A Tail for Tales

[Wolfie]

   Genesis' ears perked up to the commotion outside, hearing someone yell. Whatever he found just out him in a bit of danger. He quickly whipped around and grabbed the tarp to place it back over the find. What this thing was, consisted of metal plating over circuitry and tubes. The paint was darkened. Genesis turned towards the cargo door. Something got a hold of him, something felt wet on his tail. Genesis brought his tip into view, a purple substance, it looked familiar but long forgotten. He took a lick, tasted awful, but left a grape-like after taste. He felt a power, a dark power, a forgotten power, timeless. Genesis felt... different.... like he could take on the world.

Genesis approached the door.

   Propped up on his hind legs, Genesis forced the door to the ground, but not off the hinges, and stepped forward. He looked upon the troops, one thing that changed on Genesis was his eyes, they were purple, like the substance. An eerie smile crept across his face as he stood, staring at the now alerted guards at his position.

"Looks like all hell might break loose." Genesis said with a tone that seemed unlike him, he didn't care. "I know you boys want to play, but I gotta take a leave before mommy gets angry at you all for trying to bring a pet home."

Genesis took a leap over the group.

"Toodaloo!" He yelled as he ran off, knowing they might as well try to open fire.

[Darkjak87]

Despite the Metal Head's apparent speaking ability catching him by surprise, Zrion hadn't gotten to where he was by being slow to respond.

"Shoot, shoot!" Zrion yelled at his soldiers, snapping them out of their stunned silence. As one, all the present Guards, both the Special Operations commandos and the standard infantry, opened fire on the fleeing Metal Head. The projectile ammunition from the commandos' weapons left only puffs of smoke and muzzle flashes in their wake, while glowing bolts of red eco streaked from the regular soldiers' rifles, all directed towards one strange Metal Head.

The fire was intense, but disorganized, as many of the soldiers had been taken aback by the Metal Heads' reaction. Normally, when humans came across Metal Heads, the Metal Heads would usually throw themselves at the humans until one side was dead in its entirety. Seemingly, Metal Heads did not care about odds - they merely sought to wear down their enemy through attrition.

Thus, for the first time, everyone there was witnessing a Metal Head retreat. If that weren't strange enough, it was apparently a smartass too.

On top of all that, the KG were unable to make use of their night vision or IR equipment due to the intensity of the heat and brightness of the blaster fire - at best, they would simply fry the optics, at worst, it would blind anyone that happened to be using them. As a result, the soldiers were essentially shooting blind.

It was due to all of these factors that the Metal Head managed to evade all of their shots, even the automatic gunfire from the Special Operations troopers.

However, Zrion wasn't one to give up easily.

"Swain! Frag that bastard!" Zrion half-shouted into his radio.

"Negative on that, Commander!" the captain responded frantically, "We weren't ready for that volume of fire, the blasters burned out our optics! We have spares but we need to swap them out, until then we won't be able to hit anything!"

"Dammit!" Zrion cursed.

Unfortunately, the Guards didn't have that long to wait. By the time their magazines ran dry, there was no trace of the Metal Head to be found.

Muttering a string of colorful words under his breath, Zrion quickly swapped out his magazine, briefly switching on his night vision and sweeping the area. As he had feared, the Metal Head had gotten away.

"Well, that's just great." Zrion said angrily. "Woods! You alive?"

"Yeah, Commander. Just got here." Woods confirmed, stepping up next to Zrion.

"Good. Take a couple of your Dragoons and look for that Metal Head, we can't afford to let it get away, if it does we could have their whole damn army coming down on us in a few hours."

"Got it sir, we'll be out of here in five minutes," the Lieutenant assured him.

"Everyone else! Look around and make sure there aren't any others in the camp!" Zrion said, raising his voice to be heard.

"Perimeter Defense, you're fired! Whoever is third-in-command, get another group on it with less idiots! Now get your asses in gear! I don't want a single Metal Head within five miles of this convoy!"

[Wolfie]

   Genesis sat, gazing upon the activity in the camp. He didn't really come out of that unscathed, a shot whizzed by and grazed his shoulder, where his left claw was placed to make sure it wasn't bleeding. His eyes were still glowing faintly, but he felt like his body was shifting underneath his skin. Genesis kept his eyes locked on the camp, there were too many for him to handle, even the ones he couldn't see. Knowing the KG, there were almost always a group of guardsmen that  were there, but not seen until it was too late. A green light started to make it's way out of the pieces of armor on his back.

"Yeah, I hear ya..." Genesis said to noone but himself. Not even to the light

   Genesis removed his claw for only a scar to remain. This was going to be a long night as Genesis sat in the dust, staring away at the KG convoy/camp in the distance.

[Darkjak87]

Despite the best efforts of Lieutenant Woods and his Speeder Bikes, by the time the sun was cresting the eastern horizon, Zrion was forced to concede defeat. The Metal Head had disappeared without a trace, leaving a sentient, and highly dangerous, creature running around unchecked, and now with the knowledge of what they were protecting. It did not bode well.

"Sir..." Mendoza began cautiously, as Zrion was still in a rather foul mood. Despite his usual sarcasm and dry humor, Zrion could be quite touchy when angered, even among his comrades.

Zrion turned to face his grenadier, irritation showing on his face, but attentive nonetheless. "What are we going to do?" the commando continued carefully. "That Metal Head knows we're here, and it's apparently smart too. It could be alerting larger forces to our location."

Zrion gritted his teeth. "I know that," He bit out. "But we don't have a choice. Command is clear - this convoy gets to the weapons factory no matter the cost."

"But sir, we can't just -" Mendoza tried.

"Yes we can." Zrion interrupted harshly. "I've got the Fourth Echelon on standby and the rest of the Krimzon Guard is less than an hour's flight away by dropship. If the Metal Heads try anything, we'll bring the hammer down and wipe them out."

"I...if you say so, Commander." Mendoza conceded.

"Good." Zrion nodded stiffly. "Now help the reds pack up. Since apparently they can't keep one Metal Head out of our camp, I don't trust them to so much as roll up a sleeping bag at this point. Dismissed."

His squad saluted and set out. Sighing, Zrion walked over to the nearest transport, which was equipped with a long-range radio.

The radioman gave a salute upon noticing the black-armored warrior, a motion that Zrion returned.

Zrion nodded towards the radio after dropping his salute. Getting the message, the Krimzon-armored soldier left Zrion in privacy.

Zrion sat down in front of the device, switching it on and thumbing the frequency to that of Special Operations Command.

"Zrion to War Hound, come in War Hound," he hailed, speaking into the microphone.

A brief note of static answered, before a gruff, grizzled voice answered back. "Zrion, to what do I owe the pleasure?" asked the Commander of Special Operations, William Deker.

"I wish there were any to be had," Zrion said wistfully. The Commander and he, despite being superior and subordinate, respectively, were on fairly friendly, if formal, terms. In particular, it had been by Deker's personal request that Zrion had entered Special Operations in the first place. Had it not been for that, his career in the Guard would have been over after losing an eye during the Battle of Deadtown. In a way, Deker was responsible for the man that Zrion was today, for better or for worse.

"Report." Deker ordered, now understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Last night, we were infiltrated by an intelligent Metal Head. I don't know how, but it slipped past our perimeter defenses. If it hadn't been for Swain's squad, we wouldn't have noticed it at all. Sir, it looked inside Topaz One. And then it escaped, despite our best efforts. But the truly strange thing is that it didn't kill any of our men. In fact, it took down two Guards in the camp, but it only knocked them out. They've been treated by a medic, and are already ready for combat again."

Several seconds passed in tense silence, and for a moment, Zrion was worried that Deker was questioning his word.

"You're...certain of this?" The Commander asked cautiously. "An intelligent Metal Head? And he infiltrated the convoy?"

"Yes, sir. I wouldn't have brought this to you if the situation wasn't so...unusual."

More silence, then "Very well, Zrion. I'll take this to the lab boys, find out what they know."

"Sir, if I may make a request?" Zrion asked.

"Go ahead," Deker encouraged.

"I need units on standby. I need the Fourth Echelon ready to ship out. The First too, if you can. The Metal Head got away, it could bring reinforcements next time, and we're still a couple of days from the Weapons Factory."

"I..." Deker began hesitantly. "Zrion, that's a tall order. Our units are working around the clock, you know that. Keeping them in reserve because something might happen..." he trailed off.

"Yes, sir. But I'm told this mission is of the utmost importance, and now that we've been compromised, we might need the extra help."

"...Understood, Zrion. The First Echelon is just about to report back, they'll be debriefed within the hour. The Fourth should already be ready to go. I'll have them ready to ship out if you call for them."

"Thank you, sir." Zrion said gratefully. Finally, something is going right, he thought privately.

"I trust you, Zrion. If anyone can get it done, it's you."

"That means a lot, Commander," Zrion replied honestly.

"Is there anything else?" Deker inquired.

There wasn't, so with a final goodbye, Zrion ended the connection. Leaving the transport, Zrion waved the KG radio operator back into the vehicle, and walked back into the center of camp. He saw that the final preparations were nearly done, so he ordered the men to move out as soon as possible.

Within ten minutes, the convoy had again set out, leaving behind no traces of their camp except the blackened sand where the fires had burned.

[Wolfie]

   It's been nearly 12 hours since he last encountered these KG, catching a glimpse of their Armor up close. Their sets were black, probably Special Forces or something like that. Genesis has gathered a good amount of Metal Heads for his next move, a plan that put him in bigger danger than the rest know. His follower amount is around 200-300 Metal Heads, most of which might not even make it out of this fight. This time, Genesis was ready to surprise these KG even further.

"All right." Genesis turned to his makeshift army of Grunts, Elites, and Workers. "I want as little casualties as possible on our side, I'm looking to scare them, kill some, and let the others walk with scars. Although, as most of you might come to find that when I give you the order to retreat, I mean to retreat! No last-minutes shots, no last-minutes slashes! Just walk the other way and don't look back! Imight not return with you, for I am on my own path. Noone follows.."

   Genesis turned back around, gazing upon the convoy he last infiltrated 12 hours ago, this time, a different card up his sleeve. He let loose a loud enough roar to signal the Metal Heads to charge, but also alert the convoy of their presence, but yet his again. Genesis wanted to make sure that wasn't the last that this convoy will see of him again.

[Darkjak87]

After the events of the previous night, the Krimzon Guard were taking no chances this time. When the convoy had halted, Zrion had immediately ordered everyone to begin constructing defenses. There was some grumbling at this order, as the men were tired and hungry, but Zrion was adamant. With their cover blown, they no longer had the luxury of time.

The convoy had parked in another large dip in the terrain, approximately fifty meters across. Surrounding the depression were more shallow dunes, offering a minor height advantage for any defenders. It wasn't anything to write home about, but every little bit helped.

The soldiers were constructing fortifications atop the low hills, filling sandbags and surrounding the peaks with them, so as to have maximum cover from any incoming fire. Between the hills, the rest of the Guardsmen were digging trenches, connecting the hardpoints together and ensuring that the defenders would be able to move between them without leaving cover. For good measure, a low line of sandbags had been piled in front of the trenches as well, ensuring that the Guards would only have their heads exposed when firing.

Each hardpoint also had a mounted machine gun, known as a Vulcan Fury, to bolster them further. The weapons were rare in the Krimzon Guard, due to the extremely high rate at which they burned through increasingly-rare eco, but the mission was important enough that the convoy had been issued several of the powerful weapons, something for which Zrion was thankful.

Inside the perimeter, the vehicles of the convoy had been parked in a large circle around Topaz One, which was to be defended at all costs, despite Zrion, to his immense frustration, still not knowing why. The vehicles were unarmed, but each did have a fairly strong layer of armor, so if the first line of defenses collapsed, the Guards would fall back and use them as cover for their final stand.

Zrion took all this in with a watchful eye, barking orders when needed, but overall, he felt satisfied. For less than two hours of work, the Guards had done an admirable job shoring up the camp's defenses. The hardpoints on top of the hills were already complete, the pair of Guards assigned to each one already in place, scanning the surrounding area.

The trenches in between were another story, however. The sandbags were already in place, but the trenches were still too shallow for his liking, as the men hadn't really had enough time to dig more than a few feet into the ground. If push came to shove, they could scrape by, but more men would lose their lives for it.

He frowned though, as he considered the flaw in the defenses. It was a textbook plan, proven to be effective, if unimaginative, but the one weakness was that it depended on the hills. If the Metal Heads managed to take one of the hills, it would leave a huge gap in their lines without any way to push them back, since the entire line would have already been engaged by then.

Considering his options, Zrion decided to assign a third man to each one of the hardpoints, as extra insurance. It would weaken the trench line slightly, but the men on the hills could cover those in the trenches, while the opposite did not hold true, so it was a measured risk. He still wasn't convinced that it was perfect, but they had done well with the limited time they had.

However, his thoughts were broken by a rather alarming sound - a Metal Head war cry.

"Commander!" Swain yelled into the radio, nearly deafening him.

"Yes?" Zrion asked, his polite tone obviously faked.

"Ah, sorry about that..." Swain replied sheepishly, much more quietly this time. "But this is important. Metal Heads are approaching the camp. Looks to be about three hundred. You've got less than a minute before they hit."

"Nothing escapes you, does it Captain?" Zrion asked dryly. The Metal Heads certainly weren't being subtle. Although Zrion was a man who counted his blessings, it certainly would have been nice if his snipers had warned them before the Metal Heads had announced their presence.

"Orders?" Swain asked, ignoring Zrion's remark.

"Shoot the important ones first, we'll handle the grunts down here."

"Roger that, Commander, covering your ass. Overwatch, prioritize targets and fire at will!"

Immediately, four streaks of purple light, generated by the lethal fusion of the red and blue eco used in the Third Echelon's sniper rifles, seared through the night sky, tearing into the larger Metal Heads at the rear of the approaching mass. Special Operations' snipers were ruthless and efficient, and Zrion had no doubt that they would utterly decimate the Metal Heads, given time.

Moments later, the machine gun nests on the hills opened fire, blue streaks of white-hot eco tearing into the Metal Head ranks, supplemented by red bursts of light from the supporting soldiers' blasters.

The soldiers in the trenches took that as their cue, adding their own gunfire to the mix, their combined efforts producing a withering barrage to greet the Metal Heads, who were already dying in large numbers.

"Commander, my Dragoons are ready to move. Orders?" Lieutenant Woods radioed.

Zrion hesitated at that. The speeder bikes were their trump card in this battle, and undeniably effective, but Zrion was reluctant to throw them into the fray so soon.

Deciding to bid his time, Zrion gave his orders. "Stand by, Lieutenant. Let us thin them out first, then you can circle around and hit them from behind."

"Roger that, Commander. Waiting on your word."

Zrion returned his attention to the battle. Already, quite a few Metal Heads had piled up in front of the Guards' fortifications, but with hundreds more behind them, sooner or later they would be overrun. They needed reinforcements. They needed the First Echelon.

"Zrion to Able Three, do you copy?" he said into his radio.

"Affirmative, sir."

"Contact Special Operations Command. Tell them to send the First Echelon."

A pause. "Sir, they're requesting a confirmation phrase."

"Even the flames of hell began with a spark," Zrion intoned.

Silence reigned for half a minute, before Zrion received his answer.

"Confirmed, Commander. The First Echelon is mobilizing. ETA 90 minutes."

Zrion frowned. 90 minutes was definitely pushing it, but they'd have to make do with what they had.

"Affirmative, Able Three. Zrion out."

The orders given, Zrion finally decided to join the fray, pulling his rifle out of its holster on his back and racking the bolt back. He jogged toward the line of trenches facing the approaching masses, looking around for his squad.

Quickly spotting their distinctive black armor, not to mention the rather large pile of Metal Head corpses along the stretch in front of them, Zrion jogged toward them, dropping down into the trench with them.

"Glad you could join us, boss-man!" Mendoza greeted, without looking away from his sights. The grenadier snapped off a quick three round burst from his AK-47, ending a grunt's life in a wail of pain.

"How're things looking?" Zrion shouted over the sounds of battle, lining up a shield-bearing Metal Head in his sights. The shield prevented him from targeting it directly, so instead he aimed toward it's uncovered ankle. He fired a quick double-tap, one of the shots striking the target, sending the Metal Head to the ground in agony.

Leaving it to its fate, Zrion shifted his focus to a grunt, putting a single well-placed round through the gem on it's head.

"So far so good!" Mendoza answered, again without looking up. "We're holding them back for now, but it's a freaking army over there. Don't know how long we can hold out!"

"Just as long as we make it to 90 minutes, we'll be fine." Zrion assured him.

Mendoza gave him a curious glance. "Reinforcements?" he inquired.

"Burner boys." Zrion confirmed.

Mendoza would have smiled, if not for the dire situation. "Well, I almost feel bad for them now."

"Yeah, my heart bleeds for them," Zrion said flatly, getting a chuckle from the other commando.

Their banter ended after that, though, both men giving the fight their full attention.

90 minutes...Hope we make it that long, he thought privately.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis was walking calmly behind his followers, watching some of his bigger troops fall to the dust with a single whiz of a streak of strange purple eco, too bright to be the dark type he ingested 12 hours prior to this fight. Genesis inhaled and stood on his hind legs once more, letting out an even more powerful roar that seemed to boost his army's willpower. He smirked to himself as he saw these... flimsy fortifications. Somewhat effective if his followers weren't incompetent as fighters. Of course he had to do all the thinking for his followers. Genesis' sight swept across the battle field, looking for the one that ordered his men to open fire on him.

"Bingo...." Genesis muttered to himself with a smile before going back to all fours and making a dash for his position.

   The sand was kicking up behind the mass called a Metal Head. Charging head-on the best tactic? No. Was it fun? Hell yes. But then Genesis stopped, a few miles away from the rest of his army. Most of the KG were distracted enough as it is, but Genesis was better than this, better than to charge unwittingly into combat.

Heh... even better..." Genesis suddenly stooped as low as he could to the ground, working his way from the large arm and around the camp. His eyes never left his true target, the guard he wanted to confront, the guard that gave the order, and probably the one that gave his shoulder the well placed cut on his shoulder.

[Darkjak87]

One did not spend a decade fighting in a war without gaining a sixth sense. Before Genesis had even entered the camp, Zrion was painfully aware of something watching him.

Firing a last burst into a charging grunt, Zrion ejected his depleted magazine and slid in a new one, leaving him with only three more on his belt. That done, he turned around and scanned the area shrewdly. When nothing jumped out at him (thankfully), Zrion reached up and flipped on his IR vision.

In the rapidly cooling desert environment, any kind of heat signature stuck out like a sore thumb. After two hours of inactivity, the engines of the transports barely registered on his goggles. However, the body heat of one Metal Head, silently sneaking its way into the camp, did not escape his notice.

Zrion frowned. Since when do Metal Heads flank? he wondered. Then, it hit him, and he scowled. That bastard...Thinks he's clever, does he?

Normally, Zrion was a cautious soldier. He did not attack without an advantage. As his old drill sergeant had taught, it was always better to show up to a fight prepared to win than it was to stick your neck out and hope for the best.

But this situation required immediate intervention - Topaz One was currently unprotected beyond the defensive line, which had been completely bypassed by a Metal Head that was smarter than any others the KG had ever faced. Indeed, Zrion would have preferred to surround the entire camp with troops, but considering that the Metal Heads were attacking from only one direction, and in such large numbers, he had had little choice but to commit all of his soldiers to this side of the camp.

However, returning his attention to the battle, he saw that they could spare no one else. The KG were barely holding on as it was, and as the grunts soaked up ammunition, the armed Metal Heads at the back were beginning to fire over their heads, at the beleaguered defenders. It was only a matter of time before the Guards started taking real casualties, so Zrion's hands were tied.

"Mendoza!" Zrion barked, tapping the man on the shoulder for good measure. "We've got a Metal Head in the camp! Take over here, I'm going to take care of it."

"Need backup, boss-man?" he inquired.

Zrion shook his head. "No, it's just one Metal Head. I can handle it. Save some for me."

"That'll be a challenge," Mendoza commented dryly, before returning his attention toward the approaching army.

With that final word, Zrion pulled himself out of the trench, keeping his head low and his armored back facing the Metal Heads. He kept himself as low as he could as he moved quickly toward the camp, and through the dormant cargo transports.

He idly noted for the first time that the circular center of the camp resembled an arena, with Topaz One sitting in the middle, as if it were the prize to be awarded to the winner. Two enter...One leaves, he thought grimly.

The Metal Head, for all its stealth, was unable to fool Zrion's IR vision. And as all Guards were taught from the moment they entered boot camp, the one thing that no one could outsmart was a bullet.

That in mind, Zrion crouched down, taking careful aim at the Metal Head. Privately glad he had left his safety off, as the click could have alerted his prey, he slowly raised his finger to the trigger, and squeezed off a quick three-round burst.

[Wolfie]

Genesis heard the click, his hearing above one of that a Metal Head could notice, and smiled as he rounded the corner.

"Whas'tha matter, 'Boss-man', happy to see me?" Genesis spoke in a low tone that wasn't hostile, more of joking as he approached. "You can't shoot me, I'm too valuable to you and know know it. But hey... if you want to see what I got, drop that gun and fight me with your fisticuffs. That is... unless... you are, shall we say in human terminology, scared."

  Genesis stopped a good few feet away from his rival. Watching him with Lime Green eyes that could scare a normal man, but a trained soldier? That was something else. He let his Skull Gem glow a nice auburn color that seemed gold, maybe it did actually glow gold, who knew? Only Genesis knew, but even he had a sadistic smile on his face as he stared at this Spec Op.

"Fellin' lucky?"

[Darkjak87]

Zrion narrowed his eyes. The Metal Head raised a point - it could be valuable. It was the only intelligent Metal Head that the Krimzon Guard had ever encountered. It was apparently capable of leading troops into battle, gathering armies, speaking, and fighting.

But when he thought about it, none of that really mattered. After all, the problem with fighting Metal Heads was that there were simply so damn many of them. For every human dead, the Metal Heads lost ten, yet that was still a net gain for the Metal Heads in the end. Frankly, the Krimzon Guard were outnumbered to the point of insanity.

But that was the thing - it certainly wasn't intelligence that was winning this war, it was numbers. And Zrion saw an opportunity to reduce those numbers further, because if he killed this Metal Head, he suspected that his troops would break rank and collapse, even with their massive numerical advantage.

"Luck?" Zrion asked, tone neutral. "Luck is for idiots and the inexperienced. And listening to your enemy is natural selection in action."

With those final words, Zrion aimed his rifle directly at Genesis and fired a five round burst.