A Tail for Tales

[Wolfie]

Genesis slid left, avoiding the orb, but the shots got his upper right foreleg.

"I needed a distraction so your men wouldn't shoot at me all willy-nilly! But if you listen, I'll not only call off my army, but also surrender myself into your custody and yours alone." Genesis didn't move his eyes from Zrion for an instant. "I'll even answer some of your questions and you can answer some of mine."

  Genesis started to limp in a circle, he'd have enough speed to dodge, but running around was out of question. His tail made a trail into the sand as he limped in his circular motion. Genesis didn't care anymore, he just wanted the fighting to stop, save some of his Metal Heads from anymore death. All he needed was this Zrion fellow to agree.

[Darkjak87]

For the first time since their fight began, Zrion was truly taken by surprise. However, he recovered quickly, frowning behind his helmet as he gave Genesis a calculating look.

"Surrender? Really?" he asked skeptically. "I'm supposed to believe that? After 300 years of warfare, dozens of attacks on the city, multiple assaults on the Metal Head Nest, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of casualties on both sides, and never once any whisper of peace. And now you just show up out of nowhere, with hundreds of your kin at your back, firing at my soldiers, and you expect me to think you're about to give yourself up?"

He shook his head. "I don't know why you're holding back, trying to disarm instead of kill me, but it's not going to work, because even if you succeed I'll still have my eco. And frankly, you aren't making a good impression. So fight or flee, but I will not accept your surrender."

Zrion again aimed his pistol at Genesis, but this time, he didn't fire, his curiosity staying his hand, despite his words.

[Wolfie]

"They aren't even related to me. but if you'd much rather use ignorance instead of reason, then so be it." Genesis spoke turing to face the direction of the fight. "I only offered peace with me, others will not listen, I thought you'd be different."

   With that said, Genesis left into a full-on three-legged sprint. Heading towards Zrion's men and learing the jump over them before running straight to the back of his army, away from the fighting. His troops were more determined to get atleast one of those guards killed behind their fortifications. But e sat in the, wathing the numbers slowly pile.

[Darkjak87]

Genesis' rapid retreat took Zrion by surprise, enough that he didn't open fire until Genesis had already reached his men. He only fired three shots, the last he had in his pistol, before Genesis disappeared among the crowd of ravenous beasts.

Zrion scowled. He hadn't expected Genesis to actually retreat, and he hadn't even hoped for it really, since he would much rather have killed the dangerous Metal Head than let him continue coordinating his forces. He shook his head though, ejecting the empty magazine of his pistol and sliding in a fresh one.

He quickly proceeded toward his rifle, and scooped it up gratefully, brushing the sand off it, not that it would jam such a reliable weapon in the first place. However, as he turned his attention back toward the battle, he was filled with dread.

Two of the Guards were struck down as he watched, going down with cries of pain as bolts of red eco from the Metal Heads' riflemen caught them in the armor, managing to pierce it after previous hits had weakened them already. If that weren't bad enough, he saw that the reason for their increased accuracy was how close they were to the line. The Guards only had about twenty meters of distance between them and the Metal Heads now, which was far too close for comfort when engaging an enemy known for swarming over numerically inferior opponents.

He was reluctant to throw his reserves into the battle so early, but he saw that he had little choice.

"Zrion to Lieutenant Woods," he spoke into his radio.

"Yes, Commander, Woods here," he confirmed.

"Move your men out, split them in half and hit the Metal Heads from either side, we're almost overrun over here and I need you to take the pressure off."

"Roger that, Commander. First Wing, on me, blanket those elites, take 'em out one by one. Second wing, hard on our right, keep those grunts busy!"

With a loud mechanical hum, all eight of the Speeder Bikes shot out into the open, from where they had been lying in wait behind the transports. They seamlessly divided in half, as per Woods' orders, and moved to hit the Metal Head formation from either side.

The effects were immediate, the Metal Heads taken by surprise and immediately diverting their efforts. Seconds later, an explosion tore through them, killing several, and panicking them further. If Zrion had to guess, that would be Mendoza's work.

However, he had no time to enjoy the show, so he ran back toward the trench, sliding back down into it, next to the Special Operations sergeant.

"Commander! What the hell did you do? That Metal Head took off like a shot!" Mendoza shouted over the sounds of battle.

"I refused to accept his surrender." Zrion said, with a straight face.

Mendoza glared at him. "Seriously. What'd you do?"

Zrion grinned, in spite of himself. "Focus on the Metal Heads, Mendoza. Use your grenades, target groups. I'm surprised you weren't already, actually."

Mendoza chuckled. "I didn't bring enough for everyone, I didn't want anyone to feel left out."

He slid one of the grenades off his bandolier, loading it into the underslung grenade launcher of his AK-47. Taking a moment to aim, he loosed the shot, and it landed among the Grunts a moment later, scattering several of them.

"Keep it up!" Zrion encouraged. "There's too many of them to be stingy with the explosives. We've got another hour or so until reinforcements are here, so give generously."

Turning back to the fight, Zrion jumped back in, firing a long burst and killing several Grunts. Targeting a shield-bearing Metal Head, he let off a quick double-tap, sending it down sans an ankle.

Thanks to the efforts of his grenadier and the Dragoons, the Metal Heads were now disorganized and falling back, putting a couple dozen meters between them and the line. With the extra distance, the Guards felt a lot better about their chances, and furiously bombarded their enemies with weaponized eco.

Of course, the real problem was ammo - the Guards would be running short soon, and that was truly why fighting Metal Heads tended to be a futile effort - there were always more Metal Heads than bullets. The reality was, everything the Guards were doing was a holding action - buying time for the reinforcements to show up and bail them out.

But it was a familiar game for Zrion, and one that he was good at winning.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis gazed upon the Speeder Bikes leaving the camp, and knew exactly where they were heading. His army. They didn't stand a chance, but he might have. With slight confidence and an open mind, Genesis went into a full on sprint for the army's flank, and waited for a speeder to zip on by. As soon as he saw one coming, he pounced and latched on to with a death grip only his mom would be proud of and snarled at the pilot.

"Leave!" Genesis growled before pulling the pilot from his seat and thrust him into the sand.

  Never giving that poor sod a fair chance to react. Genesis leapt from the speeder and let reel into an open location before it became a mangled mess in the wastes. One down, seven more to go. Genesis observed for another speeder before he went in for anothe disable move.

[Darkjak87]

The remaining three zoomers in the group reacted quickly to the loss of one of their own, especially when that person happened to be cursing violently into his radio. Two of the bikes diverted from their course, while the third continued to rake the Metal Head forces with blaster fire, bringing down several. The bike quickly turned, flying parallel to the Metal Heads, and past, before turning around and opening fire on the larger Metal Heads at the rear, presumably the commanders.

Meanwhile, the other two bikes were flying toward Genesis, neck and neck together, and firing their blasters all the while. When they approached, they split apart, as per their usual doctrine, and slid around him on either side. After giving it a dozen meters, they quickly 'drew the eights' as they had the previous day, circling back around and firing at Genesis again, intending to repeat the maneuver a second time, if needed.

[Wolfie]

  Genesis was able to block most of the shot the first round, but the aiming was horrible the second round.

"Kiddies want to play with their new pet? Be careful, I don't know how to play right with silly little TOYS!"

  Genesis rolled out from the maneuver and quickly latched onto his second prey of a bike. This time, he just stuck, smiling at the pilot with an evil grin as he raised a claw. Genesis stopped himself, then quickly changed from an open claw to piercing the speeder gas tank with his tail. He light slapped the pilot.

"Don't come back for me babe!" And leapt off the bike. "Now for the other..."

[Darkjak87]

Seeing the loss of another of their bikes, the downed pilot's wingman scowled angrily, and decided it was time for something a little more imaginative. He quickly turned back around, pulling off a very tight turn that nearly threw him off the bike at such high speeds, and readied a grenade as he sped toward Genesis. He steered and fired with one hand, and popped the pin out of the grenade with the other.

Taking advantage of his speed and the blinding blaster fire, the pilot quietly dropped the grenade at Genesis' feet as he tore past. By the time he turned again, the grenade would have detonated, hopefully taking the Metal Head with it.

The other pilot was unaware of the additional casualty, continuing to bombard the rifle-wielding grunts with blasters, limiting their fire against his comrades holding the position at the camp. The Metal Heads were completely unable to land a shot, with the skilled soldier weaving in and out, flying at extremely high speeds to ensure that such a hit would be nigh-impossible.

On the other side of the formation, the other four bikes were having a field day, with only the nearly-helpless standard Metal Heads to oppose them. As such, they were racking up a rather impressive killcount. However, the sheer volume of the fire the Metal Heads were putting out kept them suppressed, so even they weren't able to do any lasting damage beyond simply keeping them distracted.

Without surprise on their side, the Dragoons were a lot less effective. Now that the element had been lost, and with the Metal Heads fully aware of them, they weren't inflicting nearly as much damage as they had the previous day, when the Metal Heads had lost most of their forces by the time they responded to the attack. However, it was buying the defenders the time they desperately needed, so they continued their efforts regardless, even if it was only a matter of time until one or more were shot down.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis felt the sand shift on his foot, and looked down. To his surprise, a grenade was placed by his feet. Quick to his feet, he used his Precursor Metal to cover the grenade and bury it further into the sand. When the explosion came, the force launch him  in a dust ball towards his mounted attacker. His body forcing a dent the front of the of the bike.

"You sneaky bastard..." Genesis snarled getting up, his wound in searing pain.

   He grabbed both blasters on the sides of the speeder and ripping them clean off. Then he grabbed front of the bike and twisted it upside down, dislodging the pilot from his seat. Genesis then lifted bike over his head and smashing it to the ground, just barely missing the pilot.

"You!" Genesis growled, stomping over and grabbing the pilot, "YOU! Run back to your camp, tell Zrion what happened, and tell him to call the rest of your bikes off before I get to them! I might not be as generous as I was with your half, but I'm willing to make sacrifices to get that man to see just how dangerous I can really be!"

Genesis dropped the pilot, watching him scramble to feet and run.

[Darkjak87]

Despite Genesis showing mercy to the pilots, most of them were torn apart by the other Metal Heads, who weren't nearly as willing to spare them. Indeed, when all was said and done, only one of the men made it back to KG lines alive. Needless to say, the Guard was breathless when he got there.

It wasn't difficult to find his Commander, as the black-armored commando was still barking orders, coordinating the defense. The pilot dived into the trench, startling the nearby soldiers.

"Commander!" he shouted breathlessly.

"Who are you?" Zrion asked. The markings on the man's armor identified him as a Dragoon, but why was he on foot?

"Specialist Howlett," he managed, between pants. "Sir, the Second Wing was hit hard. All our bikes are down, the pilots killed by Metal Heads."

"What?" Zrion asked, stunned. He had expected casualties, throwing the lightly-armored vehicles into a heavyweight fight like this, but an entire wing, in so little time?

"Some kind of Metal Head...I think it was the one from last night. It took our bikes down, one by one. It left the pilots alive, but it didn't do any good, they were torn apart by the other ones anyway," he finished bitterly.

"It said...It said to call rest of the bikes off, before he got to them too."

"How the hell did he bring down four bikes in ten minutes?" Zrion asked incredulously.

"He's fast, and tough. We could barely land a hit, and even when we did, it didn't do much."

He hesitated. "Sir, I dropped a grenade at his feet. It blew up right below him. He got back up, and then he pulled my bike out of the air."

Zrion stared. He knew Genesis was tough, that much was obvious, but how could he shrug off a grenade?

"Your recommendation, Specialist?" Zrion asked, troubled.

"Call off the bikes, sir. We need the rest of them, and if he could do it to us, he can do it to them."

Zrion sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. "I'll take it under advisement. Take a minute to collect yourself, then grab a rifle and start shooting. You did good, soldier."

The former pilot nodded, and sagged, sitting down so as to catch his breath without getting his head shot off.

Zrion activated his radio. "Lieutenant Woods, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, Commander! Can't really talk! Taking heavy fire!"

"Fall back. Second Wing is down, only one pilot survived. The Metal Head commander, called "Metal Genesis" took down the whole wing by himself."

"What?" he replied, stunned.

"Second Wing is down, only one survivor," he repeated. "Fall back to the camp now, leave your bikes there. We might need you again, so stay put, but be ready to move again if we need it."

"I...Understood, Commander," Woods acknowledged gravely.

Zrion could tell by his tone that he still hadn't really taken it in yet. He couldn't blame him, in all honesty. Losing half your number in such a small amount of time would shake anyone.

"Commander, did I hear that right?" Thompson asked, from Zrion's left.

"Unfortunately, yes. That thing took down half our bikes," Zrion said grimly.

"Precursors...No wonder you couldn't kill it," Braeburn commented.

"He ran first," Zrion said defensively. "Besides, he still bleeds. We can hurt him. When the reinforcements get here, we'll be able to focus our efforts and take him down.

He turned to his other side, tapping Mendoza on the shoulder.

"Report, Sergeant," Zrion ordered.

"We've lost about a third of our people," Mendoza began. "Four dead, five wounded. Thompson tried to patch them up, but they're out of the fight. The hardpoints are still holding on, but the Metal Heads are starting to focus their efforts on them."

"Can we hold out?" Zrion asked.

"Ah...How long until reinforcements get here?" Mendoza asked hesitantly.

Zrion did some quick calculations in his head. "Another half hour, maybe. Give or take."

"Well...We should make it," Mendoza allowed. "But it's going to get ugly, especially with the bikes grounded. We're going to lose a lot of people."

Zrion frowned. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but at this point, anyone surviving at all would be an accomplishment in itself.

"Any idea how many Metal Heads we've killed?" Zrion asked.

"Not really, hard to count the bodies in the middle of a fight, but I'd guess around a third of them or so. Swain's guys are having a field day picking off their commanders, but it's not gonna be enough."

"Keep at it, Sergeant. We'll make it," he assured him. Mendoza responded by standing up and firing a grenade at a group of grunts that were little too far ahead of their kin for his liking.

With nothing else to be said, Zrion returned his attention to the encroaching forces, firing in short bursts, mindful of his steadily dwindling ammunition supply.