A Tail for Tales

[Wolfie]

   Genesis decided to take the mechanical creature himself after seeing that it hurt Zrion.

"All righty, pretty boy, let's dance." Genesis scowled at his machine doppelganger.

   He started to wrestle the hulking mass of metal. Genesis was impressed that the mecha head could keep up with his strength, but not his speed. That armor sure weighed it down. That's when Genesis got an idea, it was time to end it before this mechanical monstrosity could escape and most likely go a on a rampage.

"Zrion! Could you charge up some of that yellow eco explosive? I have a dangerous idea!"

   Genesis quickly unlatched himself from the beast before grabbing its nick and lifting it off the ground. Thank you size increase. He then wound up for a throw, launching the beast into Topaz One's cargo bay. A satisfying clunk was heard when it made contact with the back of the transport.

"Quickly! Throw a charge at the transport! Destroy this thing!"

[Darkjak87]

Since his bullets weren't cutting it, Zrion decided to follow Genesis' lead, gently setting his rifle down and bracing himself. For the first time in quite a while, Zrion reached for his reserves of Yellow Eco. he took a deep breath, and steeled himself, concentrating fully on the dormant power within his body.

He began to glow, slowly at first as he readjusted to the feeling, then more quickly, gaining momentum as he adjusted to the strange, yet still familiar, sensation. Zrion began to concentrate the eco then, directing it down his arms and to his hands, which he cupped in front of him, forming a hollow between his palms.

Topaz One was a heavily armored vehicle - nearly equivalent to a tank. On top of that, the Metal Head itself was also very tough. If Genesis had managed to resist a direct hit from Zrion's eco, then the heavily armored replica would certainly not be troubled. Therefore, Zrion had to give it his all this time, and utterly annihilate the creature.

The yellow eco began to build up between his palms, compressed and concentrated in levels he had seldom ever used. He continued for several seconds, the energy crackling as the buildup became too much to be reliably contained. Just when Zrion couldn't hold it anymore, Genesis finally threw his copy into the transport with a clang.

With a loud roar, Zrion lurched forward, thrusting his arms in front of him. Immediately, a massive torrent of yellow eco erupted from his palms, the intense heat causing sweat to drip from his brow. The blast of energy was right on target, aimed directly at Topaz One, at the artificial Metal Head just getting to its feet inside.

The blast impacted the Metal Head less than a second after Zrion had launched it, immediately enveloping it in the intense heat and energy. However, it did not stop there, and in fact it went through the other side of Topaz One, melting the armor and propelling molten metal out the other end, the rest of the steam of yellow eco disappearing in the distance.

However, Zrion must have hit the fuel tank, because seconds later, a second explosion erupted from the vehicle, triggering a chain reaction as the secondary fuel tank caught fire as well. Topaz One was quickly enveloped in a fiery explosion, utterly destroying the vehicle and sending shrapnel flying in all directions.

Zrion was very close to Topaz One when it exploded, and his attack was ended rather abruptly as the metal shards impacted his armor. The black ceramic plating cracked and buckled under the strain, stopping most, but not all, of the projectiles. He yelled in pain, several pieces of shrapnel tearing into his chest and abdomen. He remained standing, for just a moment, before he collapsed, bleeding heavily through several fresh wounds in his chest.

"Dammit! Thompson, do something!" Mendoza yelled. Thompson moved quickly, kneeling down next to Zrion and pulling off the front of his armor, revealing the new jagged tears in his chest. "Damn, it looks bad..." he muttered.

Zrion was still conscious, but only barely, and gritting his teeth in an effort to avoid crying out. Thompson gave him a shot of morphine, the last in his satchel, and got to work, using tweezers to try and remove the bits of metal. This was a process that took several minutes, but even after removing the bits of metal, the medic realized that there was far too much trauma to contend with through conventional means.

Noticing the medic's pause, Zrion spoke up. "So...How's it look?" he ground out, still in pain.

"Commander, it looks bad. I need green eco, but I don't have any left, I used the last of it to stabilize one of the wounded regulars during the fight," Thompson said grimly. "I'll do what I can, but..." he trailed off.

Zrion sighed. "Just do the best you can, I won't hold it against you. You did good today, you saved everyone you could. I just happened to be last in line."

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Thompson said, though his heart wasn't in it. He continued working, sterilizing the wound and putting pressure on, trying to stem the bleeding, but he could tell he wasn't doing much more than buying time for his Commander. However, he certainly wasn't about to give up, so he grimly kept at it, hoping for the best regardless.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis was panting, near exhaustion and on the verge of unconsciousness until he head movement with in the fires of Topaz One. Mecha-Genesis emerged with all of it's armor torn completely from it's frame and was approaching Genesis. The teeth whirring like a chainsaw, but had an orange glow to them.

"That son of a bitch is still running?" Genesis groaned aloud. "I guess playtime isn't over just yet."

Genesis to a ready stance, noticing a glint of metal stuck in his armor.

   That glint was the tail blade for this synthetic Metal Head. They both let out roars, but neither ran. In the blink of an eye, Genesis was over at the mecha's position, beating it down with his own fists. With each hit came a burst of purple lightning that shot out in all directions. Genesis continued to hit, sending nuts and bolts flying up, pieces of metal, and finally, ripping the head off of its body.

"Sweet dreams, dear prince." Genesis spoke, dropping the head as it shut off and falling to the ground himself.

   Reverting back to his normal state, Genesis drifted off into his own slumber.

[Darkjak87]

Thanks to the morphine, Zrion lost consciousness shortly after Mecha-Genesis had been destroyed, Thompson continuing to work on his wounds without pause. After a few more minutes, Thompson finally backed away from the commander, his wounds sterilized and heavily bandaged. Mendoza walked up, standing next to the medic. "How's he doing?" He asked quietly.

"Better," Thompson replied. "The shrapnel didn't hit anything vital, so it was mostly blood loss. He's stable, now, but he needs proper medical care soon."

"He's not the only one," Mendoza remarked.

"How is everyone else doing?" Thompson asked, suddenly remembering that Zrion wasn't the only one injured.

"We lost another man a while back, his wounds were too severe. A Metal Head blaster got him right in a lung. It wasn't pretty."

"Yeah," Thompson recalled. "A hit to the lung...Not much you can do for that in the field. You'd need life support and a prosthetic to survive that. Anyone else?"

The grenadier shook his head. "No, everyone else seems to be stable. Knight sent word to High Command, they're sending evac ships and another platoon to relieve us. With Topaz One destroyed, Zrion down, and so many others wounded and killed, we're calling off the mission."

"It'd be the first time," Thompson commented bitterly.

"Yeah, but it wasn't really our fault," Mendoza assured him. "The cargo went crazy and attacked us, and that was after we fought off a massive attack at 13:1 odds."

"That's not exactly the full story," Thompson remarked.

Mendoza shrugged. "It is as far as they know," he said slyly.

Thompson frowned. "What about everyone else?"

"What about them?" Mendoza asked innocently. "Are you suggesting that half a platoon of traumatized and wounded soldiers are going to be giving an accurate report?"

"What about Swain and Knight? They'll have to give reports too," Thompson pointed out.

"They're Special Operations. We look out for our own. You know that," Mendoza said, his tone hard. Thompson grimaced, an unbidden memory rising to the surface of his thoughts.

"Yeah, we do don't we?" Thompson said, almost regretfully. "Well, looks like everything is taken care of, for the moment."

Mendoza nodded in agreement. "Is he gonna make it?" he asked quietly.

"I think so," the medic replied cautiously. "As long as he gets proper care soon, he should pull through."

Mendoza nodded in relief. "Good. Stay here, keep an eye on him, I'm going to check on Braeburn."

The medic nodded, and the grenadier walked away, leaving him alone with the unconscious soldier.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis could feel something. Something... He quickly got up and looked around in a frenzy. He wasn't in the camp, which meant he was still unconscious. Odd... As tough as he was, why was it this power knocked him out cold? Something just had to be off.. but there was a bigger question at stake.

"Just where am I?" Genesis was looking around, questioning his strange, cloud-like surroundings.

"In a place you'll never reach while awake."

"Who's there?" Genesis' eyes searched for a source of the voice.

"You know what I am, it's just been a while since you've had a taste of me."

Genesis was still looking for the source. His search was cut short however, he was snapped awake. His head rose from the sand to observe his new surroundings. A transport on fire, more transports parked around it, a knocked out Zrion, and the heap of metal that was Mecha-Genesis. Something still seemed off though, but just what exactly was off about this?

---

    Two weeks later, Genesis found himself being apart of the target practice with a small groups of KG. The attacking Metal Head force wasn't nearly as big as the he amassed for a distraction. He noticed this force heading for the Strip Mine and got curious about it, starting to follow them. Now he ended up at the top of a cliff overlooking the KG force, but the Metal Forces could shoot at him. If it's one thing Genesis noticed about this attack force, they were trained into using cover now. It was making things difficult for the KG below, and Genesis didn't want to risk getting shot again.

[Darkjak87]

The strip mine may not have been specifically designed for defense, but the steep hills and the wide trenches dug out by the mining equipment ensured that whoever held the high ground had a huge advantage.

The two score KG soldiers that had been on duty there had acted quickly, taking up positions on the various hills to hold off the attacking Metal Heads while the civilian workers had been evacuated to the control room, where they would remain under guard by a token force of soldiers.

Lieutenant Michael Johnson, a heavily scarred veteran of the Wasteland War, commanded his small platoon with grim determination. As soon as he had received word of the attack, he knew that his token defensive forces would eventually be overwhelmed. While Krimzon Guard troopers had a technological and qualitative edge over their hostile neighbors, even they could only hold out against so much.

The Lieutenant organized defense as quickly as he could, given the speed of the attack. He had placed a small fireteam at the top of each of the hills, forming a network of firing posts between the Metal Heads and the control room, where the civilian workers were now taking shelter. They had little cover, as they had prepared no defense, but the Guards made the most of it by laying on their stomachs to fire. Combined with their height advantage, it made them very difficult targets for the Metal Heads that were currently rampaging through the trenches below.

"Fire Team Charlie! Put down that Grunt charge! Echo Team isn't gonna make it!" Johnson barked into his radio. The four men of Charlie Team, inexperienced but disciplined as could be, obeyed, shifting their aim toward the dozen Grunts that had broken rank to charge up the hill toward Echo Team.

The combined fire brought down the Grunts in short order, and Echo Team's leader gave them a grateful wave. With the most recent charge put down, they shifted fire once again back to the main body of Metal Heads.

However, it wasn't a shooting gallery as Lieutenant Johnson had anticipated. Something was off about this - the Metal Heads weren't using their typical tactics. While the Grunts served as the backbone of suicidal offensive charges, as usual, the rest of the Metal Heads, especially the rifle-grunts and the shield-bearers, were actually fighting somewhat efficiently. Although there was limited cover down below the Guards, the shield-bearing Metal Heads were advancing first, providing cover for the rifle-grunts behind them.

It was making things more difficult for the Guards to land any shots on anything other than the Grunts, which they could kill all day without actually winning the battle. On the other hand, the superior positions of the Guards made it difficult for the Metal Heads to make any headway. The battle had ground down into a nasty fight of attrition, with neither side willing to commit to a general attack, for fear of casualties.

This turn of events concerned the Lieutenant. Never in his career had he encountered Metal Heads that were capable of using tactics such as this. He wasn't sure what had changed, but while they did seem more coordinated, they didn't seem to be any more innovative than they had always been. If he had to guess, it'd be that there was some kind of commander-type Metal Head skulking around somewhere, smarter than its peers and coordinating the battle.

"Sir!" a private shouted from nearby, getting his attention. "I just caught a glimpse of that Metal Head! The big one."

"Did you shoot it?" Johnson asked hopefully.

"Negative. It's fast, it almost seemed to anticipate my shots. It was gone before they even got there."

"Dammit," he cursed. He was now all but certain that the new Metal Head was responsible for their improved tactics. "Keep at it. If any of you see it, kill it!"

"Yes sir!" the Guardsmen chorused in response.

Johnson then turned his attention back to the battle, raising his own blaster to his shoulder and firing on another wave of Grunts attempting to charge their position.

Those reinforcements better hurry the hell up, he thought grimly.

[Wolfie]

  Genesis poked his head out once more, and the Metal Heads were the first to open fire on him, again.

"If I didn't know better, I'd have to say those Heads are a little hot at me."

   Genesis wasn't interested in catching one of those bullets with his head, but he also didn't want to be stuck at the top of this cliff. Taking a running leap off the edge and quickly shoving his tail into the rock behind him. The weight of his body swung him towards the rock and he quickly scrambled away with his claws dug into the hard surface. Through out the hole process, he barely managed to dodge the incoming Metal Head fire. Sure, they weren't they best at shooting, but they were some close encounters.

[Darkjak87]

Just under a quarter of a mile away from the skirmish, the ancient precursor warp gate flared briefly, and a black-armored Krimzon Guard soldier spilled out, landing on his hands and knees in a crouch. Pistol already in hand, he scanned the area with his one functioning eye. A few angry cries alerted him to nearby enemies, and the commando immediately snapped his gaze toward the source. Half a dozen Grunts had been left here to harass any KG reinforcements, probably in hopes of ambushing them while they were disoriented by the warp gate.

However, Zrion had recovered quickly, as scarcely a second later, a heavy pistol round tore through the nearest Metal Head's face, extinguishing it's life in an instant. As soon as he brought the pistol back down from the recoil, he fired again, a second Grunt meeting the same fate. However, by then, the remaining four roared and charged toward him, baring their teeth.

The Metal Heads were only a few yards away, so Zrion had no time to aim and fire again. He waited for the right moment, then rolled to the side, just in time to avoid the Grunts as one of them lunged at where he had just been standing. Coming up in a kneel, Zrion aimed and fired twice more, putting two rounds into the Grunt's side, causing it to yelp in pain and collapse to the ground.

The remaining three roared in rage and faced him again. This time, they had no distance to cover, so they simply leaped toward him, gnashing their teeth as they went for his exposed neck.

With a subtle 'shing', Zrion drew his Special Operations dagger, and immediately whipped it from left to right in a vicious slash, slitting a Grunt's throat mid-leap. It fell to the ground with a dying gurgle, struggling to breathe through it's freshly severed trachea. He then allowed himself to fall backward, the remaining two Grunts soaring less than an inch overhead. Reacting quickly, Zrion raised his dagger as they passed overhead, allowing one to draw a long gash across it's own belly with the tip of the blade. The beast cried in pain, and blue-black blood splattered across the front of Zrion's armor, much to his dismay. The two Grunts collided with each other behind him, collapsing in a tangled heap. A moment later, Zrion completed his own descent, landing squarely on his back. His armor protected his spine well enough to prevent any cracked vertebrae, but he suspected that he had just given himself a nasty bruise nonetheless.

Climbing back to his feet, Zrion spun around and faced the two Metal Heads. The one on the left staggered to it's feet, intestines spilling out through the deep wound inflicted by Zrion's dagger. Raising his pistol, Zrion finished it off with two quick shots. The final Metal Head, now recovered, charged Zrion again, desperately attempting to finish the soldier off before it could meet the same fate as it's kin. Taking aim, Zrion pulled the trigger again, but rather than the expected bang, the pistol locked up, an empty bullet casing lodged sideways in the firing chamber.

Alarmed, Zrion had no time to react as the Grunt fell on top of him, knocking him flat onto his back for the second time.

Yep...Definitely gonna bruise, he thought idly.

The Grunt gave a triumphant roar and went for his neck, gnashing it's teeth in an effort to tear his throat out. With little choice, Zrion dropped his pistol and dagger, grabbing the Grunt's head by either side and halting the attack. Zrion grunted with the effort, as the Metal Head was extremely strong. The beast roared again, drool dripping onto Zrion's chestplate as it attempted to fight against the commando's grip.

Taking a chance, Zrion removed his right hand from the Metal Head, then slammed his armored fist into the side of the Grunt's head, dazing the beast. With another strained grunt, Zrion hurled the Metal Head off of him, sending it rolling in the dirt. Sitting up, Zrion fumbled around for a weapon, and his fingers came across the blade of his dagger. He quickly seized it by the hilt, and climbed back to his feet just as the Metal Head began to recover.

With a loud cry, Zrion closed the distance with his own charge, delivering a powerful sideways kick to the Grunt's side, sending it back down on it's belly. Before it could get back up, Zrion switched his dagger to his right hand, and pressed down on the Metal Head's back with his left, pushing it down into the dirt. The beast began to struggle against Zrion's hold, but it was too little too late. He raised the dagger high overhead, the black rose inscribed on the blade briefly glinting in the sunlight, and plunged it deep into the Metal Head's neck.

He forced the knife in further, ignoring the Metal Head's agonized shrieks as he twisted it back and forth. After a few seconds, Zrion heard the expected crack as the Metal Head's spine was severed, it's frenzied struggles coming to an abrupt end as it's body went numb. He then removed the dagger from the beast, ready to deliver the coup de grâce. Raising the dagger overhead, red eco flared into existence along his arm, strengthening the blow as he brought the blade down in a single, brutal strike. A split second later, the Grunt's severed head was slowly rolling away from it's body, blood spilling from it's neck and soaking into the stained soil.

Zrion panted in exertion, allowing himself a few seconds to catch his breath before wiping his dagger on the recently-slain Metal Head. He slid the weapon back into his sheath, before going to collect his pistol. He cleared the weapon with a practiced hand, before sliding in a fresh magazine and reholstering it. A quick look around told him that there were no more Metal Heads in the vicinity, but the sound of distant gunfire alerted him to the other Guards' plight.

His job done, activated his radio. "Zrion to Angel Team."

"This is Angel Team, go ahead," Mendoza acknowledged.

"Hostiles eliminated around the entry point. Bring it through."

Without another word, the warp gate flared a second time, Mendoza tumbling through, but ending his momentum with a graceful roll. A third flare, and Braeburn toppled out, landing on his hands and knees as Zrion had done. Finally, Thompson emerged, although significantly less graceful than the other three, landing in a sprawled heap on the ground.

The other men chuckled, Braeburn helping the grumbling medic to his feet.

"Looks like you had a welcoming committee, Commander," Mendoza observed, looking around at the aftermath of the brief, yet brutal skirmish.

"Got a little too close too, from the look of things," Thompson commented, glancing at Zrion's armor.

Zrion looked down at himself with a frown. Blue-black Metal Head blood was splattered all over the front of his armor, already drying and congealing between the ceramic plates. "Yeah...That's going to be a pain in the ass to clean off," Zrion muttered. The other men nodded in sympathy, each of them having been in similar situations.

"Orders, sir?" Braeburn asked. The squad immediately turned serious, looking to their commander.

"Alright, about eighty-five minutes ago, we received word of a Metal Head attack on the Strip Mine. Company sized, maybe a couple hundred total. There were around fifty civilians here to maintain the mining equipment, and a garrison of twenty Guards to protect them. Last I heard, the civvies were holed up in the control room, and the rest of the Guards are dug in to defend them.

"Our orders are to assist the local garrison and exterminate any Metal Heads on the island. If we need it, the rest of the Fourth Echelon is standing by, but High Command would prefer if we didn't need them, since they don't like committing all their resources to one fight. So it's a regular SNAFU, but that's typical. Any questions?"

There were none, and Zrion gave a satisfied nod. After checking his black officer's beret to ensure it was still on properly, Zrion reached over his shoulder and drew his AK-47 assault rifle, flipping the safety off.

"Alright, I'll take point! Braeburn, watch our asses! Mendoza, frag any groups we run into! Double-time it, Angel Team!" Zrion barked.

His orders given, Zrion set off in a brisk jog toward the gunfire, his squad matching his pace in a single column behind him.

[Wolfie]

   Genesis finally made it to the ground, keeping himself low as he scurried and weaved through the hills around the mine. He wasn't really looking for a fight, but he was curious as to what was going on. They do say curiosity killed the cat, and Genesis was one curious cat at this moment. Genesis eventually ended up working his way to a precursor warp gate, spying bodies of some fallen Metal Heads and a familiar black color of armor. He knew only one of the group members, who just so happened to be the leader too.

"Zrion?" Genesis asked himself in a low whisper that only he could hear.

[Darkjak87]

The small squad of commandos did not encounter any further resistance, the six Grunts at the warp gate apparently having been the only rearguard the Metal Heads had seen fit to leave behind. However, that was not surprising in itself, given that Metal Heads were usually tactically ignorant, with the exception of the commander-type elite Metal Heads, which were somewhat smarter. It was this sole weakness that allowed the KG to fight them on anything resembling equal terms, given their sheer numbers.

After several minutes, the squad rounded a bend in the trench, and were finally met with the scene of battle. More than a hundred Metal Heads were in front of them, standing between them and the dozen or so Guards that were still alive at the far end of the trench. Piles of bodies, mostly Grunts, littered the path between Angel Team and the Metal Heads' rear ranks, left where they had fallen.

Zrion's keen eye took note of the fact that many of the Grunts lay dead at the bottom of the hills, rather than in the center of the trench, where most of the rest were located. He surmised that the Guards had originally held those positions as well, but had been overrun. They had been pushed back to where they were now, and that meant they were losing.

He hoisted his rifle, raising it to his shoulder. He was determined to fix that. He fired a quick burst from his AK-47, the FMJ slugs tearing through two of the Grunts at the rear of the group. His squad took that as their cue, adding their own firepower to the barrage. Braeburn and Thompson opened fire with their own AK-47s, firing in short, disciplined bursts like Zrion. Mendoza, however, in keeping with his assignment, instead aimed his rifle over the heads of the Metal Heads. The reason why was revealed a moment later, as the grenadier pulled a second trigger underneath his rifle, loosing a grenade with a low 'thunk'. A few seconds later, a sizable explosion tore into the Metal Heads, killing several and scattering many others.

Mendoza slipped a new grenade into his launcher, then began firing like the other men, choosing to conserve his grenades for later. Needless to say, the squad quickly gained the Metal Heads' attention, and several dozen of them broke off their attack to instead focus on the new threat.

Zrion wasn't delusional - even he and his men couldn't defeat that many Metal Heads in a straight fight. They'd have to get creative.

"Alright, listen up!" He called out over the sounds of gunfire. "When they charge, split up! Braeburn and Thompson, go left, get up on that hill and pin them down! Mendoza, with me, we're going right!"

His squad acknowledged his orders, and continued laying down the pressure, bringing down a good dozen Metal Heads between them, drawing the attention of even more. Soon, there would be scores of the beasts attempting to charge them.

When the Metal Heads faced them, they let out a simultaneous roar and surged toward the commandos that were steadily making a dent in their numbers. By now, the squad had drawn the attention of at least half the remaining Metal Heads, as even they were smart enough to realize that the squad was the most dangerous threat to them.

"Fifty meters! Then split!" Zrion called out. That would give them enough time to inflict more damage, and still evade the Metal Heads.

The squad continued to fire at the approaching horde, never ceasing except to reload or call out targets of opportunity for their comrades. Eventually, the first Grunt crossed the fifty meter mark, and without another word, the squad split as Zrion had ordered.

In perfect synchronization, the squad divided, Zrion going right with Mendoza while the other two went left. Quickly sliding his assault rifle back into it's holster across his back, Zrion threw himself at the steep face of the nearby hill, digging his fingers into the soft earth as he began to climb. Years of physical conditioning had prepared him for such things, so only an occasional grunt indicated any strain from what he was doing.

Less than a minute later, Zrion hoisted himself up onto the flat top of the cliff, turning around to pull Mendoza the rest of the way up. Glancing across the trench, the noted that Thompson and Braeburn had also accomplished their objective, one the men flashing him a thumbs up.

Nodding to himself, Zrion glanced around, and his stomach churned at the sight. Four KG soldiers lay dead here, the ground beneath them stained red with blood. Deep gashes had been rent in their armor by Metal Head claws, blood leaking through from the wounds underneath. One man was farther from the rest, turned in the opposite direction. He had most likely attempted to flee when his comrades had fallen, but it had not saved him.

If Zrion hadn't long-since grown used to such things, he might've vomited. As it was, he simply wrinkled his nose in disgust. However, he had no time to dwell on such matters, so he quickly turned back toward the trench, drawing his rifle and kneeling down, taking aim at the horde below them.

The Metal Heads had nearly caught up during their climb, and were now attempting to scale the cliffside as Zrion and Mendoza had done. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a handful were slipping around to the side, probably hoping to flank them.

"Mendoza!" He barked. "Take care of those flankers! Come lend a hand once they're gone!" Mendoza nodded crisply, and moved to the other side of the hill. Gunfire erupted a moment later, punctuated by surprised yelps from the Metal Heads below. Satisfied, Zrion turned his own attention to the Metal Heads that were attempting to scale the cliffside.

Easy pickings he thought with a small, slightly morbid smile. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and began firing single shots at the closest Metal Heads, killing some, wounding others, but each one he shot was dislodged from the cliff. On across from him, the other two operatives were doing much the same, although the Metal Heads hadn't attempted to flank them, allowing them to focus their efforts.

However, numerous as they were, even with the height advantage the commandos wouldn't be able to kill all the Metal Heads like this. Fortunately, Zrion had planned for that. The Fourth Echelon was unconventional among the KG - they did not adhere to a single doctrine. They did not rely on firepower, like the First Echelon, or stealth, like the Second. Instead, they adapted, coming up with plans as needed and changing tactics on a whim, keeping their enemies off balance and confused.

Since the regulars were doing a fair job defending the control room, Zrion planned to use their mobility to his advantage, rather than digging in to hold the line. If the Metal Heads would get too close, he would order a retreat to a different position, using Mendoza's grenade launcher to cover the move, the other fireteam mirroring the action. Seconds or minutes later, the men would be in place somewhere else, and the Metal Heads would be back at square one, sans a few dozen of their number.

They would grind the Metal Heads down gradually, effectively a reversal of the Metal Heads' own tactics, but through different means. Most people would think that one squad was a funeral detail, not a relief force. However, the four men were quickly proving that the real reason for this seemingly token force was that it was all that was needed.