FROM: NEW CONGLOMERATE COMMAND TO: Lt. Dex SUBJECT: *** ALERT: INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM NC SCOUT TEAM ON AMERISH *** Unknown nanite energy signature detected 1.5 clicks north of Onatha Biolab. Investigate. NC squad exits Sunderer near what appears to be an abandoned, ruined NC facility. Lt. Dex, "what do your scanners show Slippy"? "I show a faint Nanite energy signature right there". Slippy points at a half-buried door at the base of a ruined building. "Stand aside, let me clear it out". Lt. Dex strides up to the half-hidden door in his NC MAX sit, clears away the rubble and tugs hard on the heavily scarred door, ripping it from its hinges. Behind the door is a stairway leading to an underground chamber. "Razz, Beldar, Blue stand gaurd." Slippy with me, Lt. Dex barks out in a faint french accent. The air is stale in the room at the bottom of the stairs, all that can be seen is a small LED faintly blinking on a panel. "Check it out slippy, see if you can find a light or power switch." "On it sir!" as power is restored. The skeletal remains of what appear to be NC and TR troopers are scattered on the floor of the battle-scarred spawn chamber. "Looks like there was a hell of a fight here sir." "It's an old nanite spawn chamber sir". A single spawn tube can be seen with a faintly glowing display flashing the message "POWER LEVEL CRITICAL". "It looks like there is a biopattern stored in the buffer sir!" Lt. Dex removes his MAX helment and says, "this place looks ancient, how long?" "Unknown sir, decades maybe but if we dont get whoever is stored in the buffer out soon, we are going to lose them." "Get it done slippy." "Trying sir, I think I got it..." Slippy steps back as the spawn tube comes to life and begins to hum and a human form takes shape inside the tube. A figure wearing the uniform of an NC Colonel, decades old collapses onto the floor. "Razzy get in here, we need a medic now!" Lt. Dex. "His life signs are faint Lt, he appears to be wounded we need to get him to Onatha, ASAP sir." Corporal Blue, "we have incoming vanu sir, we need to **** sir." "Everyone on the sunder now, get him in a life pod Razz", says Lt. Dex, looking at the figure of the NC officer being loaded into the portable emergency medical pod and notices the name "Colonel Blackweb" on the nametag of the NC officers uniform. Dex, wonders to himself "could that be...?". Lt. Dex opens his messages and finds the message, "CLASSIFIED: Identity confirmed". Col. Blackweb wakes up to bright lights shining in his eyes and a doctor in an unfamiliar NC uniform leaning over him asking him questions. He reaches instinctively for his officer's sidearm but finds his hands restrained. "Someone tell me what the hell is going on!?" Blackweb yells. "Colonel, please calm yourself, you are in an NC medical facility." A familiar face steps forward and places his hand on Blackweb's shoulder and says "I am here sir, please try to rest, you were badly wounded when they brought you here." "Is that you Dex?" "Yes, its me colonel." "How long has it been Dex?" "Ten years sir." O"h my g... report Lt., what is the status of the outfit?" "The outfit is gone sir, it was decimated here 10 years ago by the TR." "What happened at Onatha sir? We thought you were dead." "We were in a firefight with the TR, most of my platoon was down, I was wounded, I began the derez sequence and stepped into the spawn tube, then I woke up here." Blackweb strides into the ready room, wearing the uniform of an NC Captain. "They demoted you sir?" Dex asks. "Those f***ing bastards!" Dex curses in french. "I asked for the demotion Dex, I want to be a combat commander again, not a desk jockey." "Oh". Cpt. Blackweb steps up to the mic in the NC ready room and clears his throught, surveying the room full of NC troopers. He looks Slippy and Razz straight in the eye. Slippy leans over to Razz and whispers "I feel like he is looking right through me". "He has that effect on people" Razz responds. "Troopers of the New Conglomerate, today begins a new chapter in our struggle against the tyranny of the Terran Republic and the blind zealotry of the Vanu Sovereignty. I have been comissioned by the NC high command to form a new outfit that will take the fight to the Vanu and the TR. That outfit will be called "Phoenix Battalion". I have chosen the name Phoenix because from the ashes of recent defeat will rise a new NC fire that will consume our enemies. We will be first and foremost an infantry outfit. We will move fast, hit the enemy hard with overwhelming force at the point of attack. We will be the tip of the NC spear. There will be no more retreat, no more surrender. First we train, then we fight. Who is with me?" The NC troopers jump to their feet and yell "Hooah!" Lt. Dex whispers to Cpt. Blackweb "great speech sir. I think they are all terrified of you." "I want them to be more afraid of me than the Vanu or the TR." "Galaxy transport here Cpt" Slippy intones on the outfit comm channel. "Mount up PHX, we have a war to fight!" "Its good to have you back sir." Dex smiles. "Its good to be back old friend."
Lieutenant Razzyman looked up from his chrono and rubbed his eyes, still trying to shake off the last vestiges of the nights sleep. "0430, right on time" he muttered to himself. It was earlier than he usually got up but the new Lieutenant was arriving today, he was scheduled to arrive at 0530 and Razz wanted to be ready to greet him. He walked over to the mirror across from his closet and checked his uniform. Crisp, no wrinkles, the way it always was. The Lieutenant insignia was finally starting to look normal to him, he still remembered when Captain Blackweb had given it to him. The mess hall was almost full. Sgt. Razzyman was sitting in his usual spot when he heard him, "Sgt. Razzyman!" the Captain called out, the tone in his voice the same one he used when chewing out people who botched a Gal drop. "Sir!" Razzyman came out of his chair, turned around to face the Captain and snapped to attention all in one quick move. "My office, five minutes." the Captain said. "Yes sir!" the Sergeant answered, after Captain Blackweb walked out Razzy dumped his tray and headed for the Blackweb's office. The Captain had only been runinng the outfit for a little over a week but it was long enough for Razzy to know that if the Captain said five minutes he better be there in two and a half. The Captaini opened the door of his office not but five seconds after Razzy arrived. "Come in Lieutenant." he said, Razzy didn't catch that the Captain had adressed him by the rank of Lieutenant. "Have a seat" he told Razzy as he shut the door. "Razzy, your service in this outfit thus far has been exemplary" the Captain said plainly "But we have a problem." "A problem sir?" Razzy inquired. "Yes, it's your uniform" the Captain said plainly. Razzy let a look of confusion flash across his face before he could stop himself "Sir, I appologize if I have not kept my appearance up to code. I take great pride in my attention to code sir. I will make it right sir, I just need to know what I have that is out of line." "Your uniform is not befitting of your rank Lieutenant" the Captain told him as he slid a small box across his desk to Razzyman. The use of the rank did not escape Razzy this time. "As I said Lieutenant, your service has been examplary. This outfit has grown signifcantly since my arrival and I need good men to lead it. I put in for a battlefield commision for you a couple of days ago. Needless to say it was approved." Razzyman snapped out of his chair and offered the Captain a crisp salute. "I will make certain that my uniform reflects my rank sir. I thank you for the honor as well Captain." Captain Blackweb stood and offered his new Lieutenant a salute back "Dismissed Lieutenant Razzyman" he said. Razzyman snapped back to reality. "Lets go" he said to himself looking in the mirror. The lights in the hall were still set at the night time levels, no one was up at this point. Razzy headed to the gym, he knew Blackweb would be there already. He opened the door and called into the Captain "Want a cup of coffee this morning sir?" he inquired. "Razz, late as usual", the Captain had always been an early riser, "Already had some Lieutenant, get up earlier if you want to suck up" the Captain said as he shot Razzy a smart *** grin. "Forget that crap, I hate mornings" Razzy replied and shut the door. He could hear the Captain laughing as he left. Lieutenant Adeodatus' arrival went as planned, he was met by Captain Blackweb and Lieutenant's Dex and Razzy at 0530. When Razzy and Dex got to the mess at 0600 the rumor mill was already grinding at full speed. "They know we're getting a new Lieutant, Dex" Razzy said, "Why is Web waiting to tell them who it is until now?" "Adeo's got a bit of a reputation" Dex responded, "Let the men talk, let the rumors grow. They'll fight for someone that's a legend." Razzy let out a laugh "I heard one group of guys say he fought off a whole platoon of Vanu at the Crown. They said he was thrown over 20 feet by a rocket shot at the heavy's he was supporting, blew the top half of his armor off, then they said he picked of the two Gauss Saw's the heavy's had and proceeded to fight off the whole advancing platoon, bare chested. I've even hear some guys say he had a grenade bandolier and headband on" Dex couldn't help but smile "Exactly, who's not going to follow that guy into battle? Web know's what he's doing." "You can say that again" Razzy replied, the success of the outfit was becoming known throughout the empire in only a months time since the Captain had taken over. Their numbers swelled as new recruits and veterans alike requested a transfer to Phoenix Battalion. The Captain arrived in the mess hall at exactly 0730 as planned. The outfit finally got to meet their new Lieutenant. Adeodatus probably would have gotten a standing ovation for the stories about him if this wasn't a military outfit, the conversations about his exploits during just the morning mess were impressive. Razzy was looking forward to working with the new Lieutenant.
Razzyman put his head back and drifted off slightly as the Lt. Sperrow engaged the vertical thrusters of the Galaxy. The hum of both the main drives and the vertical thrusters was always quite soothing to him. "What's the target Razzy?" Raunparu asked over the platoon chanel. The sudden voice snapped Razzy back to reality. "EZ and Ethos are at the Crown" Razzy responded "The TR have brought in heavy reinforcements. We need to cut them off and then move in. First platoon is going to take TI Alloys and move over the western bridge, we've got Ceres Hydroponics." Some of the squad members in his Galaxy groaned as he said it. "We taking the north road in?" Sgt. Gumbs asked. "Roger that Gumbs." "Isn't that Lt. Adeodatus' deal sir?" Gumbs asked sarcastically. Adeo's reputation was well earned, if someone said it was impossible Adeodatus considered it his job to prove them wrong. "Yeah well, we like to keep you guys on your toes, don't want you guys getting bored, Gumbs. Look on the bright side Sergeant, lots of people for us patch up." "Don't let my voice fool you Razzy, I'm thrilled on the inside." Gumbs shot back. "Is Lieutenant Dex bringing the armored platoon in?" "Roger that Hellryder" Razzy said "It's gonna take him some time though and we won't see that support where we are unless we get in some deep crap, it's just us." Razzy checked his map and saw they were close "Thirty seconds, squad leaders get em ready." Razzy turned around to adress Alpha squad "Here we go boys, 20 seconds till the DZ." No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than the Galaxy started to rock and buck from flack fire, the Galaxy's guns burst to life, between the two you could barely hear yourself think. None the less, the members of Alpha Squad were up and ready to go, Razzy never doubted the members of Phoenix Battalion, they never dissappointed, Razzy saw on his helmet HUD that they were over the drop zone along with the 3 other squads. "DROP! DROP! DROP!" He yelled over his comms as he jumped from the Galaxy. All around him second platoon followed suit, "Here we go" he thought to himself. Resistance at Ceres wasn't bad, TR command must have moved most of their forces up to the Crown at this point. Razzy counted a squad once all was said and done, easily overwhelmed by the platoon that had dropped on them from the air. Most of the AA fire they had taken on the way in had come from the south as they passed by the Crown. "Squad leaders, spread 'em out, secure the area. I want Sunderers up on the east road, we roll out in 2 minutes." Confirmations from the squad leads rolled in as 2nd platoon secured the area with a precision Razzy had come to expect. "Captain Blackweb, second platoon has secured Ceres Hydroponics, we are rolling out for the northern in road to the crown in 2 minutes sir." "Roger that Razzy, I copy." Blackweb answered back, it sounded quiet there too. Razzy figured First Platoon would be rolling out shortly as well. "Heads up! Second Platoon move to platoon waypoint, load up, we're rolling out, 1 minute. Most of the platoon was already on their way there but Razzy found staying in contact with your platoon helped to keep everyone focused. The sunderer drivers didn't need to be told where to deploy, the training was ingrained in them at this point, second platoon began to pour out and move up the road. "Infiltrators, cover our approach and keep those damn snipers off us." They were half way up the crown when it happened all at once. A HE plasma round flew over Alpha Squad and blew up on the rock 5 meters above Razzy. "WTF was that?" Razzy couldn't tell who had said it but he knew what it was, and that it wasn't good. "Delta squad, check our six. Alpha I want you on the eastern in road, Bravo, take the middle, Charlie take the east. Raun, I need to know what we're facing down there, I need to know how many of those spandex wearing freaks we've got!" "Roger that Razzy." Raun said, he sounded like he was running. Razzy's HUD said he already had Delta in route, he talked a good game after joining Phoenix, but he backed it up too. As Razzy turned back around to keep moving Alpha up the road TR gunfire rained down on Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. "Gumbs Luighseach, they're gonna mow us down out here, our ***** are in the wind here, keep 'em moving!" "Any faster and I'm gonna be outrunning lightnings here Razzy" Luighseach shot back at him, Razzy could hear the grin in his voice as he said it. "Alpha squad, move up this hill on the double, we're swiss cheese if we don't get off this road" Razzy yelled into his squad channel. He wasn't sure if anyone could even hear him anymore, between the TR hitting him from the south and the increasing fire coming from the north the VS were almost everything was drowned out by the din of battle. "Razzy, I've got a problem here" Raun's voice crackled over Razzy's head set "I've got about two platoons with a lot of armor down here sir. Delta's not going to be able to hold this position long." "I've got him sir" Luighseach said before Razzy could even give an order to reinforce Delta. "We'll dig in and hold 'em back for now." "Get those Sundy's to a safe place Luigh" Razzy said and clicked over to his outfit channel as he and Alpha continued to sprint up the hill. "Captain Blackweb, Second platoon is advancing up the Northern Pass. We've got heavy TR fire coming from the Crown. I've also got reports of two Barney platoons moving in from the north sir. Heavy armor inbound." Blackweb responded something back that probably wouldn't be welcome at a holiday dinner, but Razzy couldn't make it out over the battle raging around him and what he guessed must have been a serious crap storm on that western bridge. Razzy pulled out his medtool and began patching up his squadmates on his way up the hill, the casualties were beginnign to pile up and Alpha and Charlie squads were beginning to bog down under the oppressive fire of the TR. "Gumbs, do you copy?" "I copy Razzy" Gumbs came back. "How's Charlie doing on the east?" "Getting our **** hammered sir. I don't know if we can get it up here." Razzy cursed to himself. His HUD was lit up with enemies all around him, he had to get his platoon into the Crown or they would be wiped out in the TR and VS crossfire. "Razzy!" Luighseach's voice crackled over the comms "I've lost two Sundies sir. I can't hold this armor off much longer sir, I need reinforcements or were going to lose our position!" Razzy checked his map, reports were showing that Lt. Dex had arrived and was beginning to push northward into the Crown with first platoon. "Second Platoon, Heads up!" Razzy shouted into his platoon channel "Pull back, Lt. Dex has arrived with third platoon and is rolling in with first. Secure the northern front, we can't let the VS get up this road!" Razzy checked over to outfit comms "Captain Blackweb, please be advised, second platoon can not move into the Crown with the VS to our south, we are pulling off the crown to defend agains the incoming VS platoons." "Roger that Razzy" Blackweb said "We'll have the crown shortly. EZC and Ethos are already in the tower clearing it, we're getting CP's Bravo and Charlie now" "I'll get some armor up there shortly Razzy" Dex said "Sounds like you could use a hand with some of those funny floating tanks huh?" "You're a life saver Dex" Razzy responded. He still hadn't put his medtool away, it was hot now as he kept applying the nanites to his squad mates "Luigh, Raun, what's the situation, where can Alpha and Charlie help?" It hadn't taken long to clear out the VS platoons after Blackweb and Dex secured the Crown. The VS often didn't stick around without superior numbers. Razzy always thought they couldn't stand losing to "Inferior intellects" as they called everyone. Maybe that or they were smart enough to know when they were going to lose and didn't want to waste all their superior technology on a losing fight. Either way they were gone, and Razzy could attend to his injured men. After he made sure everyone was ok he headed up into the tower. Blackweb was up there with Dex, Adeo, Sgtblackbird and Holycommander already. It was good to see everyone with a smile on their face, all of them were covered in dirt, grime and blood. Razzy made sure everyone was ok and didn't require medical attention, they all laughed. "Have a little trouble with Barney in the north there Razzy?" Blackbird joked. "No, I needed a plasma tan. They were just coming to do me a favor." Razzy shot back with a ******** grin. "Nothing like a floating tank heading straight for your hind end huh Razzy?" Holycommander asked. "Yeah, I try to avoid those high tech plasma enima's any chance I get HC, last time wasn't so enjoyable." Everyone laughed again. It was good to see them all here Razzy thought, if the NC could keep it up maybe they could end this war soon. That was the plan at least, some peace for Auraxis. Maybe it wasn't such an impossibility after all. Or maybe it was.
