---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Phase one of the operation is complete. The LZ is clear. " Lieutenant-Commander Caithen announced, watching Ankiah clear the area as she slowly descended with the aid of her grav chute. "Switch to assisted descent and begin phase two." She ordered, pulling the switch to deploy her grav assist wings. General Basthin stood frozen in awe. The attacking alien force was being utterly decimated by this god before him, yet they still charged the wall. Perhaps they thought to overwhelm this god with their numbers. Or perhaps they lacked survival instincts. "It needs our assistance." He mumbled. "Gather all who are here and as much powder as you can. We will not let it die this day." He ordered loudly, running to gather his equipment. "Sir!" His trusted aid shouted. "Look, more gods!" She yelled, pointing to the sky in reverence of their descent. Basthin stopped in place and watched as tens of armoured Voktlix fell from the sky, blue energy sprouting from their back, leaving a mesmerizing trail of light as they hit the ground one by one. " Belay that order!" He shouted. "Get everyone to the wall and provide cover for the new gods entering that channel!" He stated, pointing to the trench the new arrivals piled into. "Aylen, get that lance battery set up now! Renin with me!" Caithen shouted as the teams began to take their positions within the trench, keeping their heads down as Ankiah stepped over them, shaking the ground and stones loose as she did. "Deep breath." Ankiah calmly thought, sucking in some air and relaxing the fur on her forearm to retract the rail cannon. "Next directive is thinning their numbers." She breathed out to herself, hardening the fur on her shoulder as her team members began digging into their position. Basthin watched with fascination as the odd device on the god's shoulder spun to life. Gleaming red and blue lights shone down the barrel as parts of it rotated and another aimed at the sky, seemingly ignoring the encroaching aliens. "Watch closely. It's about to do something." He stated to the surrounding soldiers as they leaned against the wall, electing to ignore the smaller gods for now. Thwump Thwump Thwump Was all the General understood as he scrunched his face in distress. " Did it use all its p-" The atmosphere around the alien base erupted in death, the air bursting into a cacophony of explosions as blue fire rained down onto the camp, annihilating anything it touched and maiming those within its proximity. The soldiers on the rampart were thrown back, some falling over onto the safety netting as the force of the attack crashed against the wall, shattering eardrums and bones as soldiers were thrown into one another. "Remind me to keep quiet when a god unleashes its magic." He said to the surrounding troops as he crawled to his feet and back over to the wall, limping as he found his foot twisted in the wrong direction. Ankiah softened the fur on her shoulder and hefted her particle caster, pointing at the still charging Briolb. "Directive three. Anti-armour support." She whispered as she carefully aimed at her first target. "We're all set up and ready!" Sergeant Aylen stated, tightly holding the newly set up lance battery. "Wait until they're in range of our rail rifles before opening fire. I want to hit them with a volley they'll never forget if they survive." Caithen responded, looking over at the heavy weapons team. "Ankiah can handle the armour for now! We'll deal with the stragglers." She commanded as lasers began firing over the trench. Basthin watch as the god hefted its musket and pointed it at one of the wheeled armoured guns. " Seems like it's out of power and needs to rely on its weapon. This isn... I think I'll wait and see this time." He declared. Ankiah breathed out and squeezed the trigger, making sure to keep eye contact with the tank as it sped towards her. "That's one tank down!" Caithen happily replied as the force of the explosion danced off her emplacement, paying close attention to her range finder as the enemy infantry continued its charge. "Scratch two!" Aylen stated as another explosion crashed against his position." General Basthin watched as the god continued to swiftly destroy the alien wheeled machines with its ray gun, surprised at the lack of heat it produced compared to the alien ones. "It's like it's not shooting anything." He stated in confusion as another loud blast of blue energy demolished another motorized vehicle. "OPEN FIRE!" Caithen shouted as the aliens crossed her imaginary line, poking her head up and unleashing hell on the first target she found. Quickly deciding to take a knee, Basthin bowed his head in respect to the gods before him. He was never a holy man. But what was happening before him defied all logic he knew. The smaller gods unleashed such a fury he had never known possible. Their primal shouts alone nearly drowned out the sounds of their weapons as they cut down hundreds of aliens as easily as one would smite a fly. Pulling out a sealed card, General Basthin handed it to his aid and pressed it hard into her hand. "Take this to the president. I need you to make sure he gets this." He stated firmly, keeping eye contact with his Sergeant. The aide nodded and ran off, ignoring the scene behind her as she descended the stairs and made for the nearest auto. "This will change everything." The General thought to himself as the aliens continued their assault into the weapons of the gods. "PREPARE FOR COVERING FIRE! DO NOT LET THE ALIENS REACH THEIR DEFENCE!" He shouted to his soldiers, noticing the aliens were getting rather close to the god's position as they climbed over their dead comrades. "Shit, these fucks aren't stopping." Caithen cursed as the Briolb came dangerously close to her trench. "Looks like it's Melee time." A soldier under her command shouted, pulling out his grav sword. Caithen sighed and retrieved her weapon as the sound of mortar and rail cannon came from Ankiah's mech as it began once again, thinning the mass of Briolb encroaching. "Hey, uhh. Is that a Fucking AM-Maul?" Rennin asked, hefting his shield. "You're damn right it is." Caithen replied, connecting her maul to her suit's power pack. Renin shuffled his feet and eyed the dangerous weapon in respect. "Aren't those illegal to use. Like... Even in wartime illegal?" He continued, putting a foot against the trench wall. "Yup. Illegal to use against any Terran and Terran allies." Caithen replied with a smug smile. "These aren't either." She continued, laughing as her maul began humming with power. "Fuck I need to get one of those." Renin replied. "Ready?" Caithen looked to the rest of her squad and nodded that they had all equipped their melee weapons and opened a squad wide com. "LET'S KILL THESE FUCKS!" She shouted, climbing over her trench wall and sprinting towards the closest target she could find. Basthin continued to watch with wonder as the gods charged the aliens out from their cover, shaking in terror as they bellowed a warcry, unlike anything he had ever heard. He watched in horror as the large god continued to smite the vast groupings with thunder and fire, seeming to ease the small god's burden where ever it could. Though... It was the one that led the charge that terrified Basthin. It hefted a giant maul glowing blue with power. Wherever it swung its weapon, an explosion of divinity could be seen, melting and annihilating anything within the vicinity of its primary target. The laughter as it smote its enemies was something he would take with him to the grave. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enemy in full retreat. Operation is successful." Steven stated. "Though they are retreating in random directions, and only a small portion are running back to their ship. "He continued, keeping a close eye on the situation." "Well done, everyone. That was a good plan, Commander Soto." Michael declared, leaning back into his chair as he watched the Briolb run around in panic. "Thank you, sir. Though it was Aylen, Caithen and Ankiah, who were the real stars." He replied proudly. "Now comes the hard part." Michael stated, watching as his forces finished off the stragglers. "I have worked out retrieval. We can hide the ship under cover of trees inside the city park. We should just fit inside it. Though we will heavily damage the surrounding areas as we land." Jack stated, sending the landing coordinates to Srettia. "Any other way than to damage the area?" Michael asked, looking over to his ops officer Steven. "Park outside the city and use the tractor to pull the debris from the battle on top of us. It would hide us from orbital cameras and scans." Steven replied as he panned over the field of battle. "The only problem is if they attack again, we would be stuck ground side." "I don't like that. Any other options?" Michael requested as he looked around the city. "What about that lake? Could that fit us?" "No. A portion of our top would stick up from the lake. It would be visible from orbit if a camera focused on the area." Jack answered. "How much?" Michael asked, running his own scan of the lake. "Could we could set up one of those hard light camo thingys? On top of the visible portion that is." Viscia asked, rubbing her chin in thought. "Ahh.... Okay, the lake it is." Michael stated. "Helm, take us down!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ankiah hardened the fur on her shoulder again, watching as a mass of Briolb ran into the forest in terror of her might. Glaring, she acquired her target and fired two shots, feeling the calm wash over her as the area was set ablaze with plasma and her targets incinerated. Softening her fur once again, she hefted her particle caster into her left arm and pointed her right arm at another group, deploying her rail cannon and shredding the fleeing enemies of her people once again. "I will not forgive you." She whispered to herself, pointing at another group and pasting them as they fled. "Babe. It's fine. We won. You can stop now." Caithen ordered, attempting to cut through to Ankiahs thoughts. Ankiah retracted her rail cannon and aimed her particle caster at the ship as it began to lift off. "You won't escape me." She whispered again, destroying the ship as it began to make for orbit and grinning as it crashed into the ground. Caithen entered her trench and sat on a mass box, watching as Ankiah got the revenge out of her system. "Guess we'll have to talk about this when she's done." She said no one. "Would you be any different?" Sergeant Aylen replied to his stunned commander. "Her people are the target of a genocide. I would be out there killing with her if it wasn't against my orders." He continued, leaning up, against the burnt trench wall. "You think it's healthy for her to do that, though?" Caithen replied, noticing the incoming ship warning on her hud. "Seems HQ is coming down to the city. We should get going." "Nope. Not a bit... But I got news for you. War isn't healthy for no one." Aylen stated as he got up and climbed over the trench, beginning his walk towards the city. Caithen stood from her mass box and climbed up the opposite side, waving at Ankiah. "Ensign Ankiah. Cease operations now and move to the city gates immediately." She sternly ordered, hoping Ankiah would listen. Ankiah looked at her remaining mass and frowned. "Seventy-five percent left." She whispered, reluctantly turning around and walking toward the city gates, deciding that she would rather listen to her lover then continue with her revenge. "Yes, Sir!" Caithen exhaled in relief as the cry of her command ship could be heard roaring towards the city. "Guess it'll be a long day." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- President Lunouri sighed in distress as he sat calmly in his office. The sound of cannon fire could be heard from the direction of the city gates, informing him that his city and country was indeed still under attack from this unknown invader from the stars. "I knew I should have increased the military budget." He complained for the millionth time. "It wouldn't have done any good. Their weapons and armour are too advanced." His third wife, Ekianei, stated, pouring herself some tea. "All you would have done was take money away from social policies." Lunouri sighed and sipped on his alcohol. " You are right." He groaned, looking at his most recent report. "I want to move more food into the shelters. Do you have any suggestions on how we can accomplish this while maintaining citizen safety? General Basthin reports the wall will break later today or tomorrow, so we don't need anything outside of the shelters anymore." "You need to get to a shelter as well!" Came the hardened voice of his husband, Tordrus. "Our time is up. Join the rest of your family while you can. He stated, packing some of Lunori's personal belongings into a bag. "Go. I will be along later tonight." Lunouri replied, tossing a canister of his favourite alcohol to Tordrus. As the two males argued back and forth, causing Ekianei to laugh along with the two, a crash was heard outside the manor, as an exhausted-looking female exited an auto and ran towards the door. "Ahh. It seems our time is up. Shall we move to the shelter before we are overrun?" Lunouri stated, quickly rising from his seat and grabbing his travel bag. As the three exited the manor to meet the soldier, who was currently panting for air and happily receiving a cup of water from a butler, Lunouri patted her on the shoulder and continued towards the car. "Could you take me to Shelter eight?. That is where my family is." He asked, opening the door for his husband and wife. "MR. PRESIDENT! THE GODS HAVE COME TO SAVE US!" The female yelled, holding out an envelope towards Lunouri. "Come again?" He replied, taking the package from the haggard female and opening it. The group watched with rapt interest as the president read the letter humming to himself a few times before handing it to Ekianei and quickly gathering his travel bag from the trunk. "Come. We have work to do." He declared as a roar sounded from the heavens. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------