Chapter - 04 : Neutralizing threats

- - - - -

Rewinding the clock a couple of minutes back. Right when Major Irisdina and her unit was just beginning to engage the hostiles. Captain Add looked at the proceedings through the live feed. The Major was handling the situation very competently but it was clear that she lacked experience. Within minutes they were being overwhelmed.

"Tch...i was careless. They dropped without any prior surveillance of the area. But to think that they dropped right in the nest of hostiles...."

As much as the Captain would have liked to have some of those fancy rovers, which were used to survey an area prior to any operation, he did not have any on board the Himmelreich. The fact that they had some mini satellites was a blessing itself or else they would be going in blind. There were fighters and bomber aircrafts aboard the Illiana but the sad thing was they weren't AI-Integrated. That is, although they had simple auto pilots, Lapis couldn't control them, luckily the dropship, being a more modern variant had this feature. But even if she could if they dropped bombs down there then the major and her unit would be history as well. The Union believed the more powerful a bomb was, the better. The bombers on board the Illiana had bombs, each capable of leveling the entire glade. There was a high chance that the girls would die in collateral damage, which he would not allow. Sighing he got up from the piolot's seat.

"Lapis switch to auto pilot. Take us down slowly towards the troopers' position, wait for further orders.."

"Understood host"

He walked to the side and pressed a button on the wall. A pannel slid and a mobile armour came into view. It was similar to the ones the girls wore but apart from being an armour for a male it had notable differences. Beside it the inner resin suit was also present. He hesitated. He didn't want to wear it. He shouldn't wear it. He didn't deserve it. Amidst his hesitation he heard the screams of the girls. It was now or never. If he didn't move, they would all die. Would he allow that ? Never ! Captain I-407 would never allow his fellow troopers to die ! All his hesitation vanished as a dense killing intent rose from him. He fluidly shed his clothes and with only his undergarments on put on the inner suit within a minute. The mobile armour opened up, the chest piece moved up on two hinges and the V plates moved to one side creating a hollow for him to enter. He stood straight with his back pressing into the armour as the chest pannel came down, the shoulder guards with it, while the V plates covered the rest of his torso. Then from the sides of the compartment panels moved and a pair of gauntlets and a pair of powered boots appeared. His hands and fit smoothly fitted into them and the entire suit locked in around him with a 'psssshhh' sound, connecting all the parts as one armour. The archon batteries started up the interface as giga joules of energy began flowing through the mobile armour. With a clink, the three parts of the helmet came up and joined perfectly to form a seal. The inner display lit up and Add felt a very nostalgic sensation as he took his first steps out of the compart ment. Another pannel opened and two guns, an Arc-21 assault rifle and a M-77-semi automatic-heavy sniper appeared. Attaching them both to the back of his suit, he exited the cockpit.

- - - - -

Lily and Leya were stunned to see the pitch black mobile armour walk out of the cockpit. It was fully obsidian in colour while a white skull adorned the chest plate below which were painted the words 'D-01' at the upper edge of the plate was written 'Add' showing who its wearer was. A custom since the early days of war, so as to identify whose body it was if the person died and the body was mutilated beyond recognition. The girls themselves had their names written on their mobile armors as well.

"Captain ?"

Lily asked doubtfully. Somehow she felt a very dangerous aura surrounding this armour.

"Listen up Sergeant Lily and Corporal Leya. We have a situation. The landing unit has encountered heavy hostile resistance right on their landing spot. They are fighting with all they have, but they are hopelessly out numbered. So we are going to rescue them."

He balantly said, making the girls agitated.

"What !? They are in danger !?" (Lily)

"What do we do now Captain !?"

"Listen up! You two get into the striker and be prepared for dropping at my command! The situation is too hot for the dropship to land, so we have to neutralise the area. Now get in there !"

"But captain-"

"No buts trooper! Get your feet moving! Thats an order !"

Add vehemently shut Leya up who was trying to say something. She was a bit scared at his overbearing attitude and hurriedly went into the APC and took the driver's seat. Lily too followed and sat doen beside Leya.

"Lapis take us down. Link my suit to the weapon system..."

As the dropship fast approached the troopers, Lapis set on a course dangerously low and just above the troopers. Add shouted in the radios warning them to get out of harms way. Then using the feed from the cameras' on the ship he locked on to the horde of hostiles before them.

"Ready..... Fire!"

As the rockets cleared a path for him, the dropship reached its lowest around five metres above the ground.

"Corporal now jump jump jump!"

Hearing his shout Leya pressed down the accelerator as the motor hummed and accelerated the ten ton vehicle down the ship. As soon as the APC dropped the Dropship began climbing barely avoiding the tree line.

"Lapis get be over to where the sergeant is. After i drop keep hovering two hundred metres above the glade."

"Understood."

The ship sharply turned once again flying over the glade and Add kneeled on one knee and took a position. Then he loaded his sniper and took aim through its scope, while the ship stayed hovering at that one place. He was over a hundred metres from the surface, but with the display's zooming, he could see that the APC had successfully landed and had began engaging the hostiles. Then his eyes fell on the major who was kneeling on the ground as if in a daze. Many hostiles were approaching her. Add pulled the bolt carrier inserting the first round, and aimed.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

Round after round he fired, the empty shells fell giving of smokes and rolled off the ship, while each shot hit its target. Within seconds, he had killed over fifteen hostiles. Confirming that the rest of the unit was holding, he jumped down. Adjusting his drop he landed before the deranged Major. Add frowned. A trooper was supposed to fight till death. But the haughty lioness had turned into a kitten before him. She even trembled looking at him. Add's eyes flashed a cold glint.

"Whats your malfunction Major ?" He asked in a heavy voice, startling the Major.

"Wh-what....?"

"I said....WHATS YOUR MALFUNCTION TROOPER !?"

He shouted with a threatening voice making the poor girl shudder. A Major she may be, but at the end of the day she was a girl. For a girl who had face such life and death crisis, it was natural to feel fear. But right now she was more afraid of the person in front of her than death.

"No....nothing..." She stuttered

"Nothing What !?" The captain bellowed

"Nothing Sir !!!!!"

The major almost burst into tears. But paying her condition no mind the Captain continued.

"Then get your sorry bottom up and fall back to your unit. Come one ! Move it trooper !"

She hastily got up and picking her weapon ran towards the others. Captain Add put his sniper on his back and took the Arc-21 and followed suit.

"Iris are you ok !?" (Sagari)

"You aren't hurt right ?" (Leya)

The other girls also looked at her with concern. Looking at them Major Irisdina felt relief. Her mind settled some what.

"Yes...i am fine... What about you all ? Is anyone injured ?"

"Well Mi-chan here got smashed but luckily she didn't get any thing more than a spinning head !" Smiled Chiaki with a thumbs up while Miharu sighed. While they were discussing this, the Captain came to them. Watching him, at first the girls were tensed. A black mobile armour dropped down suddenly and started berating their Major. That was a bit alarming. But soon they looked at the name on the suit and understood who it was.

"YOU!!!!" Sagari nearly exploded in anger, "YOU BASTARD ! How dare you !? You almost got us all killed !? I will....I will..."

"Yeah, i kind of figured that one out Lieutenant. Now cut the chatter and listen up! Since we have already announced our arrival here, we will make this area our FOB (Forward Operating Base ; google it if you want full info.). But to do that we need to 'persuade' these folk 'kindly'."

Captain Add said not even paying attention to the fuming Lieutenant as he looked at the humanoids who slowly surrounded them but stayed at a distance knowing the threat.

The girls had their jaws dropping. In their minds something like this was going on : (Persuade? Kindly? Persuade your father ! You blew them with rockets, we blew them with rockets, shot them to pieces and turned them to minced meat. And now you want us to show kindness. How ? Should we go and say 'Hey sorry for blowing uo your friends, so can we be friends and make our base here ?' And why would we go to them, who are trying to kill and eat us ? Do you think those things are fools ? Or do you think we are fools ?)

"Uh.....Sorry Captain but i don't quite get it you know...." (Chiaki)

Add didn't respond and directly looked at the major.

"In order to do that i would need your help as well troopers. Major i am taking command of this unit. Do you have any problem ?"

"Eh...Ah....No...." (Iris)

"Thats better. Lieutenant, take the Sergeant major and take position behind the Vehicle, Medic Chiaki and Corporal Page take the right flank, Corporal Leya and Major Irisdina take the Left flank. Sergeant Lily turn the turret to twelve-o-clock and provide cover fire. Thats where the highest density of hostiles is. All your backs to the Vehicle!"

As Add was giving orders, Major Irisdina spoke out. She had calmed down enough to hold a proper conversation now.

"Captain-"

*ROAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR*

Right then an ear piercing roar was heard from a short distance. The girls shuddered, even the hot blooded Sagari as well. All of them frantically looked around to find the source but didn't see anything.

"Uh oh...." (Page)

The remaining horde began to charge at them from three sides, giving loud grunts and roars, their eyes even more bloodshot.

"Hurry up troopers take your positions now !"

The girls hastily took their positions. Although the previous battle had thinned out the hostile numbers but the Troopers were still heavily outnumbered. Plus now the creatures were charging with even more vigour. The girls grew pale and most of them had their hands and legs shaking.

"Uwwww......are we going to die.....??? "

Page asked meekly, still sobbing. The other girls tried to console her but they had no words.

"Remember your training Troopers and you will not die !"

Add shouted and moved a bit to the front. Lily reloaded the 70 cal chain gun and waited. Cold sweat drenched the backs of these girls. Only Add remained calm. A few seconds later as the horde neared the optimum range of the rifles,

"Fire at will !" (Add)

*Ratatatatatatatatata*

*Thud* *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*

Wave after wave of bullets showered upon the enemy. While the 70 cal turned the beasts to ground meat, the assault rifles, shot gun and SMG, filled them with holes. Yet more and more of these beasts charged at them.

"Page cover me !" (Chiaki)

"O-Ok!" (Page)

Chiaki watching the beasts getting close moved forward and loaded her attached grenade launcher. These grenades were as powerful as the rockets they used earlier but they had a much smaller damage radius. As Page covered her with her SMG, Chiaki blew groups of the beasts using her grenades. But soon she was out of grenades and had to retreat to the vehicle. Lily too wasn't happy. The 70-cal had ran out of bullets. She had already used a thousand rounds.

"Ugggghh... I am out! Then take this !"

She got out of the hatch and standing on the vehicle, used her incendiary missile instantly turning around a hundred of the beasts to charcoal. They gave painful howls as they burned to death. Then she saw that Page and Chiaki were being overwhelmed, so she used the other missile to blow apart the entire lot of beasts to bits. The girls cheered in their minds at this. The enemy numbers had fallen to less than 60 now. Then Lily jumped down beside Chiaki and Page.

"Great work Sergeant ! You showed them!" (Chiaki)

"Hmmph those animals had it coming. Page get on top of the vehicle and use your sniper. Ill take care down here." (Lily)

"Alright"

Page took position on top of the APC and began using her sniper which though not as powerful as Add's, still was enough for one hit kills. The beasts by now had understood that they had bitten much more than they could chew so they began falling back. The girls cheered. The battle seemed to be won.

"What is that.....?" (Sagari)

*ROAAAAAARRRRR*

Once again the loud roar echoed. Following that, the trees of the forest shuddered. Add who had been killing the retreating beasts, was the closest to this disturbance. His eyes narrowed. The girls too looked in that direction. It was then that their eyes fell on another beast. Coming out of the dense flora was a beast similar to the previous ones yet very different. It was bigger, over three metres. Its skin a dirty dull red. Its body even sturdier with dense muscles. It had a thick growth of hair on its body. It looked much more menacing than others of its kin. In its hands was a large tree trunk which had traces of died blood and gore, denoting its more than often usage. Its eyes were red and gave of a murderous feeling. The beast stood there for sometime, looked around and found its kin slaughtered. Then it looked at the strange creatures before it. As if coming to an understanding, it gave another howl and charged at the Troopers.

(Not good. This thing is dangerous.)

"Troopers! Firing line Now!"

Add thought. Its movement speed was quite fast despite its size. The girls formed a line before the APC and began firing. But their bullets had little effect on the beast's thick skin. Page's Sniper rifle barely wounded it but managed to slow down its charge. It looked at them as if wanting to tear them apart. They had only caused it to become more ferocious. Add noticed this and sighed. All this was way above his pay. Why did he have to do this work.... But now wasn't the time to lament.

"Troopers fall back and hold your fire. Ill handle it."

Before the girls could say a word Add put down the heavy sniper from his back to reduce weight. Then his used his retro and dashed towards the beast. In one hand he had the assault rifle while he pulled out a sharp titanium combat knife from his back. The beast watching him approach howled and swung the tree trunk horizontally. Add quickly ducked and skid as the huge trunk passed over, inches above him. He skid, through between the legs of the beast and then stuck the knife on the ground. Using the knife as an anchor on the ground broke his speed. While using the rifle he shot it between the legs in the crown jewels. The beast gave a howl in intense pain. No matter how study it was, it was a male and had that one obvious weak point. Add however had only guessed based on its humanoid structure. If the biology were different then this wouldn't have worked. It was nowhere near enough to take down this beast but it gave him some precious time. Add pulled out the knife from the ground and then struck the beast at the relative ly weaker portion behind its knee. The sharp knife sliced into the joint making the beast drop the log and howl. It tried to grab the creature behind it but Add, using the stabbed knife as a foot hold jumped onto its back and with one hand grabbed its thick hair. The beast tried to shake him off by jumping but was unable to even it's thick arms proved useless they didn't reach its back completely. Add put the rifle right onto its thick neck and opened fire. The beast felt a searing pain in its neck and roared even more ferociously. The thick muscles and fat protected it for some time but within seconds under the continuous fire of the assault rifle, the muscles and fat were blown apart and the bullets ripped through its vertebral column. The light in the beasts eyes dimmed as it suddenly halted, its body loosely swaying. Add jumped down from the big pile of flesh.

"Piece of lard"

He snorted as the dead beast slumped down behind him. The troopers looked at him in shock. In less than a minute he had killed this dangerous beast without any injuries.

(There is definitely something about him....)

Major Irisdina narrowed her eyes. This man was dangerous very dangerous. And by no way was he just a Captain of a ship.

* * * * *