Forward We Cry

Years ago a kingdom of superb farmers and skilled craftsmen were set upon by the destructive forces of the Southern Machine Menace, their ornate but small cities were wiped off the map by large pillars of burning light that came down from the heavens like the finger of God himself had pierced the skies and wiped the land clean of all life. Our king was instantly killed by these burning pillars, his majestic castle upon the hill erased from existence. In a great exodus our people went east to a land of great and powerful individualists but upon our arrival we were greeted with apathy and an indifferent attitude, their leader at the time a gray haired old man was too fearful of reprisal by the evil hive minded machines and closed his border to us. With our spirits crushed we fled back toward the north where news of strong fiery men from a great sea faring nation had come to protect us from the machine menace and help us organize a resistance against their tyranny.

In the years following great ships like never seen before battled in our skies as great powers came to do battle with the machine menace. The Men of The Sea proved successful in keeping the Machine Menace’s spies and harvesters from coming to take us away and strip us of our minds. We fight on, but the battle now lies in finding a way to subsist in our new scorched land. For a good year now the machines have kept to themselves, blue eyed Eastmen come and observe our broken cities, their intentions unknown, news from the south as ceased and our future is uncertain…

Forward We Cry


“Mr. President our report on the situation at Tasselvalta has been completed and our chief agent on the matter is here to give it in person.” The Aide said as Allen Gordon, President of Allegheny sat in his office in the tower on the hill looking out over his capitol city.

“Send him in then,” He said quietly, turning his chair to face door. The Aide nodded and walked out the agent entering as the Aide left. Agent Kennaway saluted his glowing blue eyes looking front and center but not upon the President.

“At ease Agent, I am please to hear the Bureau of information is finally done with it’s investigation of our neighbor.”

“Yes sir,” The Agent said relaxing his at ready stance. “My report is as follows; most of the population of Tasselvalta is now located in the north, they are dying a slow death and without immediate aid they shall surely perish leaving the land devoid of human life. The Warreic commandos are now cut off from Warre as we assume Vodrak no longer allows Warriec ships to gain entrance to the inland sea Tasselvalta borders. The land itself has been terribly scared by the Packilvanian war-machine and the country has ceased to have an economy. It is essentially a group of homeless nomads attempting to find shelter in either the Tasselvaltan plains where most die of exposure to the elements or in the ruins of it’s cities.” The agent cleared his throat and continued.

“It is my assessment that the Alleghenian army will most likely be unopposed and probably be welcomed as saviors if we were to enter and annex the ruined north lands tomorrow. Rebuilding will be a costly effort but I am sure our efficient economic strength will make it possible. Along with reseeding technologies that have been recently created and Tasselvalta’s incredible mineral wealth it would in my opinion be a waste if we did not move in immediately and seize it before another regional power does so.” The Agent finished his assessment and stood waiting for the President to respond.

“That is all Agent Kennaway, you have down a marvelous job. Dismissed.”

The Agent saluted again and quickly left. Gordon brought up his computer screen from the desk and had the computer dial in a secure line to Central Command. The call was quickly answered by the Supreme Commander of Allegheny’s Armed Forces, Cassandra Phillips. Commander Phillips saluted as the President began to speak.

“Good Evening Commander, under Executive orders I hereby instruct you to gather an expeditionary force and have a plan to advance on Redcliffe, Tasselvalta within the nest two weeks. It is our intention to annex and bring aid to the war torn Tasselvaltan north lands and rescue stranded Warreic commando teams.”

Commander Phillips nodded, her face betraying no emotion on the sudden decision. “It shall be done Mr. President.”

Permission granted to RP as Pax troops as need to, as I am ridiculously slow in responding to RP nowadays. I am going to try to keep up with this though, as this interests me. The Pax are also wrapped up in a mana conversion project in the south of the Pax homelands.

In the bowels of Central Command Cassandra Phillips sat thinking about the impending action in Tasselvalta and the newly reelected Allen Gordon’s campaign promises. “The fools actions to attempt to ‘stabilize’ the continent may only bring us doom in the end.” She thought to herself.

It was fact that the Packilvanians had been quiet for some time and that Alleghenian intelligence on the invaders from space was quite sparse to say the least. However in the past they had shown an ability to at least attempt to be diplomatic about some things. As she continued to go through her thoughts she opened a line to the President to speak with him.

Gordon’s face appeared on the screen. “Why do you insist on contacting me at the most inopportune hours of the day?” He said.

Cassandra shook her head annoyed at this idiotic response. “You would think your top commander would have the President’s ear at all times of the day and that he would provide her with the respect that she has earned in the service of this country.”

Gordon grumbled, “And you have, now what is it? How comes my expeditionary force?”

“Being assembled as we speak, however I am worried that this will only lead us to war, we may have yet to see what the Pax Empire is capable of but it is no doubt to be underestimated. I think we should contact the directly, we should turn this invasion into a humanitarian mission. You of all people no the Pax can be negotiated with and I believe it would be a missed opportunity if we do not.”

“And how do you suggest we get a hold of them? If you remember last time it wasn’t the easiest thing to do.” Gordon explained.

“We simply transmit a message to the closest Hive cluster we can reach. It should trickle down to someone who has the authority to treat with us eventually, they are a hive minded species you know. The message would signal our intent to help the people of Tasselvalta and hopefully it would give us free reign to rebuild the north and get us the land we desperately need. It may seem odd for me to suggest this being a military woman myself but your promises to bring stabilization to this continent will bring us into conflict with many people and I would like to spare my Army the horror of having to fight every little battle that could have been avoided through diplomacy. A war with the Pax would put a damper on your little campaign promise quite quickly. Let us attempt to pick and choose our battles before we engage in them first.”

Gordon nodded seeing the logic in her reasoning. “Then send a message signaling our intent to forge a humanitarian campaign in North Tasselvalta and get me a drone who can speak with authority.” The screen went black and Cassandra stood up and made her way to Central Commands communications Hub. The Captain in charge of the section signaled for everyone to stand at attention as she entered the room.

“As you were.” She commanded. The technicians and engineers in the room went back to work. “Captain have your men transmit a message to the closest Pax hive immediately. Let me know when we have a response.”

The Captain immediately set out to transmit at highest power the message Cassandra had given him.

— Begin quote from ____

ON AUTHORITY OF THE ALLEGHENIAN PRESIDENT WE WISH TO SIGNAL TO THE PACKILVANIAN EMPIRE OUR INTENT TO WAGE A HUMANITARIAN CAMPAIGN INTO NORTH TASSELVALTA IN AN ATTEMPT TO BRING FOOD AND WATER TO THE WAR WEARY TASSELVALTAN PEOPLE. IT IS ALSO OUR INTENT TO INFORM YOU THAT THE UNION REPUBLIC OF ALLEGHENY WISHES TO NEGOTIATE A TAKE OVER OF NORTH TASSELVALTA AND A FREEING OF UNASSIMILATED PEOPLES HELD BY THE PACKILVANIAN EMPIRE. IGNORANCE OF THIS MESSAGE IS NOT ADVISED.

— End quote

Normally, Noi would handle this herself, but with the experiments going on in the south-lands, she appointed #75 to be the negotiator. One of the assimilated races, #75 was most accurately described as a lizard. He stood a mere 1 meter tall, and had surprisingly few augmentations. He decided the best course of action would be to simply stroll to the border.

At the Pax border. Adressed to whoever happens to be there

#75 arrived by Pax transport, resembling a small sedan. He walked to the border after exiting the vehicle.

“We are Pax. We are here to receive your negotiations. Please direct us to where we need to be.”

After motion sensors had gone wild near the Alleghenian border a unit of the 5th Southern Border Protection Battalion was dispatched from Blackwater to investigate. Their radios picked up the eerie Pax response emanating from the Drone that had approached the border. He was taken into custody and then given accommodations at the Blackwater Military Base known as Fort Shaw.

Government negotiators immediately arrived in Blackwater to begin negotiations. Edward Plummer had been a negotiator for the Union government for over twenty years, he had negotiated many things foreign and domestic in his career but never anything like this. To him and many other Alleghenians Packilvania was mostly a place of myth and legend mostly due to the government controlling information flow about Packilvania. Did they have souls? Where did this Lizard person come from? Are there even Lizard people in The East Pacific? None that he could recall as he mulled over the number of species he had met during his tenure as a negotiator.

He entered the room and sat opposite of the Lizard Man/Drone known as 75 as soldiers given to him to assist in setting up a video conferencing system for Allen Gordon went about their work. The accommodations could be described as adequate but spartan due to its military nature but it would work.

Finally Gordon’s face appeared on the screen. “Ah Edward how are you today?” He asked.

Edward cleared his throat, “I’m fine Mr. President, this is 75 of the Packilvanians he has been sent by Noi, who I assume is their leader to treat with us on this list of reque…”

Gordon interrupted the negotiator, “75 I am going to be straight with you and do away with this pomp and circumstance crap, I want North Tasselvalta and I want to help those people who have been displaced by your war there and haven’t been assimilated yet. Now I know your forces aren’t even bothering with the north anymore simply by observation and I assume that your people are sick of the constant threat of retaliation and rebellion. The question is what is it going to take to get you to give it up and let us in there. Oh, and don’t worry about Ed here, he is just here to make it official, I’d be there myself but business here in Pittsburgh demands I stay put. What it gonna be 75?”

Iremian First Fleet flagship - «Nimitz class» aircraft carrier Antares
In the meanwhile – Dyr Nasadian channels, routing towards Vulshain - Flight Deck

Observing the helicopter becoming bigger and bigger against the blue of the sky, Fleet Admiral Gordon Fallet smirked.

«So, it seems the anti-Rezielan guy is needing the bad Rezielans for a passage… and perhaps for a safe hideout when shit will start to rain down, as soon as he’ll have put his native nose in the middle of the Alleghenian-Packilvanian mud. Holy Ki’jo… hadn’t we decided the Grand Duchy would have stayed away from all of that mess? Tassalvalta has gone… why should we care?»

«My Lord… Mr Robert Carlyle is not here on behalf or in connection with the Grand Duchy anyhow. He’s acting as… uhm… supervisor of humanitarian operations for the region or something like that» replied Fallet’s aide, getting the Admiral’s attention.

«Oh… and since when this region has such a… how have you named it? Supervisor of humanitarian operations? Seriously?»

«With all due respect… hell if I know» the man answered, getting a cold grin in response.

«Oh well» chuckled the Admiral, observing the helicopter finally landing over the deck «I suppose Mr Carlyle will be kind enough to give us all of the information we’ll need to properly… how have the FPSians said? Support him and his key mission… Key mission. My foot!»

75 blinked.

“So forward in your request. Yes, the Pax can deal with you. Let us clarify something we feel is of import. We are not sent by Noi. we are Noi. We are the embodiment of all that is Pax. It is rare for us to use a vessel, but the unenlightened ones fear us.”

#75 strolled across the room.

“We must ask. What is to be gained by taking the north of what used to be Tasselvalta? There is nothing but rural farmland and refugee camps there. It is no secret the Pax have a shortage of arable farmland. We would lose the one thing we fought for in this war by ceding control to your peoples. The people in the north have already been offered help. They must simply find a drone and make their intentions clear. Leave or be assimilated”

He closed his eyes and spoke firmly.

“… However, the Pax have never been known to forsake an opportunity. One must only look to the alliance with Drakkengard to know that. We ask what you offer us in return for so great a prize. Surely you don’t mean to simply take it by force?”

Gordon chuckled. " I am known to be quite forward, thank you. Let’s be honest here, the Pax aren’t known for their revolutionary farming techniques but Allegheny is known for being able to take something small and useless and turning it into a money making venture. Allegheny’s farmlands are small and few but yet we maximize their production capability and thus we feed our entire nation, that’s almost a half billion people fed off of our small arable land. So what I propose is you gives us the land and we farm it for you taking every little piece of grow-able food that is produced in Tasselvalta and give it to the Pax in tribute to your generosity."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath, “As for why we need the land, well, let us just say we need growing room, but what we need most of all is sea access, purely owned by us. I have plans to expand and make us greater than we are now. Tasselvalta to us the path of least resistance. If I go north I must contend with one billion insane Bai Lungese, if i go east I anger the entire arm of the Vulpine people, and If i go south I run into you. West is my only option, allowing us to go west gives us the room we need and it gives you a very happy trading partner and a bunch of free food. Of course we can’t give you oil to dip your carrots in, you’ll have to find that else where.”

Gordon smiled but quickly went back on topic seeing his joke fall flat. What did he expect?

“Uh, anyways why do we want to help those people? Let me just put it to you this way and I mean you no offense Mr. 75 but there are a lot of people who don’t want to be assimilated, entire nations plan entire defense strategies to make sure they aren’t assimilated. I’m sure you find it all nice and dandy but we value our individuality and like to refer to ourselves as I not we. It’s that simple. Those people in North Tasselvalta would rather starve then choose that lifestyle and we’d rather they don’t. That’s all I can say.”

“I will attempt consensus.”

75 stared off into space and seemed to be elsewhere for a time. A few minutes later life seemed to return to his eyes.

“The Hive shares your concern for the loss of life. We acknowledge that a renewed push to the north would only make the land unusable, and would destroy so many future drones.” This was stated as if it were inevitable. 75 paced slowly.

“Consensus is hard to come by on this issue. To be honest, it is a matter of pride for the Pax. We have only once surrendered sovereignty of any lands to another people. That was with the Drakkengard, but we consider them to be our brothers.”

75 stopped pacing and looked around.

“If you can forgive the intrusion…”

A small blue light intensified behind the Hive node implanted in the rear of 75’s skull. Every monitor in the facility now displayed a map of Tasselvalta.

“I show you here a simple proposal. We can accept your offer to farm and supply the Pax with the food provided. We have a slightly different map than what you may have thought. First, we propose the south-lands of Tasselvalta will be given autonomy as a member of the Hive. They will be given the same status as the old Hoopian states. The north-land will be ceded to your peoples, with the following two conditions. A Pax colonial town will be allowed to be established on the northern shoreline. It will be allowed free trade and border crossing into the newly controlled Allegheny lands. In ten years, and every ten years following, a plebiscite will be held to determine if the citizens of said colony wish to transfer to the Allegheny state. Secondly, for the next ten years, the Pax wish military access to the north-lands for anti-terrorism purposes. There are still many who would resist both of us.”

Gordon shook his head, the drone drove a hard bargain. “I can agree to those terms as long as your colony and anti terrorist activities do not interfere with Alleghenian military, commercial and civilian operations in the rebuilding and expansion in Tasselvalta. Also Alleghenian military observers are to accompany any anti-terror mission into North Tasselvalta. We shall also reserve the right to take any terrorists captured by Pax forces and prosecute on our own terms should we find it necessary we promise this shall be rare and in circumstances where Alleghenian property or people were hurt. Finally any Tasselvaltan in the south who does not wish to be assimilated or live on Pax lands should be allowed to cross into the north and seek asylum from Allegheny as long as they are not actively engaged in terror activity against Pax forces. If you will agree to these terms than we shall have a treaty and we can move on.”

Meanwhile…

The monolithic towers of Drexel, financial capitol of Allegheny loomed over the jubilee taking place on the streets. Ten thousand soldiers raucously marched through the main boulevard, displaying their strength before they were to be stationed at their deployment zones for the Expedition into Tasselvalta. Banners hung from balconies as people came to cheer them on and follow their march through the streets. A military band followed proudly playing the Battle of Britain(1969)-Ace High March - YouTube, the song, cheers and cadence of the soldiers boots hitting the ground creating a jubilant scene. Beautiful women grabbed at the marching soldiers kissing them and posing for pictures when they could as civilians crowding around them threw and waved miniature Alleghenian flags around. General Laurence Redgrave stood up in his convertible vehicle waving and saluting as he followed in the midst of march. He had been appointed by the Supreme Commander to lead the expedition and if need to engage Packilvanian forces if negotiations broke down. He hoped they didn’t because if negotiation did fail many of these men, newly augmented and made to feel invincible, would be dead in the first few days of a war with the Pax. He prayed Gordon could pull it off, there were too many battles to fight in the future already.

Sorry, i thought I posted already… oops

That is acceptable. I warn you though, that there are not many left in the Southlands, and we also wish to ask that the border be open for anyone on the North to do business or move to the South as well.

As a favor to the Pax, and to cement the deal, we ask that you people officially recognize the South Tasselvaltan nation, and the Pax claims to its sovereignty.

OOC: Recognition of the South state will be done in my news thread. Here: http://theeastpacific.com/index.php?showtopic=9771 You can RP your drone leaving if you wish otherwise im going ahead to the RP of the Expeditionary Force. Feel free to RP other stuff in here pertaining to North and South Tasselvalta.

Gordon smiled. “It shall be done then.”

The screen cut to black and the negotiator sighed. “Well then we shall draw up a treaty and send it to your leaders. I shall arrange an escort back to Packilvania.”

A few days later

The Second Army had assembled on the border, 100,000 men awaiting for deployment into North Tasselvalta, land that now legally belonged to the Alleghenian state. General Redgrave sat in his office drinking another cup of coffee. He couldn’t sleep, not this close to deployment, he knew many men who were already in their vehicles, the weight of their gear on their shoulders reminding them of the impending mission. Tomorrow at 0500 hours he would be with them as they made the thrust toward Redcliffe, the old Capitol of Tasselvalta. Intelligence showed the city was mostly destroyed in Packilvania’s campaign to secure all of the country. Shanty towns of starving people sat on it’s outskirts.

The door to his office opened, and in came the Supreme Commander herself.

“Can’t sleep Laurence?” She said as she sat in front of his desk. He didn’t salute her, formalities were not needed here. " I never could, not this close to a campaign. I didn’t expect you to come out this way Cassandra, what gives?"

Cassandra smiled. “I wanted to be here, to see the Second Army make the thrust across the border.”

“Remembering old times?” Redgrave asked. “Remembering when you weren’t important enough to be forced off the front lines, the smell of diesel fuel, gunpowder and sometimes blood on the wind?”

“Yes.” she replied quietly. “As much as I hated it. The thrill of the battlefield was addictive.”

“Well the battle for Tasselvalta is long over, the Packilvanian’s got all the action. Have you seen the field reports from our agents? That some terrifying power they have. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of those Ion Cannons. All that’s left is the ashes of a dead society. Thank the lord they have us humanitarian Alleghenians coming to their rescue”

The two generals laughed, it was a landgrab, everyone knew it, though they would help the Tasselvaltans as much as they could the mineral wealth in the Tasselvatan mountains could not be ignored. More fuel for Allegheny’s great industrial cities and Beyond the mountains lies the sea, the one thing Allegheny did not have access to. Once they hit the sea they would have access to the entire world.

Cassandra stood up and began to walk away. “Make the Union proud Redgrave, our eyes are all on you.”

Redgrave smiled. In just a few short hours the Second Army would have it’s world debut and Allegheny it’s living space.

The cacophony of machines, Heavy metal music and cheers filled the air as the Second Army crossed the border into North Tasselvalta. Troop transports, equipment transports, IFV’s. MBT’s, self propelled artillery, Trucks filled with tons of food and other military vehicles tore up the ground underneath them. Overhead helicopters flew ahead filled with men off to secure Redcliffe International Airport ahead of the Engineering Corp who’s task it was to make the airstrip there usable once again as that airport would be the Second Army’s headquarters in the Country once it was secured. Avenger air superiority fighters patrolled the skies over the moving army, watching for air attack for anything and anyone.

General Redgrave’s transport and escort was in the middle of it all as he stood observing from the transport’s mounted machine gun. On the border lived many of those Tasselvaltans who tried to escape into Allegheny many years ago, their faces only showed sadness and sickness as they watched the Second Army rolled in. The once proud people approached some of the marching soldiers their arms outstretched as the men on the trucks threw them some food and medicine. Small teams of medics stayed behind to help. Many of the defeated peoples followed the army as it advanced on Redcliffe. Redgrave sighed as he saw this, giving an order over the radio to tell soldiers on the flanks to tell these people not follow them. Many of them would die if they followed the army as the intended destination of Redcliffe was a day and a half of travel away. In the mean time he continued to observe his Army and keep in contact with them as they traveled, it seemed that the advance would be uneventful thanks to Gordon’s negotiation with the Pax.

Whiskey Company had been taken out of the Fifth Field Army and rotated into the Second Army. Filled with many veterans of the Iruk Campaign of two years prior. Sargent Chambers was now Captain Chambers, he had been given command of Whiskey company as well as many medals for Valorous actions during the Iruk Campaign. Master Sargent Rebecca Grey was with Whiskey company as well, after excellent application of battlefield medicine as a medic in Whiskey Company she had been given several promotions and command of Whiskey Company’s medics and support crew one of those support soldiers being Billy Coen. Whiskey Company had been packed up and put upon several troop transports participating in the thrust toward Redcliffe. Sargent Grey sat next to Corporal Coen and remarked about the condition of the Tasselvaltan people, as a medic she felt responsible for the many lives that depended on her, soldier and civie alike.

“Goddam, there was a shit ton of action out this way.” Coen said in amazement.

Rebecca just shook her head. Another troop transport passed by filled with the other half of Whiskey Company. One of the privates stood up and shouted to his comrades in Grey and Coen’s transport. “Hey you fuckers!!! Welcome to Tasselvalta! Ass end of the known planet!”

Another Private responded to him yelling across the divide between the transports. “Hey Captain! Why the hell are we here? Ain’t nothing to kill!”

Captain Chambers yelled back scolding him. “Sit down Private! Or I will ram my fist so far up your ass your momma will feel it!” The Privates sat down. Coen leaned over to Grey. “he’s right you know. Ain’t nothing here for us to do but hold scorched land.”

Sargent Grey waved him off. She knew he was right as she looked out of the transport to see the downtrodden sickly people following them begging for anything and everything. She had studied about Tasselvalta, it was a shame to see these proud people begging and grabbing at whatever they could get.

A storm had rolled in as the Second Army emerged from the mountains of Tasselvalta, in the foothills below lie the charred husk of Redcliffe, this once majestic city reduced to ashes by the powerful heat of the Ion Cannon strikes. A few miles further north of the city was the Redcliffe International Airport which was mostly intact. Lights filled the dark stormy horizon indicating that the Engineering Corps had already made it and were in the process of restoring it to operational condition. Prior to the army’s exit from the mountain passes they had radioed that the runways was clear for planes to land on, however the violent weather prevented an advance of supplies by air from Allegheny’s airbases.

The people who had gathered around to travel with the advancing army number’s began to drop off as they came close to the city, it was clear that something terrible had happened here. Corporal Coen who was attached to Seargent Grey’s group of field medics slung his light machine gun over his back as he walked. He leaned in to ask a question, “Hey Sarge why do you think all those people dropped off back in the mountains as we get closer to this hole in the ground?”

Grey shook her head at Coen’s blatant ignorance of recent history, “This is where it all started Billy, one Ion Cannon strike and suddenly the entire Tasselvaltan monarchy ceased to exist. To these people their King was their watchful protector, one of the more fair minded and benevolent Monarchs in all of the East Pacific. They revered him and suddenly he was turned to ash by this terrible murderous force. You should perhaps pay more attention to current events instead of being a fucking meathead all the time.”

Coen smirked, “Yeah whatever Sarge, you might find this interesting and all but to me it’s just another paycheck in the bank account for me to waste on hookers and whiskey when I’m on leave. All the top brass has to do is point me at the enemy and tell me to kill and now that i got these new CyberArm Prosthetics it’s just that much easier. I bet I can take on a Pax drone pound for pound in a fist fight with these babies. Give me one of the mini guns off the transports and I can carry that like it weighed as much as a tissue box. I could kill twice the amount of babies those commie Kelssekian papers say we do with one of those in my steel fists. Hooah!”

Grey shook her head and laughed, not bothering to respond to Coen’s bravado, the trip was still too long for her to have to listen to all of the shit Coen could spew out of his mouth.

The rain pelted at their transport even harder as they reached the airport and began to fortify their positions. Captain Chambers had left the his Company to grab orders from the Colonel as they began to dismount from their vehicles and just as quickly as he left he was back with maps and orders.

“All right Whiskey Company! Fall in!” he yelled over the thunder. The entirety of Whiskey Company lined up before him in their rain gear. “OK, the storm is hitting us pretty hard and night is fast approaching for now we are going to dig in and create a perimeter around the airport. As for tomorrow at 0400 hours we will begin to enter into Redcliffe itself and assess the situation. I will have more detailed orders for you then, now get to it!”

Whiskey Company began preparations for digging in, the already dark sky began to darken further as the sun began to set. It would be a long, wet night.

North Coast

The old port town had been abandoned for days. After the initial attack subsided, huge portions of the Tasselvanltan survivors sought refuge in the city when it never was attacked. Those same survivors headed for the countryside surrounding the town when the Pax began to withdraw into the city.

Jax walked the streets, now teeming with Pax construction crews, and surveyed the damage. There wasn’t all that much. He sighed, thinking that it would have been better had the place been rubble. Now they would have to justify demolishing old structures to build the new infrastructure needed in a Pax colony. As he reached the border marking the end of the Pax territory, he noticed the one structure that was severely damaged… The old hospital. He wondered when that happened. The damage wasn’t consistent with the Pax weaponry… ‘Must have been looters… Damn gangs!’ He thought as the reality of what happened here dawned on him. With no where left to go, and no military to secure the city, the gangs had taken over and laid waste to the hospital. He decided then that it would be the first structure rebuilt. Hge saw it in his mind, a traditional Pax hospital, sprawling over the multiple city blocks laid out before him. As the military governor of Ryouku, he would make it free to attend as well. He knew most civilians would probably avoid it, but he was sick of the fighting as well. Even a drone had his limits.

He marked it on his calendar of things to do. It would start ASAP… Whenever the damned Arkane showed up. ‘Why had they not pulled out of Redcliffe yet?’ he wondered.

Redcliffe

The burrow was a madhouse! Xrrt was only one of four overseers to manage the small colony planted after the strike. The plan was to use the burrow as a staging ground if a northern push ever happened. Well, that never happened, time passed, and now the damned Arkane had gone into breeding season! Xrrt yelled out in frustration. He had received the order to pull out and head north to Ryouku, but trying to control the feral masses was hard enough while in the burrow, let alone trying to organize a march north. He could only hope that the frenzy would pass in a few days, and no one stumbled on the egg clutches.

Arkane are large insect like creatures. only one in 1000 are born sentient. The Hive assimilates these, and they are given the same rights as any other drone. The rest are used as construction crews, and controlled by the sentient Arkane. Normally they are very docile, but it is breeding season. Breeding season lasts three days.

The stormy night sky turned to sunny morning as the clouds parted to reveal the rising sun. Activity at the airport had reached an all time high as engineering corps worked tirelessly to restore functionality to the airport and the surrounding structures. Large construction vehicles began to clear space for a refugee camp for the many people who had followed them deep into the country and the transients of Redcliffe. Meanwhile the various infantry and armored battalions began to penetrate and secure the city while a second smaller force began to advance toward the coast to escort a myriad of civilian contractors and organizations that had shown up that morning. The rumble of moving tanks, patrol vehicles and infantrymen filled the air as Whiskey Company lined up at the edge of the Airport property.

Captain Chambers stood there with his orders and yelled them out over the noise to his NCO’s. “Alright so, we are going to clear the north end of the, we shouldn’t run into anything while we do this but keep an eye out, command said there may be some gang activity inside the city proper, nothing to heavily armed or dangerous. With that said, you are not to engage any hostile units unless fired upon, once we have identified the hostile unit we can then return fire. Is that understood?”

They all nodded.

“Alright any questions?” Chamber asked.

“Sir,” Said an unnamed Lieutenant. “What if we come across Pax drones?”

Chambers sighed. “Command has said that there should not be any drones this far north unless they are advancing to their port city they got in the treaty. I highly doubt any will be left in Redcliffe, that’s assuming any have been here in over a year. However Rules of Engagement stand. Do not fire unless fired upon and have positively identified your enemy. We don’t need some trigger happy conscript fucking this up and starting a full scale war with the Hive. If you seen a drone, report it to me so I can get it to command. If they are still entrenched here it’s a violation of the treaty and command will need to make the call. Alright now get the hell outta here, we got work to do.”

Whiskey company piled into their transports and made way toward the north end of the city. Along they way countless refugees, transients as they were called, made their way toward the Second Army’s base of operations. Many of them looked malnourished.

As they arrived at the north end, no sounds could be heard except for the construction in the distance. It was completely desolate and devoid of life. Sargent Grey and Corporal Coen had been attached with the Platoon that Captain Chambers would personally lead. Unlike many of the officers that had started out at buck private Chambers still got his hands dirty even if command reprimanded him for endangering the line of unit command. The swiftly moved through the burnt out buildings as they combed the ruins for transients or gang members, however for the longest time they would find nothing. A tank passed by as they neared the end of their designated patrol sector, it was clear for all intents and purposes. The tank stopped as it spotted their group and the tank commander popped his head out of the turret.

Captain Chambers ran up to the tank. “Anything?”

“Sectors clear sir, nothing here but the dead and some dusty ruins.” The tanker replied.

Chambers was about to speak when a young boy ran out of a nearby building. “The machines! The machines! Their evil nest is nearby! You must destroy them outlander!”

Coen yelled out. “Drones! They ain’t supposed to be here! I thought you said they ain’t gonna be here Cap!”

Chambers pushed the kid off him. “There can’t possibly be drones out here! Show me where boy.” He signaled for the tanker to stay on his frequency in case the the boy wasn’t lying and then radioed command of the possible drone presence."

The disembodied voice of Command thundered over of the radio. “Investigate possible drone presence Captain. Keep us posted. Overlord out.” Chambers motioned for his men to move out and follow the boy.

The boy pointed them to an entrance to what seemed like an underground structure. The boy whispered. “Many bug machines down there, I’ve seen the man-machines come and go.” Chambers kept his platoon away from the entrance out of sight and radioed to the rest of his company of the findings. "Get me a camera robot, I’m not sending men into a burrow. Indeed they had learned of the Arkane type drones in recognition classes and he knew they were large and possibly dangerous.

The small tracked camera bot drove toward the entrance of the burrow. Inside they could see the frenzied mass of Arkane.

“Fuck.” Chambers uttered, it seemed to be the only word he could think of at that second.

The mass of Arkane writhed in as nature’s frenzied call took over. A few less fortunate Arkane, those not mating that is, happened to take notice of a small metal object. At first, it was ignored, as the Arkane had long been used to the smells of the soft skinned and metal brothers of the greater Hives. It was not long before the few noticed it smelled different, and the other ancient part of its small brain blazed to life.

‘INTRUDER’

The pheromones given off when danger is sensed by the Arkane is quote foul, often it is enough to make a person vomit. To the Arkane, already driven mad by hormones, it was enough to overwhelm the desire to mate. That desire turned to defense. As the Arkane began to race to the surface, Xrrt contemplated suicide as he relayed the situation to Ryouku.

The ground began to rumble as the Arkane became disturbed, foul odors rose out of ground as they rushed to the surface. Captain Chambers began yelling out to his men. “Shit. All units retreat to defensive positions! Contact!” Men began to scramble about and Chambers and his personal team took positions in a building behind them. The tank they had been in contact turned the corner and began to fire at the first Arkane it saw. Gunfire erupted around the entrance of the burrow as Arkane ripped out of it at breakneck speed. Unlucky soldiers who had yet to vacate the vicinity were torn to shreds by the heaving mass.

“Whiskey Company to all callsigns. Contact! Arkane advancing on positions, strength unknown, requesting air support in North Sector 5.” A radio man called out.

Gunfire echoed through out the entire area as Whiskey Company attempted to contain the sudden Arkane attack. The .50 caliber machine guns on the tanks turret were being fired constantly drowning out the sounds of screams and death crys. Another round from the main gun of the tank obliterated a score of Arkane attacking a building, but it was no use, they had already overrun the six soldiers in side. The overwhelming number was too much as ammunition was becoming exhausted. elements of Whiskey Company began to retreat while under the covering fire of fellow soldiers. The Company rendezvoused at the tank forming a line as the Arkane charged at the wall of bullets, it was clear now that over twenty men had been killed in the initial assault.

The situation overhead could be seen as a pair of gunships entered into the battle opening fire onto the horde with hellfire missiles and 20mm cannon fire. The fought a fighting retreat as they entered into a pedestrian square. They were holding them off but reinforcement or resupply would soon be needed and further aircraft were still many minutes off. Command had been taken by surprise, they did not expect a Packilvanian presence but all they could do was direct units to advance on the battle for reinforcement and inform CENTCOM of the situation.