I'm in the armory, double checking the assembly of my chainaxe as my pistol sits next to me with a loaded extended mag.

I hear "Aye matey!", I look and I say "Hi Deadeye!" with a light smile.

Deadye says "I see your getting ready for the assault."

I say "Yeah, just gotta double check my gear." as I start to close up the chainaxe.

Deadeye "I hear ya, here, take these!", I quickly glance as he tosses a grenade belt at me, I catch it and he says "Always good to carry a handful of those." with a grin.

I say "Aye, sometimes you need raise some hell." with a grin of my own as I put the belt on and I say "Are you joining the ground forces? Could use a few extra blasters."

Deadeye says "I can't, as much as I would like to personally croak some toadies myself, I gotta man the guns. But Bruiser and Bucky will be with ya."

I say "That, along with a few baboon shock units and some troops from Canis II plus mixed support. We should be fine."

Deadeye says "The Corsair Canards will be joining in the opening wave as well, their skimmers will help keep the heavier fire away from your feathers."

I look to him and I say "Corsair... Canards? You mean pirates right?"

Deadeye chuckles and he says "Yeah, they're a wild bunch but they'll swing the odds in our favor. Good luck out there!" as he leaves the armory.

I think 'How the heck did they secure a contract with pirates?', I finish getting my gear together and I think 'Given the situation I won't complain. After all, the only thing worse then going to war with allies, is going to war without allies.' as I head over to where the craft the three of us are taking to the surface is stored.

I meet up with Bucky and Bruiser, the craft is large with dull metallic armor, two big laser cannons are fixed forward and it looks more for scouting then an actual combat situation.

Bucky says "We're taking the toad croaker, it's speed is going to be needed for this operation. Thankfully the planet was uninhabited, so we don't have to worry about civilians getting caught in the middle. Our objective is to breach the western supply dock and weaken their defenses by knocking out their automated systems and if we can to take control of the command center, we need to cause as little overall damage to the facility as we can, if this is going to be our stepping stone, then it's gotta be a boulder after this.", he looks to me and he says "Adam, I want you to stick close to either Bruiser or myself. This won't be like assaulting a ship, there will be traps and designated killzones, in short don't be reckless and don't pull any stunts unless they give you an edge."

I say "Aye captain, just give the word."

Bucky nods, he says "All aboard and secure helmets!" as he and Bruiser activate these 'bubble' helmets and I put mine on.

We get onboard the croaker with Bucky taking the controls while Bruiser hangs off the side and I get onboard with me getting a good grip on the rails. The starboard side of the Indignation opens and we fly out to see the sight of various warships, some of them however are actually converted cargo haulers and mining ships, so if nothing else they have decent armor. Planetfall is insane as anti-air claims the sky and landing craft and pods are being hit by some kind of flak-based weapons, I try my best to hang on but it's really difficult, eventually we get relatively close to the ground where the anti-air fire can't really get us, explosions hit the bottom of the crooker and because my grip was now loose I fall of the craft and crash into the ground, I quickly stand up and duck behind cover as a laser machine gun opens fire.

I hear Bucky "Adam, what happened?" on my comm.

I say "I fell off and I'm pinned!" as I ready my chainaxe and side arm.

Bucky says "We can't turn back now, do what you can to help the advancing forces."

I say "Copy that! Moving to reinforce!"

I think of that laser machine gun and I leap out in a strafing motion, the weapon begins to fire and it's position is dug into a small hill with the weapon firing from a small opening. I dive off to the side of it, I get into the weapons blind spot, I ready a grenade and toss it into the opening, within seconds it explodes. I look behind me to see troops being pinned down by mortar fire and more of those lasers, I need to take out a few positions and make a gap in the defenses, otherwise we'd need to wait for some armor to show up. I look to the burnt out hole and crawl into it, I emerge with my chainaxe reving... not the kind of insertion I'm sure Bucky was planing but it'll work. I start storming through the walls, hacking anyone who gets in my way with the occasional burst from my sidearm, I don't know where I'll end up but I'm sure I'll strike a critical link in the chain at some point. I get my answer as I stumble on a group of mortar teams behind a low hill, I reload my pistol as I get ready to charge.

I think 'Here goes nothing...", I start to charge at the group of mortars and I yell "IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT!!!" with my chainaxe madly reveing.

Two groups see me and instantly run away, one group quickly works on re-aiming their mortar and the fourth are preparing their blasters, I charge the third team, I leap and cleave one of the toads in half, I have my chainaxe cleave into the mortar, I pick the other toad up and us him as a shield to protect myself from the other toads blasters, I aim my sidearm at them and after emptying the whole magazine both of them are dealt with, I toss the dead toad, I reload my sidearm and reclaim my chainaxe. I look back where I came from and I see baboons and dogs staring at me in awe... I guess I got their attention too.

One of them who looks like an officer says "Follow his lead!" as he quickly runs towards me.

I smile under my helmet, I guess despite my rank they are more then willing to look past it, I say "We need assault troops out front, I want medics and engineers in the back, standard troops are to plug the gaps!", I swing my chainaxe towards more of the enemy fortifications and I yell "ADVANCE!"

The sappers and I smash into the enemy walls, demo charges and grenades explode, blowing holes into the impressive wall, our rapid strike has gone through the defensive line and we have effectively punched through, but now it's effectively no mans land between us and the facility itself.

I say "HOLD! Find cover unless you have a death wish!" as I get behind a wall, I have a guy toss me some binoculars, I look at the defenses and I see a whole array of laser machine guns and no doubt mortars maybe even launchers, I say "We're going to need orbital bombardment just to soften them up." and I give back the item.

One guy says "Their all occupied."

I say "What about tanks?!"

Another guys shakes his head and he says "It's going to be a little longer."

I sigh in disbelief and I say "Okay, artillery? Do we have infantry fighting vehicles? Mechs? What do we have?"

A nearby soldier says "All of that is part of the second wave, not enough of it was produced so they wanted to keep it in reserve."

I say "Is your leadership really that incompetent?!", an explosion happens just behind my cover and I yell "DAMMIT!" as loose rock and dirt covers us.

One of them says "At least their only taking pot shots."

I say "We won't last if they got armor! Forget this!", I open comms with Jenny and I say "Commander, please come in."

Jenny's voice comes through "I hear ya Adam, what's the situation?"

I say "Fubar! I got a land of death in front of me and a full company ready to move, any chance can you soften up these toads?"

Jenny says "Aye... field commander." with a teasing tone towards the end.

I say "I need a wide spread.", I look to the others and I say "As soon as our support is done firing we'll advance as fast as we can!"

The Righteous Indignation comes flying down, it's lasercannons open fire in a random-looking pattern and saturates the area in explosions as dirt is kicked up, after the support lasting for a few seconds we charge into the toad lines, the dust however works both was as random laser fire comes in our direction and while we do take some losses we smash into the defense line, I notice a power generator that looks to be plugged into a laser converter and shoot it with a quick burst before cleaving into a toad soldier. I hear a loud whirr, I look to see a massive turret with a red sensor aimed at us, I quickly yell for everyone to get to cover and it's twin gatling lasers open up.

I say "Must be part of the automated defense system...." as I look at the turrets sensor, I hear a loud boom, I look and see a another turret but it's weapon is a conventional gun, it fires and takes down what looks to be a landing craft and I say "Yeah... definitely automated."

I decide to look at the grenades Duck gave me and most are indeed frag but a few read 'AT-G' in bold letters and just under it reads 'Anti-tank Grenade', I shrug as I decide to go after the cannon. I rush over to it with the gatling lasers taking pot shots, I toss one grenade which hits the turrets rear casing and explodes, revealing wires and circuts, I remember my training, maybe I can rewire it. I run over to it and can see several control chips but nothing I recognize.

I contact Blinky and I say "Blinky, I need some help! I managed to breach of the automated turrets but I need help in figuring out how we use it to help us out."

I hear Blinky "Affirmative! I'm linked into your feed and I see what you're seeing. I'll guide you."

I start to follow Blinky's instructions, some toads come at me but I get some covering firing from some canines and a couple baboons storm the toads which causes them to flee. I thank them and I manage to finish rigging the turret, I have the baboons remove some rock where the gatling lasers are, the turret I just rewired with Blinky's help turns around and fires, destroying the gatling laser turret. Before I can give the motion to move onward, mortar fire starts to hit the area hard with a few even directly hitting a few soldiers.

I yell "COVER!!!" as loud as I can and I start running towards the nearest entrance, a mortar lands near me which sends me flying and I crash onto the ground, I look and I see my sidearm landed far away as a morter round hits and destroys it, I grab my chainaxe and start running once more.

I hear "HELP, I'M HIT!!!"

I look and I see a canine soldier, his suits is ripped open with shrapnel having torn through his left arm to where it's barely hanging on and his legs are hit pretty bad from laser fire, I grab him with my free hand and I start to yell for a medic as I try to get us to the entrance, another explosion happens, sending me forward, I get up as I feel my ears ring and I regain my balance, I feel for the soldier once more and I start onward, I decide to see how hes doing and he isn't moving, his lower torso is gone and so is his left arm, I let him go and I run towards the entrance as a toad starts to close it, I charge and cleave my axe into his chest, sending gore in every direction and I kick him away.

I yell as loud as I can "RALLY!!! RALLY!!!" as I swing my chainaxe around like a madman.

A few soldiers manage to come over, they are a mix of dogs and foxes, ranging from line infantry to engineers but no shock troops.

I say "Whoever has the best comm equipment, relay these coordinates to local forces, this will be our beach!"

A vixen in engineering equipment begins to do just that, I quickly divide our forces and have half stay here to hold the breach but the rest of us are going to go see if we can take out those mortars. We turn a few corners and we see what looks like the head of a toad with treads, wheels and an array of weaponry.

One guy says "Vidorid!"

It's mouth opens which reveals sawblades, I give the order to fall back as it starts chasing us, it's lasers and rockets fire and our return fire isn't doing anything. I give the order for the others to return to the breach and I decide to stand my ground as I rev my chainaxe to get the robots attention. The machine suddenly increases it's speed and I start running down the halls but away from the breach, every so often I cleave a toad out of the way. I reach a generator room, I look to see there's no other way out, I look to the central cable, I get an idea as I turn around, the machine looms through the doorway.

I raise my chainaxe as I yell "GO AHEAD! DO YOUR WORST!"

The vidorid comes at me a few speed with it's mouth open and that saw reveing loudly, I smirk and I quickly jump to the side, the droid smashes through the rail and crashes into the conduit where loud mechanical screams can be heard as the machine gets electrocuted and explodes, causing the transformers in the room to overload and burst apart.

I get up and I say "Epic fail for you nuts and bolts!" as I start to make way back to the breach.

The sound of mortar fire stops as I reach them, I hear "Adam, this is Bucky, do you read?"

I say "Affirmative Captain."

Bucky says "The auto defenses are down and the base commander has surrendered, hold position."

I say "Aye sir."

The surrendered toads are being marched to p.o.w. units, given the size of the outpost we were about to breach the lower levels as we only had one last defense barrier to overcome. So far the casualty rate is around 150 for the toads and around 200 for us and I saw around two dozen on our side take their last breath. I stare at the medical units as they tend to the wounded and the dead, I sigh as I can't look at it any longer but I hold a salute for a few moments before heading towards the armory where I use some credits to acquire a gauss pistol and some ammunition for it to replace my lost sidearm. I look to see the Righteous Indignation land and everyone disembarks, including Bucky and Bruiser.

I say "Hi guys." trying to keep a light smile.

Bucky says "Looks like you guys got roughed up pretty bad."

I say "They were dug in pretty well, we had to use shock tactics just to flush em out. The mortar fire especially was...", I stop as I think back to that moment when I tried to drag that soldier to safety, only for him die moments later.

I feel my shoulder getting touched, I look and I see it's Jenny and she says "Are you okay? This was a harsh battle."

I say "It's shellshock, I think it'll ware off." doubting my own words.

Bucky says "We heard of your leadership in guiding everyone down here, according to reports most of the field commanders cracked." with a proud smile.

I say "That reminds me, is the leadership in the U.A.C. really so incompetent? No mechs, tanks, no support vehicles at all? How do they expect to win, using harsh language?"

Bucky sighs and he says "I share your frustration, in the past months they only created three frigates and mine is one of them and all are converted ships. More facilities are being build to create more materials."

Jenny says "And high command decided to promote you again giving what you displayed. Congrats corporal." with a smile.

I say "Thank you commander, if it's okay with you guys though may I be reliefed?"

Bucky nods in understanding and he says "You earned it Adam, go get some rest." with a light smile.

I say "Thank you captain, after I rest up I'll fill out my report.", I salute and they salute me back before I head onto the ship.

Third person....

With Adam back on the ship the rest of the crew begin to look over the battlefield and it just looks grim.

Jenny says "Adam's starting to expirence post tramatic stress disorder."

Bucky sighs and he says "I know, the sad thing is that he has to work his way through it, but we can atleast listin to him when he needs it."

Jenny says "Adam perfers to keep to himself, but he is starting to open up."

Bucky sighs as he looks at the area where the mortar fire had occured, the pockets of shells alone were responsible for about half of the current losses and he says "Adam's life must've flashed before his eyes. He weilds that chainaxe with bravado and courage, but he's still fresh."

Jenny says "We know Willy expirenced an acute form of ptsd but in Adam's case it'll be sever, like how ours was. When I'm able I'll teach him the meditation technique I taught all of you."

Willy looks where the ground forces made planet fall, wrecked flyers and pods are everywhere and medical personal are going to and from with ambulances, his gaze slowly scans towards where the mammalian advance stopped, which is where Adam made his beachhead.

Blinky says "Humble robot wants to inquire. What is wrong?"

Willy says "I am an engineer and not much in a fight, but I wonder how things would have played out if I came down here."

Blinky says "Adam would have done his best to work with you, but your skills wouldn't have contributed much."

Bruiser looks to the two and he says "Willy, I mean no offense, but Adam would have more then likely would have told ya hide and hold out until the fighting was over. Especially since he has rank and you don't."

Willy says "Yeah, I guess." with a sigh.

Meanwhile in an uncharted nebula in a pocket of uncharted space to most of the Aniverse, a massive installation of Aldebaren design and rivals a massive space station in size with a mighty fleet surrounding it. Audrey looks at the fleet before her as she drinks some water, the feline moves over to a viewing screen and she starts to go over the vessels she has gathered.

Irene enters and she says "All ships and personel are accounted for, we have our battle station the Quartz of Light with 20 carriers, 5 battleships, 17 battle cruisers, 8 heavy cruisers, 34 cruisers, 76 frigates and 54 destroyers. We can lay waste to the Aniverse with this much firepower!" with a huge smile.

Audrey says "It seems my influence has reached more ears then I thought, the fleet is a third bigger then projected, there is no doubt now that Aldebaren will be our and we can take our rightful place as rulers of the Aniverse!" and she starts to laugh.

To be continued...