO! KAT! LAUNCH!" Dizzy slapped a large red button, and the topside hatch opened.

With a blast of steam and hydraulic pressure the beautiful Fire Phoenix Ground Attack Special burst from the hatch, did a barrel roll and dove for ground level. Cool as a surgeon Kat armed her two enormous Hyper Charge Bombs and her laser array. "Fire Phoenix requesting rules of engagement, over."

"Defcon Three, weapons free." Col. DeCamp spoke into the comlink. She turned to Dizzy. "That means no nukes unless they use nukes first. Circle around again and land us by that hanger."

Kat spun around and spotted her target. The Bio Tricera with the weapon pack turned, and opened fire. With a flick of her delicate wrist Kat took the Phoenix through a series of breathtaking spins and climbs, avoiding each shot with ease. Leveling off again, she locked onto the monster and thumbed the release button…

…"Holy--- I thought you said no nukes Colonel?" Dizzy was dazzled by the flash from the Hyper-Charge bomb. The cargo-terminal was now in flames, and collapsing from the blast.

"That's not a nuke, that's a Hyper-Charge bomb. Enormous electrostatic discharge. Think of it as an entire year worth of thunder-storms in a bottle." Gladys's grin was positively frightening.

Dizzy grimaced. "With all due respect next time warn me to darken the window. I see spots. Final approach. Brace for landing." She threw the controls forward and the huge Hover Barge landed with an enormous jolt.

Overhead, the Fire Phoenix preformed a graceful loop on its bright orange Magnasser wings. Two targets down, but three more had appeared from a hanger building. Kat armed the Astral Railguns beneath the wings and dove out of the sun right at an unsuspecting Bio Kentro…

"…Great shot Kat! Right through that hanger building too! Mad Thunder calling Geno Breaker. Target that Kentro next to the oil-tanks… on three… one two three" Mad Thunder opened fire with it's enormous Super Cannons while the Geno Breaker belched a stream of hyper-accelerated electrons from it's mouth. The Bio Kentro disappeared in a cloud of plasma and flames and the oil-tanks exploded in an impressive fireball.

"Geno Breaker to Mad Thunder. I got a master-caution on my LINAC. Attempting to override." Kevin's fingers flew over his keyboard. "Mad Thunder, Geno Breaker here. My CPC is offline. Say again CPC is offline. Request permission to engage melee mode!"

Tom nodded. "Granted. Give 'em hell!" He scanned the battlefield, and targeted the remaining Bio Tricera. Pushing his controls forward, the enormous Zoid accelerated to its maximum speed of 100km/h as the enormous drills spun up to speed….

…while the Geno Breaker snapped the back of the last Bio Kentro. Kevin let out a whoop of excitement. "Mad Thunder, I'm getting a com-signal from that bunker to your left. We got survivors!"

***

"Well, we had to destroy the entire Aerodrome but we eliminated the enemy. How did they get so far inland so quickly?" Col. DeCamp looked concerned. "Last report said they were contained to the coastal areas."

The radar-operator of the Aerodrome pointed at an odd pile of plastic sheeting. "They dropped out of the sky. I suspect they were launched into the air by rocket and parachuted to the ground. I saw them land, rather annoying really."

Col. DeCamp nodded. "I can imagine. How are your people?"

The owner, Carom Johansson, smiled. "No losses people-wise. We got very lucky there. And the Ligers are intact. Sadly the pilots won't arrive until tomorrow.

"Well then, while we wait we'll mount a patrol and I'll put my people to work cleaning up some of the damage they did." The owner agreed with a nod and walked out of the room. Gladys sighed. As good as they were, the team needed work. Can't fault them, first real battle and everything. Maybe cleanup detail will teach them to limit collateral damage.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down. "Commander Ford and Captain DeCamp to my office please? I have a project for you…"

[milicron]

CHAPTER SIX: Buster Storm and Feedback

The battle was not going well…

…in fact the Stonecypher Team was getting its arse kicked.

The Shadow Fox had been obliterated by a blast from the Bio Volcano. Panzer Liger was in flames, a victim of a freak electrical malfunction. The troublesome LINAC aboard the Geno Breaker had shorted out, leaving everything on the left side inoperable. Mad Thunder was leaking oil from a damaged leg and the cannon-turrets were jammed at awkward angles. The Fire Phoenix was last seen headed east, trailing smoke. And Cannoneer Gordos was stuck in the mud.

Thank god it was only a simulation, Damia thought. She turned to Col. DeCamp. "Alright they've suffered enough. Permission to send in Ultimate Siesmo?"

Gladys chuckled. "Depends on which configuration you have in mind."

" Buster Storm. Leena is dying to get some feedback on the design."

Col. DeCamp's chuckle turned into an outright laugh. "Feedback my arse, you fire off that many Buster Cannons at once you'll learn about feedback real quick! Go for it."

Damia sat down in the open simulator chair, put on the helmet and gloves and Col. DeCamp closed the lid on the chamber. Seconds later the darkness turned into the cockpit of the Ultimate Siesmo.

Scanning the battlefield, Damia selected her first target… that troublesome Bio Volcano. Crystal armor indeed. The lock-on tone sounded, six gattling-guns open fire…

…and 7,500 rounds of ultra-heavy depleted uranium slugs slam into the unsuspecting Volcano shattering plates, piercing metal and shredding internal systems. A follow-up barrage from all the neck laser-turrets insured that the Bio Volcano would not be an issue for the remainder of the simulation.

Next target… Bio Tricera. This time the lock-on tone is followed by an impressive lightshow as over 30 lasers converge on the target, vaporizing it.

Damia glanced at the blinking indicators… Overheat alert. With deftness born of long practice she re-routed coolant from the CPC generators (no point using it this time around) to the laser turret heat-sinks. The indicator went dark and the warning tone fell silent.

Now, time to live up to my name… Target is Bio Tyrano… Commence primary ignition…

"BUSTER STOOOOOORRRRRM!"

A single bolt from a Buster Cannon is quite powerful. It has been compared to a micro-nuclear explosion, some people call it the poor-mans CPC.

The effect of 12 Buster Cannons all firing at the same time is nothing short of devastating, especially if you are the target… Hell Armor or not.

Alarms sound, indicators light up, and the master display lights up with the ominous message "General Protection Fault, System Halted."

" Damnit!! Override mode!! Password is T-Rescue Delta Omicron Nevermore! Bypass and Reboot!"

Copyright MicroZoft All Rights Reserved
Welcome To Mecha NT Service Pack II
Loading Configuration Files…….
Danger! Communication Failure, Some Systems Will Not Respond
Ready.

With a snort Damia noted that the port and starboard weapons clusters had been shorn clean off from the recoil. Well there goes my gattling guns, and my buster cannons. The hell with it… Turrets online, CPC online, missiles online.

Still more than a match for any (simulated) Bio Zoid the mighty Siesmo waded into a pack of Bio-Raptors and opened fire with its many lasers. Missiles find targets around the battlefield. Within moments, the field is cleared… no more targets.

Yes, indeed, Leena would be getting some feedback about this.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Radiance and Failure

With a start Linda Rowe realized that everyone had knocked off for dinner… two hours ago. Well no matter really I'll just warm some soup on the magnetron casing while I finish my search.

Two hours later she noticed the soup had boiled down to nothing.

Ok, maybe I should really go get something to eat… after I try another search string.

"Save whatever it is you are working on and go get something to eat, Ensign. That's an order." Col. DeCamp crossed her arms and glared at Linda. "You're no good to us malnourished."

Linda clicked on the save command and got up. "Six hours of searching and nothing. I know she used to date a scientist named Simon Cockrhine. I have the magazine right here. I have photos of the two of them, but yet when I search the name I get nothing. I get nothing from the magazine publisher too. No one else seems to remember but me. Hey, is that nutria-ribs I smell?"

" Well if it makes you feel better the folks at Intelligence aren't having much luck either. The name Simon isn't very common anymore, and as you said there are photos." Col. DeCamp piled a generous load of mash-mush on Linda's plate.

They both sat down and Col. DeCamp pulled out a folded paper, and looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. "Now, you didn't see this, this conversation never took place? Got me? Good. Simon Cockrhine does exist. He's Zi's leading scientist in the field of heavy particle physics, think CPC weapons. Three years ago he accidentally developed a method to 'work' the timeline by using a massive LINAC to accelerate the particles of a single person faster than light, effectively firing a single person backwards in time so said person could alter. It had been hoped to use this technology in the event that nuclear war broke out with Nyx."

Linda nodded. "There was a crazy rumor going around that someone had invented a time-machine."

" Not a rumor anymore. What you saw that night was one of the Government operatives that was sent back in to reset the timeline. What we weren't expecting was somehow Nyx was able to prevent us from succeeding. We disabled their launch silos outside of Nugent city, but somehow they were still able to launch over 20 missiles at us. Even worse is somehow they managed to deflect all of our missiles with E-shields and turn around and invade us." Col. DeCamp looked grim.

Linda thought about this between mouthfuls of mashed mush. "So basically she was telling Simon to make another attempt?"

"Right. And that attempt failed as well. So did a third attempt. What we were forced to conclude is either our understanding of time-travel is flawed or somehow Nyx is also tampering with the timeline. Given what we've seen with their technology in the Bio Zoids we're assuming the second more than the first." Col. DeCamp put the paper back in her pocket. "A single Bio Tyrano wiped out two regiments of our best troops near Oddment Bay last night. It broke through our lines and joined up with two more, and a pack of those blasted Bio Kentros. This morning we spotted the entire group plus a half-dozen Bio Volcano types headed south, with another pack of nothing but Raptors and Volcanoes headed west to meet up with them."

"In other words, they've broken our lines, and they are moving on the capital. Benden City is right in their path." The Colonel looked around. "I wish I could come up with something like 'help me modify the Dimetrodon to send myself a message' or use time-travel to summon a Diablo Tiger some how. Can't do that, not possible. What I can ask you, notice I said ask not order… what I can ask you is to undertake a suicide mission."

"Bio Zoids are coated with a special living metal armor. Great stuff, I remember when it was discovered years ago. One thing I do remember is it breaks down when exposed to certain levels of gamma radiation." When Linda nodded Gladys continued. "Would you be willing for the sake of our Nation to sacrifice yourself, and your Zoid to create a gamma-radiation pulse in hopes of slowing down the pack of Bio-Zoids advancing on the capital?"

Linda gulped down the last of her nutria-rib sandwich. "Of course. When do I depart?"

The next day Dizzy woke up and went into the mess-tent for breakfast. She saw Gladys sitting in the corner with a beer. "Isn't it a bit early for that? And where is Linda? I didn't see the Dimetrodon this morning." When Gladys looked up Dizzy noticed she had been crying.

"Linda Rowe… undertook a mission last night to delay the advance of enemy forces and perished in the line of duty." Col. DeCamp chugged her beer. "She used the Dimetrodon as an enormous electromagnetic bomb, there is no way she could have survived. May God have mercy on her soul."

Dizzy shook her head. "Do… do we know if she succeeded?"

" She succeeded only so far as she set off the pulse, it had no effect. Dear god it had NO EFFECT!" Col. DeCamp slammed her beer bottle so hard it shattered in her hand. "I flew her out there in Rainbow Jerk myself, I dropped her into the combat zone myself, and I watched her set off the pulse. And it had no effect. I wasted a perfectly good Zoid and a perfectly good pilot for no bloody reason."

The Colonel stood up and wiped her hand off on her jacket.

"The enemy is now 36 hours away. Get ready to defend Benden City."

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Battle of Benden City

"ALL UNITS! PLAY BALL!"

With that signal, the battle to protect Benden City began in earnest. In the first few moments, over 250 Bio Raptors met their demise at the hand of a battery of massed CPC-fire from the city's defenders. The second wave of Tricera and Kentro mecha fared little better, but over a dozen made it through the barrage. Working in concert, a GunBluster, a Shadow Fox and a pair of Liger Zeros kept the enemy from advancing on the CPC units. Rushing forward, a highly modified Gun Sniper bristling with weapons and a bright blue Liger Zero Jager tore into a single Kentro that had evaded the next wave of CPC fire.

Tom checked his screens to be sure Bit and Leena had disengaged. He called back to the command center. "What's happening back there Boss?"

"Signal the Elephander Brigade, make ready to repel an air attack. They're coming in from the south now." Col. DeCamp consulted the radar. "Signal Panzer Liger and the two Gigas to move west two clicks to assists CPC Battery Delta, they're being slammed with Raptors."

Sighting a target of opportunity Tom locked onto a Volcano-type and open fired with his Super Cannons. "Boss, request possible DEFCON change. Permission to arm Thunderbolt Missiles."

"What's happening? Status!" Col. DeCamp consulted her screen. One of her assistants called out that the Volcano was deflecting all attacks with some sort of advanced E-shield. Gladys thumbed the external com system. "ALL UNITS! BE ADVISED VOLCANO UNITS NOW SPORT E-SHIELDS. STATUS DEFCON TWO. ARM AND DEPLOY NUCLEAR WEAPONS, TACTICAL USE ONLY." She repeated the message twice as Tom fired off one of his massive Thunderbolt missiles…

…the resulting nuclear firestorm collapsed the E-shield and a follow-up barrage from the two smaller booster-cannons mounted on the legs reduced that particular Volcano to scrap. The mighty Mad Thunder shuddered and shook as a nearby explosion shook the huge mecha. "WATCH IT VEGA!" Tom cried.

"Hahaha! Sorry Tom!" The Berserk Fury lit its boosters and flew over the top of Mad Thunder, dipping one of its blade-units in salute. "Damn kid!" Tom shook his fist.

Meanwhile, high overhead… the air-battle was over before it began. Massed missile fire from 24 Elephanders armed with Assault Gattling Units blasted most of the Bio Petradons from the sky…

…while nearly 30 allied air-Zoids including a Buster Eagle, a Raynos, and a Rainbow Jerk engaged targets and blasted them from the sky.

Far below, the ground-battle slowly swung in favor of the Nyxians as one after another the CPC-equipped Zoids went offline due to overheating. Nuclear missiles ran out one after another, and general pilot fatigue caused errors. Without waiting for orders, the airborne units dove for ground level and made a bloody nuisance of them.

Col. DeCamp activated the comm "Gordon where is my backup? How far out are you?"

The Commissioner of the Zoid Battle Commission appeared on screen. "Hold on Gladys, we're almost there. Five more min and we're in gravity cannon range." He grinned. "We're at the extreme edge of our range now, warn your pilots. Shell tracking can –32 kil-- ---ing signal-- jamming--- override--- s--ning --ff now."

"Col. DeCamp, please check your monitor." Tom sounded ecstatic.

Linda Rowe and her Dimetrodon climbed over a rock.

"Well, well, well. Ensign Rowe. Good to see you alive." Col. DeCamp grinned as she signaled the new arrival.

Linda's hands flew over her keyboard. "Sorry, boss can't talk. I'll have a full report after the battle. …in a nutshell they have E-shields now. The pulse didn't work, but I do know how to render those shields inert." Linda reached overhead, pulled a lever, flipped half a dozen switches, and turned a dial to maximum.

"Well then we're waiting Ensign…"

"Very well, Colonial, 45 seconds… charging now." Ensign Rowe typed in the final sequence, and pushed one last button. The tail-flaps on her Zoid opened, static-charge crackled around the intake vents, and an unholy glow began to form on the tips of the spines….

…"FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, RUN BOYS RUN! DEVIL'S IN THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN!!" A flash of light and EVERY e-shield within 5km collapsed in on itself. This was an unfortunate turn of events that cost Sanders his life as a Bio Volcano obliterated his Elephander with a CPC bolt. Around the battlefield more and more Bio Zoids fell to pieces, deprived of their protective shield bubbles.

The arrival of the enormous Ultrasaurus and over two dozed new units signaled the end of the battle. Rather than regroup and battle 24 angry Ligers and the largest Zoid ever built the Bio Zoids fled in all directions. Overhead Katrina Panache saw her opportunity and led a pack of Zabats on a hunting expedition that bagged over 20 Bio zoids.

The Commissioner appeared on screen. "Some sort of pulse knocked out our gravity-cannon, disarmed the shell, and took the firing generators right offline. Any idea what it was Gladys?"

" I have no idea, but I'm quite sure Lieutenant Rowe can explain once we secure the area." Linda smacked her console, open-palm. "Tom, get me to the Ultrasaurus."

[milicron]

CHAPTER EIGHT: Briefings and Repairs

The Panzer Liger, the Geno Breaker, and the enormous Cannoneer Gordos all needed repairs. Panzer Liger was missing its tail and one of its ears, Geno Breaker's CPC had melted down and needed a complete rebuild, and Cannoneer Gordos needed work on its front leg.

Stonecypher Team had gotten off lightly. So had Blitz Team, Blue Thunder Team and Lyon's Pride team.

Casualties among the other teams, merc, and free-lance pilots were much higher. Three teams had been wiped out completely, no survivors. Total losses amongst the defenders: 31 Zoids and 49 pilots.

"First order of business is to rig shields for the open-cockpits and gunnery turrets. We can't afford to loose anymore pilots." Gordon Peerless, Commissioner of the ZBC and Commander-General of the Independent Civil Defense Forces tapped his monitor. "Next, collect all the salvage we can. Any scrap of Hell Armor we can get will be a big help. The enemy is deploying bigger and more advanced Bio Zoids, including a Siesmosaurs scale monster."

He took a deep breath. "Last item… we have a number of new Zoids coming online, including a Moose type zoid, a new variant of K-Wolf, the Deadboarder, and three new Liger types. The SOONEST those can be deployed is three months. We need to delay the enemy for six months while we ramp up production." He looked grim. "The military is projecting that they can hold the lines for a month and a half. It's up to us, the Civil Defense Teams, to help in any way we can. By taking the pressure off the frontline military units we can hold out the full six months. It's NOT going to be easy, in fact I fully expect to loose many more of you, but with a little dedication and lots of guts we can hold the line. Dismissed."

***

"The thing you have to understand is the electronic equipment aboard Dimetrodon generates low levels of beta radiation as well as X-rays and gamma radiation." Linda took a sip of her beer. Bleah, light beer… well at least it is beer. "When I installed all my custom upgrades I discovered the radiation would cook me alive in a matter of days. I had my contractor install heavy lead plating nearly sixteen inches thick on each side of my cockpit and nearly two feet of lead behind the cockpit. The top plate is around eighteen inches thick." She downed her beer in one chug and held out the glass for a refill.

She patted her legs while Gladys poured her a refill. "I also had metal foil fibers woven into my costume, and my undergarments have a three-micron thick metal foil layer in between the layers. Hot as hell in summer time but I won't fry when I'm jamming at full power."

Kat spoke up "Who makes your garments? With the number of nukes Nyx is lobbing around I think we could all do with a little extra radiation-proofing, eh?"

Dizzy nodded agreement as did Tom and Gladys. Linda pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Kat. "Call her, give her your sizes, and tell her your colors and she'll hook you up."

Col. DeCamp jotted down the information and tapped her glass with the pen. "Now for official business. Ensign Linda Rowe, you are hereby promoted to Lieutenant. Ensign Panache, you too are promoted to Lieutenant. Per the orders of the ZBC Civil Defense Command and I quote 'for duty above and beyond, and excellence in combat beyond established standards' each member of Team StoneCyper is hereby granted 55,000 credits for upgrades to your Zoid. If they have it aboard the Ultrasaurus you'll get it before they leave. If not, they'll airlift it to you by the end of the month."

Gladys took a breath "Kevin, in recognition of your efforts as part of CPC Battery Delta the ZBC Civil Defense Command has agreed to replace the LINAC aboard Geno Breaker with an updated version that hopefully is less fiddly…Free of charge." Kevin grinned and nodded.

"Well kids, that's it. Any questions? Here is a copy of the current Custom Part catalog. I'm going to a meeting… stay out of trouble." With that she walked out of the room.

Linda spoke up first "I am so getting a set of Booster Cannons and a couple sets of 20mm Madisons."

Tom thumbed through the catalog. "I'm getting a set of CP-2 Beam Cannons. I already got the mounting brackets back at the plant I'll have Hoark send them to me."

Kevin glanced through the catalog. "Nothing for me, I got everything I want already."

Gordon, pilot of the Panzer Liger nodded in agreement. "Already maxed out. Can't put anything else on 'er."

Ivan Slightwind, pilot of the smallest Zoid on the team spoke up. "Fifty-Five grand. I think I'm going to go all out and order a set of those CP-X-01 Magnums. Next person to mess with Shadow Fox is going to get a surprise indeed. Oh, and a CP-18 if they got one. I have an idea I want to play around with."

Tom filled out the order-form and stuck it in his pocket. "Good work folks. I'll walk this over to the supply officer. Ivan, start dinner… Dizzy I want you and Kat to make a list of the repairs our Zoids need and I'll get in touch with the ZBC people about using the equipment on the Ultra." He then got up and walked out the door, across the field, and stopped at the guard post at the base of the ramp.

The guard checked his ID and Tom climbed the ramp only to stop short at the top. There were all the Stonecypher Team Zoids, secure in repair bays with swarms of busy technicians hard at work. His pocket-com beeped and he got an earful of Dizzy.

"TOM! WHERE THE HECK DID THEY MOVE OUR ZOIDS TO?!" Dizzy shouted.

Tom lowered the volume and said "Apparently someone decided we rate free repairs as well, they're aboard Ultra…"

Dizzy hung up without an answer. Tom put the pocket-com away and walked over to a man with a clipboard. "Who can answer some questions for me?"

The man with the clipboard smiled "Depends on the questions. If it has to do with the Zoids in the repair bay, I can help you. Money, women, or anything to do with the weather… I can't help you. Name is Gorge Aloe." He extended his hand.

"Ah, ok. First… Who authorized this and second where is Mad Thunder? I assume outside somewhere?"

Gorge consulted his clipboard. "Commissioner Peerless authorized free repairs for everyone, not just you… However Col. DeCamp convinced me to repair yours first." He flipped to the next page. "And Mad Thunder is outside next to Ultimate Siesmo. It's a touch too big to fit in here."

Tom pulled the order-form out of his pocket. "The Colonial also mentioned something about credit for parts? Who do I give this to?"

Gorge held out his hand. "That'd be me also. Lemme see here. Two booster cannons, two sets of 20mm Madison cannons, a pair of spray-guns, and an additional general-purpose box-thingy for the Dimetrodon. Got those in stock, I can get them rigged up right away. Twin 80mm Magnums for Shadow Fox… got that also. CP-18 on a pallet. Got that as well. CP-02 Heavy Beam Cannons for Mad Thunder. I have the cannons…"

Tom interrupted. "I have a set of brackets at my company if you put the cannons on a pallet I'll install them myself."

George shook his head. "No, no. We'll install them right proper. You can swap out the brackets when you get home and send us back the adaptors when this all dies down. Oh, check this out…"

With deft strokes of the pencil he stored above his left ear George Aloe sketched out an idea. Tom took the pencil and paper, and made a quick change, and George nodded. "I got everything you'll need right here. Don't worry about the cost you can pay me back by giving me a job at Stonecypher when this is all over. Check back tomorrow afternoon and everything should be all set." He and Tom shook hands, and Tom turned and walked back down the ramp, a huge grin on his face.

Let's go see what's for dinner, he thought to himself.

CHAPTER NINE: Snake Hunt and Bounty

Ivan Slightwind sighed and scanned his display one more time. Oh this sounded like a simple mission… Escort the Ultimate Siesmo and Mad Thunder to a point 120km distant and both "Big Stompies" would fire off over 600 special rockets at a beach where Nyxian troops and Zoids had massed.

Yes on paper this had sounded like a simple mission. And right up to the point where they pounded the stuffing out of the landing point it had been a simple mission. All 600 rockets launched into the sky, each split into 30 separate glowing shards and the resulting carnage below wiped out all of the troops and destroyed almost all of the Bio Zoids.

Ivan sighed again. Stuffing indeed. Here I am… cooking school graduate, and master chef who battles Zoids for a hobby stuck-who-knows-where hunting gosh-knows-what kind of abominable Bio Zoid.

Some sort of snake-type Bio Zoid. Bio Snake until they come up with something better. He had cooked snake-meat once. Kind of bland, not at all like the beef he preferred. No sir nothing beats a good piece of steak marinated in a—

CONTACT! The sensors beeped. Ivan thumbed the auto-track button and rammed his throttle forward. The Bio Snake reared back---

---300 special Alloy Zeta slugs tore into the center of the Bio Snake ripping deep inside. Hell Armor indeed. Yanking back on the control stick Ivan guided the Shadow Fox as it leaped over the wreckage of the freakish Bio Zoid. Better be 100% sure… He fired off his electromagnetic net and the resulting arcing and sparking told him that even Bio Zoids weren't immune to electrical overload.

"Shadow Fox calling Mad Thunder. Got it." Ivan frowned. Movement on the screen. "Mad Thunder, I think there is---" An explosion knocked the Fox off its feet.

Shaking off the Fox managed to get to its feet… but the left rear leg showed low oil-pressure. Ivan moved the control stick and was greeted with a shudder as the leg dragged. Great. Checking his monitor, he spotted the second Bio Snake, thumbed the auto-track switch, pulled the trigger—

--nothing happened. That's not good. In fact that's NOT GOOD AT ALL he thought. Well, only one option left. Ivan pulled the throttle up with his left hand, and twisted it to the right. With his right hand he input a series of codes. The screen changed to a countdown. He thumbed the communication switch. "Alright I surrender. You got me."

"Open your cockpit, and stand up with your arms behind your head" came a voice over the cockpit. He noted with glee that the Snake had moved closer.

"Roger that." He opened his cockpit canopy, glanced at the display… 3… 2… 1… He yanked the lever between his legs—

--and flew straight up at nearly 120mph as the world below him turned into flames and shrapnel. At a preset altitude the parachute deployed and the entire seat assembly (with pilot) drifted slowly to the ground some distance away.

Ok. Now what. Ivan reached to his right and pulled out the Survival Kit Got my compass, folding AZ shotgun, my map, and three days worth of bottled water. Now If I could find a sign post I could find my way back to Benden. He disconnected the restraint.

He felt the vibration moments before he heard the approach of the massive Zoid. Well, let's see how effective this AZ shotgun really is. He wobbled to his feet, a searing pain causing him to gasp for breath. Oh, great. No one told me my leg was messed up. Despite the pain he stood up, and aimed the small folding shotgun towards the source of the vibration--

"Cute Ivan. Put that pop-gun away before you hurt someone with it." Gordon called out. "That thing couldn't stop a SandFly never mind a real Zoid." The ugly pale green shape of the Panzer Liger stepped out of the forest.

***

Colonel DeCamp surveyed the wreckage of the Bio Snake as the huge helicopter lowered it to the ground. Shame about the pilot, but Ivan's shot penetrated the pilot compartment directly and turned the poor woman into red sludge. They only knew that it was a woman by DNA testing…

Gruesome. Hopefully that doesn't happen to any of my pilots. So far we're quite lucky in that regard. Shame about the Shadow Fox though. But with the bounty they are paying for Hell Armor Ivan should be able to get a replacement no problem.

Col. DeCamp walked towards building that served the teams as a hospital. Nodding to the guard, she walked to the area where they were treating Ivan. He was sitting on the exam table, buttoning his shirt. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled over to Gladys. "Shrapnel. Three pieces of Hell Armor. That alone pays for the medical treatment." He handed the Colonel a paper. "Two weeks and I'll be able to pilot again."

Gladys nodded. "Question is what will you be piloting?"

" Koenig Wolf Mk II." He grinned. "I sold my restaurant last month to a couple of investors and used the money for a down-payment. I had hoped to keep the Shadow Fox as a backup but that's not going to happen now."

They walked down the hallway towards the exit. "You know there is a bounty for hell-armor right Ivan?" Gladys looked at Ivan. He nodded. "Are you aware that they hauled in that first Bio Snake you disabled? Nearly intact?" The look on his face showed he hadn't. She handed him a paper.

His jaw dropped. "…I'm getting a custom paint job for sure now."

CHAPTER TEN: Benden City Buildup.

Interlude: 20km east of Benden City, deep forest.

"Nothing like a cold beer after a hot shower, ja?" Helmut Kanzler popped the top on the brown bottle then handed the opener to his copilot. She popped the top of her bottle and with a single motion they both raised their bottles together. "To our comrades in Nyx: May they choke on their own waste."

Ivana Rozhkov grinned and took a sip of her beer. "Indeed, Comrade Kanzler. Those fools were warned weren't they? 'Of course we'll follow your instructions, of course we'll follow your directives.' Da. Utter rubbish." She took another, longer sip of her drink. She patted her partner on the leg. "Fear not, we shall teach those fools won't we?"

Helmut nodded. "We did warn them, ja. My only fear is that we can stop them from going any further. The design they are using is suited only for smaller units… even with two or three operators there will be grave difficulties controlling anything larger." He poked the fire for a moment with a metal rod then turned to Ivana. "Drink up Comrade. 20 kilometers to go, and then the real challenge begins."

Ivana downed her beer in three massive chugs then belched quite loudly. "Da. Thank you for stopping long enough to shower off, those silly designers and their wretched under-sized air-conditioning units. May they go bald and loose their hearing." She threw her bottle against the knuckle of the massive Iron Kong they were sitting across from. The bottle bounced off the CP-4 on the right arm and shattered against the huge knuckle. Helmut's bottle joined hers a few seconds later.

Together, they climbed the ladder to the cockpit, and began powering up the massive beast. Moments later the enormous gorilla-mecha lurched forward, crushing the ground-cover and smashing trees as it moved…

BENDEN CITY AERODROME:

Gordon glared out the window one last time at the Panzer Liger as the wrecking crew loaded it onto a Gustav trailer. Of all the Zoids he piloted over the years this one had lasted the longest. Six years.

,,,of course that had to do mostly with the fact the ultra-thick laminate armor stopped any and all attacks cold while the array of heavy missiles and the two butt-kicking Hybrid Cannons made short work of most would-be attackers.

…it also had to do with the extra care he put into maintaining the servos on the legs. All that extra weight put enormous strain on the drive servos and the gyro-stabilizers. Each pair of drive servo and its attendant hydraulic cylinders and gear assemblies was swapped out on a set schedule… most of his winnings went into keeping those systems up and running.

Gordon tapped the control screen in front of him. Without a Zoid to pilot (well at least until his old Helcat was shipped down from Norwood) he was stuck in the control tower monitoring the approach and departure of the enormous Whale King transports. Of all the stupid-arse reasons to loose a Zoid a thunder-and-lightening storm had to be the silliest of them all.

Without warning the storm blew up from the west and dropped nearly three inches of rain in less than an hour. The Benden region was famous for these freak storms, and as freak storms go this was a freak of a storm. Everything not fastened down was blown over or away, soaked with water… and the Panzer Liger hit by lightening. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, most Zoids were designed to withstand enormous electrical charges and the resulting electromagnetic havoc but the crew who was assisting him with the routine servo adjustments left their diagnostic system set up and plugged in.

In other words the shielding panels and armor sheeting that normally worked to conduct electrical attacks away from the guts of the Zoid were not in place. And to top it all off they left 'er parked under a crane. A very TALL crane.

The cloud-to-ground stroke made an impressive lightshow, lighting up the entire crane gantry, and the frame of the Liger…

…Then all the missiles exploded. What made it even more impressive was the missiles didn't just explode but the propellant in the rocket-motors ignited as well. This meant that not only did the all the electronics (and the core most likely as well) get fried by lightening, but everything attached to the frame either exploded into bits or was melted by burning rocket fuel.

What an impressive (and loud) mess.

Well at least he still had his old Helcat. The insurance and the credits he had banked allowed him to mount a small missile pod on one leg, and a special booster-cannon on the back in addition to the normal pulse-lasers and machine-guns. Only (because of wartime shortages) it would take two weeks to install the cannon and ship the entire Zoid down here by Whale King.

Gordon sighed. He spoke a string of numbers and letters into his microphone and instructed the Whale King whose numbers he had just spoken to turn north and join the holding pattern over the Aerodrome. Three entire divisions of military Zoids were arriving, along with nearly 2500 ground-troops and support equipment. As the launch-point for the only successful offensive operation to date, Benden City was directly in Nyx's sights for a counter-attack. Already the enormous deflector-shield had shrugged off three attempts by the Dark Continent to nuke the city via ICBM.

Another Whale King approached the Aerodrome and Gordon vectored that one into the holding pattern as well. The pilot sounded cheerful enough, bet she never had her custom-zoid slagged by a lightening bolt.

It was known that Benden was high on Nyx's target list. Not only had the only successful offensive operation to date been launched from here, Benden was less than 100 kilometers from the capital city. Taking or destroying Benden gave the invaders a clear path to the capital, with nothing to stop them.

Gordon glanced at the clock. Another hour and they should all be on the ground.

Then we wait.

STONECYPER CAMP

"How long they've been in there?" Linda demanded with a scowl on her face.

Katrina shrugged. "Nearly two hours."

Linda stomped her foot. "I don't care, they shouldn't be taking this long there are other people here besides them!"

Ivan just chuckled. "Jealous much, Linda?" This earned him a dose of Evil Eye from Linda.

"Well it's not fair why should we sit out here while—" The flap of the tent opened letting Tom and Dizzy out into the dismal gray mist.

Ivan winked at them as Katrina asked "Well, how was it?"

" Not nearly as bad as we expected. We're getting more help down here, a pair of Gojulas Gigas and another Liger will be joining us. Gordon's Helcat will be here ahead of schedule and those special modules I ordered will be here as well. The controller said 18 hours, so now we wait."

Linda jumped up. "Now that you two are done, I'll get to work on my jamming equations." She ran to the tent (which housed a small ransom worth of computers) and pulled the flap shut behind her.

Ivan shook his head. "Someone needs a hobby."

Everyone laughed. Tom pulled out a deck of cards. "The game is five-card stud, no limit. Who's in?" They played late into the night. Linda even came out and joined them later.

…and they waited.

[milicron]

CHAPTER 11: THE SECOND BATTLE OF BENDEN

"Flash traffic, flash traffic… Judge Satellite E-281947-Northern has detected multiple ICBM launches from Nyx. Probable target is Benden City!"

With that announcement the ZBC staff grimly raised the shield on the enormous Ultrasaurus's shield. A group of technicians transmitted signals to the satellite that called in the attack, and within seconds the huge laser turrets open fired on the missiles as they climbed through the atmosphere. Commissioner Peerless consulted the Master Situation Display and glanced at a wall-clock.

"We're off by 50 kilometers this orbit. Next pass and we'll be able to look right down the silos. Wilkes, commence orbital correction."

The powerful lasers vaporized all but one missile. That missile streaked pass E-281947-Northern at very high speed and separated into three warheads. At a pre-programmed point the warheads re-entered the atmosphere and hurtled to the ground. At an altitude of one thousand feet they were programmed to detonate…

…"Great shot, that’s two of them. Goggles, everyone…" Gladys DeCamp pulled down her protective face-mask and ducked into the armored command center of the Mad Thunder. Seconds later the massive E-shield kicked in.

"Direct hit. Direct hit on Benden City E-shield. No damage to soft targets. Radiation levels 250% normal." Tom clenched his fist. "Well at least it hit the shield."

* * *

In the Aerodrome control tower, another drama was unfolding. "We have incoming, bearing 059 heading south. Designate Raid-1" Gordon jotted down this information and picked up the mic. "Flight One and Flight Two, turn west and intercept…"

Overhead, a squadron of ZBC fighters and a squadron of military fighters engaged the incoming Nyxian bombers. "Looks like a bunch of Zabats and some kind of flying Bio-Raptor. Nothing we can't handle," called in the leader of Flight 1

The engagement was fast, and lethal. Roughly half the Bio-Petra force was obliterated in the first seconds as the Military opened a can of whup-arse on the attackers. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50… the Military Zoids were rolling up the score.

Gordon caught the flicker at the edge of the screen. At first he thought it to be a signal error, but when it appeared again he knew they'd been had. "New contact! Designate Raid-2…" Another group of symbols appeared directly in front of the RAID-2 icon… "VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! WE HAVE INCOMING MISSILES! They faked us out. Raid-1 is a decoy, say again Raid-1 is a decoy!"

Upon hearing this Fire Phoenix Custom and a pair of Storches broke off of the first engagement and rocketed across the sky in the opposite direction. But they were too late.

75 hyper-sonic missiles launched by Raid-2 struck buildings all throughout the city. Each warhead struck with the force of five tons of high-explosives. Buildings crumbled, the lights went out, and chaos reigned supreme. The second attack-force of Bio-Petra Bombers escaped without a scratch.

Upon landing Katrina popped the hatch of her Zoid, the Fire Phoenix Custom and jumped to the ground. She then proceeded to punch the sandbag wall of the landing shelter hard enough to break two bones in her left hand. "I CAN'T BELIEVE WE FELL FOR IT! ARRRRRGH!" She punctuated this deceleration with swift savage kicks to the sandbag wall. In a fine rage she stormed off to the medical bay for a splint.

Meanwhile across the field Col. Gladys DeCamp was making her case to the ZBC Leadership and the Military Command. "My first choice would be Storch-types but since the Carrier Missile is the most effective anti-air weapon we have at the moment my second choice would be Redlers, fitted with Booster Cannons."

Commissioner Gordon Peerless consulted his clipboard. "Will six of them be enough? The silo field is enormous."

" Six is all I need. Actually I only need two, the other four are backups." Gladys flipped over the page on her chart. "That's the beauty of the collapsar charges. Just one can collapse a one-square mile field for mining. In fact---" The raid alarm sounded.

An orderly ran into the room. "Unidentified Zoid, Kong-Type at the field perimeter. The pilot is asking to speak with someone in charge."

Commissioner Peerless turned to High Commander Oswald Enrichard. Enrichard nodded and Commissioner Gordon turned back to the orderly. "Tell them to leave their Zoid at the edge of the field and escort them in.

Moments later four security guards escorted Ivana Rozhkov and Helmut Kanzler to the table. An orderly introduced them and High Commanded Enrichard motioned for them to sit. "Greetings, and welcome to Benden City. Now, what can we help you with?"

Helmut stood up and spoke. "You are most certainly aware that Nyx has the ability to launch nuclear missiles. What you are not aware of, comrades… is they are or should I say were limited in the numbers of warheads they could build. That is until they contacted comrade Ivana Rozhkov and me to design an improved breeder reactor for them."

Ivana spoke up. "We did so with the understanding that this reactor would be used to make fuel for a civilian power-plant program. That was an utter lie. They took my design and built an enormous mega-reactor. One that is highly unstable, but has a massive potential for fuel production."

" JA, and they took my fuel processing system design and optimized it to produce bombs. Now they have the ability to produce over 200 bombs a year."

Both of them sat back down, arms crossed. High Commander Enrichard remarked "Useful intelligence indeed, but why are you telling us this?"

Ivana made a face. "We want you to blow it up. They are six months behind on their payments."

High Commander Enrichard tried not to laugh. "Behind… on payments?

Ivana looked cross. "Da. Six months behind. It is unforgivable!"

Struggling to keep a straight face, High Commander Enrichard nodded and agreed. "Totally unforgivable, I agree."

Helmut nodded in agreement. "Ja. You understand."

Commissioner Peerless turned to Col. DeCamp. "Still think six Redlers will be enough?"

" I have a better idea…"

CHAPTER 12: Storm Warning

Thirteen.

A very unlucky number, so the legends say. But in this case it was Nyx that suffered the bad luck.

Under the cover of one of the famous Bended storms four neon-green Redlers with bombardier units, four midnight-blue Redlers with booster-cannons and two pairs of modified Salamanders took off and headed west. A half-hour later they joined a solitary Rainbow Jerk over Lake Tyrann and turned north.

Four hours they flew, then the entire group turned east towards the massive cloud-bank that was the leading edge of Hurricane Andre. As one they dove for wave-top level and turned north again

The entire southern coast of Nyx was being battered by the northern edge of the enormous storm. Even the enormous Pave-Eye radar arrays were unmanned. The aircrews knew none of this. They flew at speed over the coast, mere meters above the beach. 50 kilometers inland they split up.

One group, led by the Jerk-Wind flew northwest towards the city of Nugent. The other group, led by a neon-green Redler with a single blue stripe headed northeast towards the town of Wormwood.

WIND GROUP:

970 seconds later Col. Decamp yanked back on her control stick and slammed the booster controls forward. At an altitude of 10,000 she thumbed the comm controls. "Angel of Music," she called out. Leveling off at 20,000 she tipped the control forward, killed the engines, and dove for ground-level.

Half the Zoids flew in out of the west, dropping deep-penetration bombs from an altitude of five thousand meters. The others flew out of the west and dropped their payloads as well. At first nothing happened, then the ground swelled and burst upwards, tossing thousands of debris and rocks into the air. Circling around, both teams made another pass. Again, the ground swelled and burst. Pivoting as one they poured on the speed and dashed for the coast. They didn't see the Rainbow Jerk fire a single rocket straight down, seconds before Gladys pulled out her dive.

Wasting no time she slammed the throttle forward, activated the boosters, and overrode the limiters…

…the two-megaton nuclear warhead slammed into the ground at mach two and penetrated almost half a kilometer before detonating. In a split second 10 kilometers of the countryside were reduced to ash.

Col. DeCamp eased off the boosters, raised her goggles, and let out enormous sigh. She wiped the tears from her eyes and made a wide sweeping turn towards the coast.

SALAMANDER GROUP:

The Nugent Fireball was visible 200 kilometers away, and that signaled the second group to begin their run on the reactor complex.

At a range of five kilometers two Salamanders fired their missiles. Seconds after launching the Sallies dropped to a scant meter above the ground level. Right behind them came a second pair of Salamanders with huge Hellbore Cannons. Slowing to a near-stop, both pilots locked onto the huge reactor containment dome and opened fire.

All four missiles struck their targets. The cooling tower collapsed to the ground in a cloud of cement dust and twisted steel. The fuel-handling building took two hits and disappeared in a huge plume of fire and smoke. The last missile slammed into the processing center and detonated, igniting hundreds of thousands of gallons of flammable solvent.

With a groan the containment dome collapsed under the bombardment of the enormous Hellbore Lasers. An enormous cloud of steam rising from wreckage signaled the failure of the reactor cooling system. Moments later there was a bright blue flash as the core melted, surged, and burned out.

Nodding with satisfaction, Katrina Panache flashed her wing-lights twice and the entire group turned south.

GODCRY CANYON:

The two teams formed up in a single line and flew slowly as Col. DeCamp checked her instruments. One of the Salamanders and two of the Redlers were contaminated by radioactive debris. According to the plan they would fly to within 5 kilometers of friendly coastline where the pilots would bail out, two coastal patrol ships would pick up the pilots. That way the highly radioactive dust and debris would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Heading south at near-ground level over the enormous canyon Gladys took a moment to reflect on what she had done. Are we in fact no better than our attackers? No. All we did was stop the madness. Sickening that we had to stoop to their level. Hopefully the historians will have mercy on our souls.

Her threat-display lit up. "Wake up people, the Pave-Eye array just came online…"

Katrina activated her radar. "Heads up, here they come!" She reached over and lit off the boosters…

…Swinging around, she blasted into one of the Petras with a burst from her cannons. Another pilot rolled and deployed her blade, tearing into a second one.

Col. DeCamp grinned, leaned into the turn, and opened fire with her guns. Two Petras exploded into flames and a third turned away, fleeing the carnage. Another took a savage ripping from a Redler blade and attempted to flee by dropping to ground-level. Col. DeCamp ruined its day with a burst from her guns. Pouring on the speed she swung around, looped, and caught the last one with two with well-timed gunfire.

The group formed up again and Katrina hailed Col. DeCamp. "Ace again, boss? That makes how many now?"

" Forty-two. How many did you get?"

" One kill, an assist, and two damaged." She grinned.

Gladys nodded and called out "Whom else?"

" I got one with my blade," called out Samantha Ballard. "Saw 'm hit the ground."

Alex Teht added "I nicked one."

The pilot of the contaminated Salamander "Three of them with my cannon, one shot." He threw his head back and laughed.

Gladys nodded. "Keep sharp people we won't be back in friendly airspace for another two hours. Good work everyone."

Katrina waited for Col. DeCamp to sign off. "Good work? Then why do I feel like a butcher?"


CHAPTER 13: POINT OF NO RETURN

A POINT TWO HOURS WEST OF BENDEN CITY:

The thunder of the cannons blotted out hearing for a moment, but Dizzy repeated her orders. The Geno Breaker grabbed the offending Raptor and snapped it like a twig. A second met its fate at the claws of the Shadow Fox. The huge Mad Thunder rotated its mortar-cannons and for a brief second tipped to the side as the mortars fired. The enemy command post disappeared in a flash of flame. Siesmosaurs lumbered into the scene and open fired with its many laser-turrets and decimated the buildings making up the rest of the fortress. A charcoal-grey Blade Liger tore into another Raptor, signaling the end of the battle.

"Is it just me or were those last couple of raptors rather laser-resistant?"

A screen popped up on Dizzy's console. "Not just laser resistant, my cannons hardly dented that last one, I had to rip it a new one." Kevin shook his head. "Another thing boss… Where have all the Volcanoes gone?"

Damia Nevermore's face popped up in another window. "No Volcanoes, no Kentros, and no Tyrano. Maybe they ran out?"

" Ha! As if! I don't like this. Laser-resistant plasma-cannon equipped Raptors and no heavy units. Something is up." Dizzy punched a few buttons. "Sergeant, you have an hour to salvage stuff… I want one you to find as many Raptor pieces as possible."

The leader of the ground-troops acknowledged the order and went to work. Dizzy pushed her seat back and sighed. It was fun when we battled as a game. Now it's getting to be a chore. The com unit chimed and she sat back up. "Colonial DeCamp here. Get back to Fort Benden NOW! The sand has hit the fan."

Dizzy slapped the All Call button and shouted. "EVERYONE DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND HEAD BACK TO BASE ASAP!"

Within moments, all were running west at nearly 50km an hour.


FORT BENDEN:

As soon as the two teams set foot on the base they were escorted Zoids and all to the main repair bay. The pilots climbed out and were met by repair/rearm officers. Damia, Dizzy, Raoul, and Tom were accosted by two very tall Military Intelligence officers and asked to report to the Command Center.

As soon as they entered High Commander Enrichard asked "Who here remembers history class? Good. Now who can tell me who Hiltz was?"

Raoul spoke up. "A madman who destroyed several cities with a high-output charged-particle cannon during the Chaotic Century Wars."

" Very good. Now can anyone tell me what Zoid he piloted?"

Raoul spoke up again. "Death Stinger. Sea-Scorpion type. Uh, I don't like where this line of questioning is headed…"

"Indeed, but indulge the old fart." High Commander Enrichard turned and asked Dizzy "How did Hiltz bypass Republic defenses?"

" If I remember correctly he bored down below the ground and swam through an underground magma pool and then blasted a tunnel to the surface in the middle of the capital." She frowned. "He was able to divert the heat away from his Zoid by causing a phase-shift in his shielding."

High Commander Enrichard leaned forward. "Really now! That wasn't in the history lesson."

Damia nodded. "No it wasn't. We use the exact same technology on the Mad Thunder when we're mining. Once in awhile we'll hit a pocket of magma when we're mining. All you have to do is—" Damia wrote out several equations on a scrap of paper and drew a circuit diagram. "—thanks to Great-Grandmother Moonbay for passing that on." She flipped the paper over and wrote out another equation. "This is how you defeat the shielding."

High Commander Enrichard sighed then smiled. "Billions of credits of training, the best equipment, and the most sophisticated computers on the bloody planet and the solution is an 'old family recipe.' God save us all." He laughed. "Well to fill in the rest of the blanks… Nyx has built several dozen huge transports modeled after the infamous Death Stinger and they are using them to wreak havoc in the Red River region, 100km south of here."

He pushed a button on his chair and a holographic map appeared. "They've captured two bases, and six towns. This map shows the network of magma pools and this insert shows that they reach all the way to Benden and Capital City. Now…" He changed the display again. "Assuming that they haven't developed something new how long would it take to build this prototype shield-cracker?"

" First of all there are only three known ways to deflect heat with an E-shield. One is the Pilezter Effect, which this set of equations describes. The second is known as the Goezmea Effect, and this equation here shows how that works. Lastly, and this is the one Hiltz used… this is the Stenator's Theorem. This is how you defeat that. I need more paper." Damia frowned. "Give me an hour with a multi-meter and a soldering-iron and I can build a prototype."

Enrichard nodded. "Ok, follow Blanch there and she'll take you to the engineering bay."

Tom raised his hand. "Sir, that last battle we noticed that the Raptors seemed to be resistant to our weapons."

" Already taken care of, the only issue you'll encounter is the Volcanoes. We haven't found a method to defeat the new-type crystal plate yet… Just use extreme force, that seems to be best solution until the engineers come up with something."

Tom jotted down this factoid while Raoul pressed for details on the changes to the enemy armor. Enrichard explained that in addition to a different formula of alloy the Tyrano were sporting an improved E-shield. "It's really an incremental improvement, all that’s different is it conforms to the shape of the Zoid rather than form a bubble."

" Well if there are no more questions, report to your Zoids and catch up on repairs and maintenance, we'll be beginning a counterattack within 72 hours. Dismissed."

REPAIR BAY:

The repair bay normally was quiet, most of the heavy work went on below in the basement levels. The upper bay was mostly used for light welding, electronic repairs, and that sort of thing. The sound that greeted Tom as he entered the bay was as unexpected as it was loud.

"LINDA! HEY LINDA! TURN IT DOWN FOR A MOMENT!" Tom shook his head as Linda continued working on her equipment, music blaring from the speakers at an ear-shattering level. He walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

With a start she turned the music and gestured at the exposed guts of her Dimetrodon "Almost finished, in fact I'm tuning them right now."

Tom laughed, "I can't see how you can tune anything with all that noise."

"Actually Tom, that's part of the tuning process. I took this CD, mapped out the frequency of the sounds and I run through the machine and read the frequency generator response on the oscilloscopes here, then I compare them to my chart."

Tom nodded. "Very ingenious, now how long will it take to be 100% operational?" He picked up the CD case and glanced at the title. How appropriate he thought.

"Another two hours, given that I'm not disturbed." Linda turned back to her machines and turned the sound back up. The unmistakable sound of The Phantom of the Opera (Overture, Track Two) filled the repair bay.

[milicron]

CHAPTER 14: My Enemy/My Angel

"That's it! We've got them on the run! All units, advance!" Rubbing her hands with glee Gladys sat back in her command chair and smiled. A precisely timed pulse of energy had shorted out the weapons of the opposing Bio Zoids and rendered them nearly useless. Less than 20 minuets, and the enemy was at their mercy.

Per her plan the six teams under her command rushed the collapsing enemy line, weapons ablaze. The body count on the Nyxian side mounted, with hundreds of weaponless Bio Raptors being reduced to scrap.

Exactly 45 seconds later everything went wrong. A force of six Bio Tyrano led by a single Kentro decimated the advancing forces. The Kentro ran straight for the huge Mad Thunder, Slayers extended.

Gladys saw none of this however. Without warning she was thrown forward out of her seat. Both communication officers were tossed around the cramped command center. The lights fluttered and went out… and the entire room fell forward. "TOM! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHAT HAPPENED!"

Tom couldn't answer, as the impact had knocked him out, but Gladys couldn't know this. Cursing she grabbed her flashlight and turned it on, as did Ebert, the senior of the two communication officers. "Any response from the systems?"

Ebert shook his head. "No, ma'am. We're down." He poked at his control panel. "Nothing at all." He jerked his hand back. "Short circuit!" Right on cue the controls burst into flames.

Wasting no time, Col. DeCamp donned her helmet, and climbed for the hatch in the ceiling, Ebert and his assistant Rand followed her. The hatch opened with a pop before they reached the top of the ladder and sunlight streamed into the smoke-filled compartment.

"GOT THEM! GET THAT FIRE EXTINGUISHER OVER HERE!" Kevin helped pull Gladys, Ebert, and Rand out of the hatch.

Standing atop the wreckage of the Mad Thunder, Gladys surveyed the carnage. Fifty two Zoids, all destroyed. "My god what happened?"

"Ava Bahrain, that's what happened."


***
"Apparently Mad Thunder is tougher than we thought. The leg is fine, she merely cut the pressure lines. It'll be about a day to replace it. The electrical problems, again we're lucky, the short was caused by Ebert's coffee spilling into the console." George Aloe wiped his hands on an old rag before continuing. "All told I think I can get 'er running by the of the week."

Tom rubbed his bandaged forehead. "What about the Gordos?"

George consulted his ever-present clipboard. "Both left-side knee-joints need to be replaced. Two weeks. Geno Breaker is up and running already, just some minor repairs. The Helcat is ok too."

He sighed. "Now for the Dimetrodon. I'm afraid it's a total loss. Not much you can do when they slice a Zoid in half lengthwise." He grimaced. "The only reason Linda survived was that radiation shielding she installed deflected the blade away from her torso." Linda had nearly bled to death, loosing both legs below her knees. "She's damn lucky Kevin had that Celox powder with him."

Gladys patted Tom on his uninjured shoulder. "Well it looks like you'll have plenty of time to recover, injury-wise before returning to duty."

Tom clenched his fist. "Good, that'll give me time to ponder all the ways I'm going to kick Ava Bahrain's arse when we catch up with her"

Gladys laughed. "That's the spirit! Now go check up on Maria you don't want her thinking that you care more about your silly Zoid than her."

***
"I swear you care more about that silly Zoid than you care about me!" Dizzy threw her tray at Tom's head as he entered the hospital room. Her voice sounded congested, distorted. In actuality it sounded more like "Eye wear boo air or bout at silly oid and u air bout e!"

Dizzy's face had slammed into her control console with maximum force, as a result her nose was shattered, both her eyes were blackened and her entire face was one giant swollen bruise. The only thing not damaged in some way were her teeth. The doctors had sealed the bleeders, patched her nose, and wrapped her face with cool-packs. As a result her head looked like a huge white puff-ball.

Tom knew better than to laugh though. In fact he knew exactly how to defuse this situation.

Tom shook his head. "I do not. I asked about your Gordos first."

Dizzy squinted though the eye-slits of her bandages. "Woo id? Ankh woo. Ow es ee?"

At that moment the nurse walked in. "Mr. DeCamp, I'm afraid we can't allow Maria to talk for too long, her lips are still quite bruised, and it's not good for her to keep forcing air behind her nose until it heals more."

Tom nodded at the nurse. "Gordos will be fine, he'll be up, and running before you are." He smiled, and took her hand. "If they let me I'll poke my head in later."

The nurse consulted the chart at the end of Dizzy's bed. "Later, as in you can see her before eight tonight, she has to go see Dr. Shnozenhertz now." She gently steered him towards the door. "Go on, she's in good hands."

As Tom turned to walk out Dizzy called out "ove ou, om."

Tom smiled and replied "Love you too, Maria."

***

"As you can see, Linda is still under from the surgery. They had to amputate further because of the Celox reaction. They took both her knees off this morning…" Doctor Rice called up a diagram on her computer. "…but that's really no big deal as we can install servo-joints. In some ways it'll be easier for her having both servo-knees and servo-feet, as we can program the computers to even out her nerve-impulses."

Tom shook his head. "When I asked how she was doing I was more concerned about her spirit, how's she taking this?"

Doctor Rice looked up from her computer. "At this moment she's more upset over loosing her Zoid than the loss of her legs. That's normal though, the reality of her injuries hasn’t sunk in." She pushed back from her desk. "Really, I wouldn't be too concerned, we have experts trained to handle cases like hers."

"…and to answer your next question, she's out of the war. There is no way she'll be able to pilot for a couple of years, at least."

Tom shook Doctor Rice's hand, thanked her for the information, and headed out to the hanger bay.

***
Moments later Tom was in the hanger bay, more specifically the section reserved for the Gwen-Fox team. With a false-cheerful wave to Damia and Raoul he strode past the huge Ultimate Siesmo, past the mighty Berserk Fury, and took a short-cut through the bay holding the Elephander AG Command Special. He strode right into Blair Woolwacker's office and without any preamble asked "Is the Energy Liger operational?"

" Uh, yes Tom… Why do you ask?" Blair put down her coffee cup and looked out the window at the imposing form of the Energy Liger.

Tom grinned. "I'll explain when I get back." His aim was true and his fist connected with Blair's face. "Sorry."

He lowered her to the floor, took her Zoid Gear from her desk and climbed into the waiting Zoid. Glancing over the controls, he activated the power-up sequence and the transformation system with one deft motion.

The PA system rang out "ENERGY LIGER SECURED TO MAINTENANCE PLATFORM! INSTALLING ENERGY LIGER STORM!"

A series of robotic arms installed two huge Storm Brother-type gattling guns, several other cannon arrays and several pieces of armor plating. Another set of servos took the twin pulse-cannon off the left leg and installed a second plasma-gattling while a third gattling was installed between the front legs.

Again the PA rang out "CAS Fuzion Complete!"

Wasting no time, Tom triggered the bay-doors and accelerated to a full run. Without looking back he ran for three hours before stopping. He thumbed the comm system. "Alright Ava… if you're really as good as you think you are you'll show yourself."

Several moments later the ground erupted and a huge Scorpion-type transport surfaced. The ramp dropped open, and the odious form of a Bio Kentro emerged from the darkness. "So, who is challenging me? Just for the record. If you get lucky and win, you'll go down in history and I want to be sure they spell your name right." Ava Bahrain cracked her knuckles and pulled out the miniature keyboard that interfaced with her Bio Zoid's neural network.

"Tomas DeCamp, Stonecypher Team."

Ava blinked and then typed the name into her console. "Hmmm, Tom DeCamp. The one who stomped on my Zoid during the semi-finals?"

"The very same."

"Well this should prove interesting." She called up the specs on the Energy Liger type. "I have to warn you, the Bio Kentro is optimized for killing Liger-types, if you haven't noticed."

"I've noticed. But don't worry the Energy Liger Two is optimized for killing Bio Kentros" He adjusted his seat and lowered his visor. "So tell me, what is this all about anyway?"

The ground shook as the Dark Judge landed. Moments later, the Judge announced the formation of the battlefield and the terms of the battle. "Battle Mode 001. One-On-One Duel." Tom noted that the AI was different, closer to the original ZBC AI than the over-the-top crazy Dark Judge AI that so many people had complained about.

Ava put her special interface gloves back on. "I'll explain as we go along. Ready over there?"

Tom glanced at his readouts. "Oh I'm ready."

Both pilots signaled the Judge. They moved into Face-Off position.

With the time-honored traditional "READY… FIGHT!" the battle began.

Ava called out. "I'll give you a sporting chance and let you prime your Energy-Charger system."

…Tom never heard her. Ignoring all sense of conventional strategy he leaped into the air and tackled the Kentro. With a savage roar the Energy Liger ripped one of the enormous Slayer Blades right off the servo-joint and flung it quite a distance away. "So, what is this all about then," he asked in a conversational tone.

Ava grinned. Oh, he's good… very good. "Very simple. We ran out of fuel." With a though-impulse she arched the back of the Kentro and tossed the Liger across the battlefield.

The Energy Liger skidded quite a distance before stopping. "Ok, so what? Why not purchase more from the other nations?" Tom fired off a volley of Storm-Brother pulses, which Ava avoided with ease.

"Simple, Tom. Why purchase what we can simply take?" Swinging around, she routed a pulse of Bio-Energy though her blade and fired it at the Liger.

Tom made no effort to avoid the shot. Instead his E-shield deflected the beam with ease. "Good point, but what's with the nuclear firestorm? Wouldn't it have been easier to just invade? I mean now you have the entire planet angry at you." The Energy Liger lowered its head and charged at the Kentro.

Ava arched her Bio Zoid out of harms way and followed up with a tail-swipe. The result was the Energy Liger tripped, and skidded. The impact tore the third gattling free of its mounting. "Believe me, that wasn't my idea. I tried to tell them we could win with a simple massed invasion, but they over-ruled me."

"Don't you just hate when that happens?" Tom flicked a lever, and the two enormous gattling guns on the shoulders jettisoned. Another switch, and the huge energy-blades swung into position, glowing with deadly intent. "Tell you what. You agree to pack up your invasion force and I'll see to it that Stonecypher Industries supplies Nyx with energy equipment. Reactors, geo-taps, windmills. Rather than stealing our fuel and shooting up our country we'll set you up with alternate sources of power."

Ava scanned the blades, made an adjustment to the molecular properties of the skin of her Bio Zoid with a mere though and replied to Tom in less than three seconds. "Tempting… But we're committed to this invasion. Trust me we'll all be better off under one government."

Tom narrowed his eyes, and the Liger ran forward.

Ava narrowed her eyes, and the Kentro ran forward.

With a crash of metal and material, both Zoids collided. With a groan, the remaining Slayer blade detached from the Bio Kentro.

"I like my government the way it is, Ava." The Liger grabbed the left rear leg of the Kentro and sheared through the toughened Bio Polysteel with its huge jaws. Flinging the severed leg away the Liger head-butted the body of the Kentro a considerable distance.

Lining her up in his sights he caressed the firing button with his thumb. "Last chance, agree to withdraw your forces…"

…with incredibly bad timing the Ultimate Siesmo crashed through the forest canopy into the clearing.

"My god, he's got Ava against the ropes." Raoul's jaw dropped.

"He's demolished her." Damia's eyes bugged out.

"HE STOLE MY LIGER!!!" Blair screamed.

Raoul reached over and pulled big red lever. "Charging Zenebas Cannon. Move your arse, Tom."

The Energy Liger leaped to safety…

…The Zenebas Cannon continued to charge…

…and a huge Bio Raptor swooped down, grabbed the shattered Kentro, and blasted into the sky just as the cannon discharged.

The judge, the transport, and roughly a kilometer of land turned into superheated ions. The Bio Raptor banked gracefully and headed north.

"DAMN YOU RAOUL YOU MISSED HOW COULD YOU MISS!!" Damia screamed directly at Raoul.

Raoul roared back at Damia "SHUT YOUR BLOODY MOUTH AND ARM THE FLIPPING MISSILES WOMAN!!"

Damia roared back "DON'T YOU EVER TAKE THAT TONE OF VOICE WITH ME YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! "

Blair screamed "SOMEONE FIRE SOMETHING AT HER SHE'S GETTING AWAY!"

…the Raptor soared into the distance, unharmed.

Tom just shook his head and sighed.

***
TWO HOURS LATER:


Commissioner Peerless rounded on Raoul. "You missed?! How could you miss?"

Damia threw her arms up in the air. "He bloody missed! You should have seen it! Blew a bloody mile-wide hole in the ground but he missed the bloody target!"

Commissioner Peerless just shook his head. "I can't believe you missed."

Blair added "At least I got my Liger back."

Commissioner Peerless turned to Blair. "Indeed. About that." He turned to Tom, and shuffled the papers on his desk. "Tom, while we are indeed grateful for the intelligence data you provided us… it is technically against ZBC rules and laws to assault a pilot on another team and steal his or her Zoid, no matter what the circumstances."

Tom nodded. "I'm aware of that, I did what I had to do, and I'll accept whatever punishment you deem fit."

Blair shrugged. "I'm not going to press charges, considering what you accomplished, but under one condition."

Peerless leaned forward. "Ok, what condition."

" I get to punch Tom in the face, in front of everyone here."

The Commissioner turned to Tom. "Is this acceptable to you?"

Tom grinned. "Yes."

" Then by the power vested in me by the ZBC I declare this case closed. Blair Woolwacker, you may punch Tom in the face." Peerless banged his gavel.

…the last thing Tom saw was the huge grin on Blair's face. Then blackness.


***
The first impression he had as he awakened was that of an enormous pressure where his nose should have been. He groaned.

"Don't worry, the medication will kick in shortly Tom. It's rather delightful." Dizzy laughed. "Now we'll match!"

Tom passed out a second time, as the nurse adjusted the bandage on his face.

[Deadborder]

Okmay, a couple of thoughts here.

Your writing is good. You've got grammar, strucuture, paragraphs and coherency. Your text flows, you don't have any spelling issues that I noted... in other words, in terms of writing qualty, its one of the best fics on this board to date.

You have an OC-based fic, which is a hard hting to pull off. The good part of it is that you resisted the urge to make any one chracter utterly dominating or god-like; there's no uberman who walks aorund the unverse being in charge of everything.

There's a downside to this, however. Most of your chracters have rather minimal chracterisation and development. They also don't have much descrption either, which doesn't help matters. The summaries at the top of the page really amount to the limit of their development. The Nyxian chracters are the worst case here - their lines make them sound like cliched extras from a Bond movie or something.

The anime links are actually rather redundant - you could remove the anime refernces alltogether (Along with the smooshed continuity) and it'd make no differnce.

Anyways, that's my htoughts. You got soem good ideas; yu just need to expand on them.

Rick R.

[milicron]

Yep, that's the general feedback I'm getting from other people as well. I'm planning to flesh out the background of the characters a bit more once I get the entire story down on paper.

This is a work in progress. Stay tuned, and thanks for the feedback.

...

Also, I notice I didn't completely correct the name of one of the characters, she suffers a name-change half way through. ;D