The Spyro Chronicles Ch. 10

Chapter 10: Through Another’s Eyes
Dragon Realms, Uncharted System
March 3, 2204
1255 Hours
Lakador HQ, 12 Miles East of the UERNF Achilles’ Crash Site

The brisk sunlight hit the hull of the Lakador ship, causing its purple blue hull to light up. A few Lakador fighters patrolled the airspace while another military convoy went out to capture the Human crash site.

A Lakador in silver armor stood atop a rock, his magnifying equipment honed in onto the convoy as it moved out. The Lakador’s bright silver armor reflected the sunlight and his purple scales gave off a little reflection as well.

The Lakador frowned at the convoy. They were looking to secure human weapons and possibly human prisoners. There wouldn’t be any at the crash site and if there were any, they’d have a military unit there protecting it. The humans obviously would want equipment from their downed ship, but the Lakador convoy bound there was ill equipped to fight if the humans brought airpower and heavy armor which he knew they had and were willing to use.

However, the Lakador leadership was more concerned on finding the human HQ then reinforcing the convoys headed for their downed cruiser. He often questioned the logistics of his leaders… after all; this was an almost pointless war.

Apparently Humanity and Lakadors had made contact sometime in the past several years ago and it wasn’t as friendly as this one. However, that time was several thousand to millions of years ago. There was no telling what happened that time around. However, this time, the Lakador leadership wanted to make sure no human was allowed to raise a finger against them.

Even when the Human ship that they made contact tried to resolve things peacefully they opened fire, destroying it. Obviously they’d attack back in force. Hell, the Lakador leadership was very surprised at the human response, which was very overwhelming. Finally they tracked them back to a Human base world, which they referred to as Sirus 12.

A follow up attack on a small vessel in system revealed a few more worlds to them, which they assaulted as well. This drew their attention away from Sirus and the Humans abandoned it to focus efforts on the other worlds. The reasons are obvious, the worlds had more resources.

To him, this war was nothing more then a horrible act of genocide masked as a preventive war. Sure, they took prisoners and transported masses of human civilians to work camps and what not, but many times they just shot first and asked questions later.

What surprised him though, was that some humans were taken to a sort of camp. It wasn’t a slave camp, or even a concentration camp, it was… well hell he wasn’t sure himself. There were rumors circulating around that these humans being taken there- no more then 6 years of age- were being trained to be integrated into their society and even trained to act as spies and combatants to work against the Human military. The thought of it made his stomach churn but there wasn’t much he could do about it. At least it was better then watching hundreds of them being rounded up and gunned down in cold blood.

This Lakador had seen his fair share of this during his role on Sirus. His group was attacking the major civilian area referred to as ‘Cape Downing’ by the humans. They took it, and killed almost everyone there. He had objected to the act, but his superiors dismissed him and almost tried him for treason as a result of it. They expected him to be a cold blooded killer, but he killed in defense of his people, not to just rid the world of a ‘pest’ that so plagued his leaders.

They were obviously waging this war for more reasons then they were telling, and there was much unrest in the Lakador community about this. However, those who spoke out were usually killed on the spot, jailed or just ignored. It was a horrible thing but was something he lived with everyday. He hated it, but sometimes it was necessary.

The one thing that he wondered though was why they wanted to rid the universe of humanity anyway? They weren’t out to destroy them, they were peaceful space faring creatures as far as he was concerned, however their weapons were powerful and frightened many Lakadors. One good example was their Nuclear Weapon. It could decimate anything within 20 miles and its radiation could kill or severally injure anything within 30 miles. It was a horrible thing to fight against. Maybe that’s the fear his leadership had- that they’d use their weapons of mass destruction and wipe them out. They did have enough firepower to do it, they just needed a motive.

Well he just had to accept it; they were dangerous in a way. Maybe they were better off without humanity being around. Either way, he had to go with his leaders, lest he be shot on the spot.

However, the other question on his mind was the cold acts committed against the local creatures of this planet. The Lakadors had always been interested in locating new species and cataloging them, researching them, and if possible, converse with them. However, from what he had seen last night, Lakador patrols had attacked villages of sentient beings and didn’t discriminate between Human military units and peaceful tribes of creatures.

Sure, some of them had sided with the Humans, but only because the Lakadors had pulled the trigger first. This was by no means an act justified by the war, it was just flat out cold blood. There was more to this war then he knew, but it was just too dangerous to ask.

“Yahade’, sightseeing now is it?” A new Lakador walked up behind the Lakador as he searched his thoughts.

“Just watching the convoy head out…” He replied.

“Bah… humans… they’re probably going to destroy that convoy… but Huvunes won’t hear it.”

“He’s too concerned with his outlook then he is about his forces…” Yahade’ said as he watched the convoy disappear into the distance.

“Well at least some humans will die… that’s all I care about… those filth… I can’t believe we hadn’t launched this war years ago. What do you think Yahade’?”

“Whether we wage it now or then, it’s happening now Sondohwa.” Yahade’ as he turned to face the young Lakador. The Lakador gave a low huff.

“Well the sooner the better… when’re we moving out?”

“I am not sure, they aren’t telling me much. Human forces are massing in the forests several miles to the west and they seem to be regrouping. Where, we don’t know.”

“Well all this down time is killing me… I want to just get this over with…” The Lakador snarled as he flexed his claws.

“Calm yourself… patience is a warrior’s greatest virtue… the battle will come… in time.”

“Whatever.” He simply replied, turning to leave. He walked down a small rocky footpath that lead to their campsite. Being up atop a small mesa, the small rocky footpath was the only way up and down. That was the way he liked it. As commander of this particular unit, he had to keep watch of his unit and who came and went from his command tent.

As he sat and looked at the tents below, he saw another figure climbing up his mesa to his command tent. The way his armor was configured, he was a commander of higher stature then he. More then likely it was his superior Orantaus. Yahade’ stood up and bowed as the superior officer walked up the mesa.

“Greetings Yahade’ enjoying the view are we?” He asked as he returned the respective bow.

“Just about.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the human movement to the west.”

“Yes, I have.”

“Well it seems that the other human ship that survived our assault has put down several miles down to the west and is moving from place to place, so it’s hard to get an accurate positioning on it. Our own ship is temporarily out of commission and we are tracking a number of human units moving to a particular location.” The officer said as he set a foot atop a small rock and looked out to the convoy which was a speck by now.

“Where would that be?” Yahade’ inquired.

“Well our forward recon units encountered a number of humans moving with new species down to a valley to the far west. These human units were concentrated and well organized, which points towards high levels of leadership being present. Our recon team was destroyed but survivors speak of them moving down an underground foot path. We’ve tracked the footpath to a major civilian settlement to the east of that area.”

“Are we going to attack it?”

“Not at this moment. However, we have a target which seems to hold a high strategic importance.”

“What would that be?” Orantaus pointed out to a volcano in the far distance. It spewed a bit of lava into the sky but was otherwise pretty calm. If it weren’t for the black clouds overhead and red lava spewing from it, he’d mistake it for a normal mountain.

“We’re detecting more then just volcanic and seismic activity from that mountain. There is an awful large amount of dark energy spewing from within that mountain. We’re going to find out just what is creating that large amount of dark energy. If we can harvest that source, the repairs to our ship will quickly speed up and we can use it for other applications…”

“Very well, when do you want us to set out?”

“In about a quarter. We’re still trying to sort out how we’re going to go about waging this battle, but rest assured, your unit will be departing shortly. See to your men.” With that the officer headed down the path and left Yahade’ to his thoughts as he looked out over to the volcano before setting off to address his men.


Meanwhile…
1633 Hours
Hills outside of Underground Passage Leading to Warfang.

“We could swim across…”

“Forget that… I’d rather walk.”

“On what? It’s all water!”

“Quit your yappin and get focused!”

Corporal Thomas Anderson sat in the grass that overlooked their objective. Their objective- the Achilles’ crash site. Since Warfang fell under attack and they were spearheading that massive assault on the volcano, Dyke wanted them to get as many munitions, tanks, supplies, food and whatever they could scrounge from the crash site. However, the crash site was across a massive body of water… about the size of a quarter mile to about a mile.

The crash site was on the opposite side of Warfang then their drop zone. When they talked to the ‘dragon guardians’ about this, they said there was an ancient underground passage that lead directly to where they wanted to go. Well they followed it and now had to figure out how to get passed this massive body of water.

As Anderson looked across he noted the other soldiers next to him. They weren’t Marines like everyone else, they were HACOs. The difference between an HACO and a regular Marine were simple. One didn’t go on dangerous missions and the other did.

HACOs were built to go on covert missions and were battle ready. Back on Sirus, Anderson’s group took out several Lakador targets, paving the way for Marine assaults.

Now their mission was to secure the crash site so members from the 113th Marine Division could move in and start moving equipment and other items from the site and to the UERAF base in Warfang.

The first challenge was, getting across the mile long river.

2 Hours later

Anderson sat on the ground, waiting for his squad leader to give the order. They had successfully crossed the river and were sitting a few dozen yards from a Lakador position that was sitting guard over the crash site.

They’d have to clear the area so the Marine regulars could storm the ship and get the supplies out. That sounded easy, but Anderson knew nothing was too easy.

As the squad leader got into position he moved his hands to indicate the use of silenced weapons. Anderson saw this, grabbed his M10 SMG and slipped a sound suppresser to the end of the barrel. He placed the butt of the weapon against his shoulder and awaited his commander’s orders. The soldier didn’t have to wait long, he soon heard the silent words slip his Sergeant’s mouth: “Top the bastards.”

A few coughs were audible as they fired their weapons and Lakadors fell to the ground, heavy .40 caliber ammo hitting them. Even with their armor, the fast moving slugs cracked the silver armor and passed right through.

Several Lakadors caught sight of this but didn’t know just where they were being attack from or just by what. Many Lakadors still hadn’t come to realize that the Marines could suppress their weapon’s flashes and sound. A few clips later and the guard post they were overlooking was silenced.

They moved silently, passing the guard post and making their way to a piece of shattered hull that lead into the Achilles. All they had to do was pave a way for the drop ships and Marines would storm the ship to allow engineers to remove anything important that could help bolster the defense of Warfang.

As they sat near the opening, a few more Lakadors came into view. If they took them out, then the landing zone would be secured.

With the Sergeant’s orders, more coughs were heard and Lakadors fell left and right, still unable to locate the source of the Human opposition.

After the landing zone was secure, they held position and a few Nighthawks flew in and deployed regular Marines which stormed the ship. An hour later, they had a convoy waiting to get back across the river. As they neared the banks, the Ice Guardian Cyril flew down with a flock of ice dragons behind him.

The idea proposed by Cyril was to freeze large amounts of water to create barges which they could load supplies on and then have them pulled back to the other side where they’d move them via the tunnel back to Warfang. Now it was just time for them to test whether that plan worked or not.

Anderson sat near the banks, waiting for the ice barge to be finished. After Cyril and a few other ice dragons finished, 4 tanks and 12 HACOs loaded that barge and Anderson followed suit. The ice was slippery, which wasn’t surprising. However, with a little effort, Anderson kept his footing and felt the ice lurch as 2 ice dragons grabbed a hold of it via ropes that they had gotten from the Achilles and tied to the ice. They pulled it and flapped their wings, creating propulsion.

After a few seconds, they were underway, as were a few other barges with tanks and Marines down the banks. Anderson shifted a bit and placed the M10 SMG over his shoulder, watching the supporting Nighthawks fly overhead with the dragons and other barges going in the river. The scene was calm and peaceful, the sun shining upon the fleet of ice barges with tanks and other vehicles on them.

The silence didn’t last forever.

“Contacts, 9 ‘o clock high!” One of the Marines called out on his barge. He looked up and surely enough, saw several Wyverns flying in the distance towards them.

Anderson’s HACO helmet had a HUD which drew small markers and labeled each new target which had appeared. Anderson raised his SMG and aimed it at them. He pulled down on the trigger and saw tracers fly from his and about a hundred other rifles as they flew up at the targets.

Two Nighthawks flew in the air, firing their machine guns and downing the Wyverns rather quickly. However more were on the way and soon targets were plastered all over Anderson’s HUD. He had never seen so many airborne contacts before, this was going to be a challenge.

He switched to his high powered semi-automatic M23A rifle and fired off single shots at the Wyverns. They were so far off though that his 2X scope didn’t aid his aim much but the combined firepower coming from every Marine and even some .50 caliber machine guns on the tanks brought them down quickly.

Finally, they reached the opposite end of the river and started the process of loading them into the tunnel. It wasn’t long before every Marine, tank, jeep, APC and other vehicles were inside the tunnel and moving back to Warfang. The mission was a complete success.

Meanwhile…
Dragon Realms, Uncharted System
March 3, 2204
1934 Hours
UER Assault Force, Marine Drop Zone

“Move, move, move!”

“Get moving Private!”

“Multiple contacts, along those rocks!”

“Get the .50 cal, right here!”

“C’mon, let’s move out!”

The Marine landing zone was in utter chaos. The Lakadors they had encountered fell quickly but more came, along with several more Orcs and Grublins. It was a three-pronged battle being waged and the Marines were still trying to leave the landing zone.

Nighthawks and Sparrowhawks flew overhead, pelting the ground in machine gun fire. Raptors and heavy Raven fighters screamed overhead, large bombs flying from their bays and detonating in masses of enemy troops.

Marines dashed behind cover and firefights erupted all along the plateau. Hand to hand combat, melee fights, and even sword versus bayonet fights were common place and the stalemate wasn’t broken until a Raptor flew overhead and detonated a scatter bomb over the masses of hostiles moving forward.

Finally the Marines dropped off troops and Nighthawks and Sparrowhawks dropped off numerous reinforcements and tanks rolled from their pads and jeeps sprang to life. Several Marine units pushed forward and the sky hummed with the sounds of jet engines.

“Go, move it soldiers!” A Sergeant bellowed as the Marines ran down a path. The sounds of M74D reports echoed through the area and tracers danced across the area as Grublins and Orcs hopped from their positions and engaged the Marines.

A Marine ran down the volcanic path with his buddies, firing his M74D from his hip. He finally came to a halt behind a fallen pillar and sprayed an Orc with gunfire before it roared and toppled over.

“Good work Marine!” One of the other soldiers said. The soldier glared at him and looked at the Orc.

“I’m not a Marine…” He said silently before dropping his magazine and looking forward. It was true, he wasn’t a Marine. He was a United Earth Republic Army Infantrymen. It was an entirely different branch of the armed forces. Regardless, he fought alongside them.

At Sirus, his Platoon had been whipped out while helping to defend the civilians with Delta Company. Delta led them to the Achilles where they came here. Due to the loss of his unit, he had been folded along with his other Army comrades into Delta Company.

“Hey, Lorain, how you holding up?” Lorain looked to his side to see his friend Webster walk up. The soldier held onto an M78C Carbine and scanned the area for more hostiles as the unit started to move forward again. Lorain sighed.

“Just fine Web, c’mon, we’ve got to get moving.” With that the two soldiers ran with the other Army Ground Infantrymen and Marines moving forward. The lava scorched lands spewed molten earth upon the Marines as they pushed down a hardened footpath that was suspended over the lava.

Lorain trudged behind them, replacing his iron sightings that were affixed to his weapon with a laser reflex sighting. He flipped a switched and confirmed the device worked, aligning it to his desired targets… once they appeared.

As he kept going, he noted the dragons and Nighthawks flying overhead, spraying the hostiles below with gunfire and a variety of elemental attacks. The Nighthawks above bored a different design then the ones he was used to. These Nighthawks were the ‘D’ Class. They had a troop bay like the ‘C’, which to this point had been the more commonly used version, but unlike the C, its troop bay opening was not in the back, but on the right and left sides. It was like a traditional helicopter troop bay design with an extended portion that ran in the back. It also had a tail that was much more bulky and had two rudders in the rear, like the C. This version was a replacement that had been dispatched at Sirus but was now just making battlefield appearances.

With the Nighthawks, Raptors and Ravens screeched above, bombs falling from them and exploding off in the distance somewhere. Missiles streaked from missile pods and flew overhead, leaving ominous smoke trails and their engine lights mixed with the glow from the lava that was just below in the rivers of molten sludge.

The path they were crossing was essentially a bridge that crossed an open river of molten lava. Rocks tumbled from their roosts and fell into the molten slag, creating huge plumes of smoke as they did so.

Lorain coughed as a few fumes came to his nostrils and he covered his mouth with his arm and continued behind the Marines of Delta Company. Across from them he saw another bridge like theirs but on it there was a group of tanks rolling across with Marines from Epsilon and Theta.

As they reached the opposite end they had to cross what seemed like a maze of collapsed and burning hulks of what used to be a forest of some sort. Rocks came out of the ground, creating an insane obstacle course.

“Damn it, this place sucks!” One of the Marines declared and did a roll over one of them. A few Army GIs to Lorain’s left tried to do the same and one almost ripped his uniform on a jagged rock jutting out from the ground. As they tried to cross the insane obstacle course, they spotted several Lakadors making a run for an area across from them in similarly designed rock patterns. One of them screeched and pointed at the Humans.

“Contacts!” An Army GI said as he almost fumbled with his rifle and did a roll to get behind one of the rocks as dark energy flew at them. A pair of Marines caught the black orbs and fell over backwards as the energy discharged across their armor and burned through it.

Lorain did a similar roll and slapped his back against a series of jagged rocks. He kept his head low as he heard the whizzing sound of projectiles passing overhead. He raised his rifle up, while keeping his head in cover and sprayed a burst of gunfire over his cover in a desperate attempt to get gunfire on them without getting hit.

After his gun ceased fire he retracted it, placed another clip in it just before raising himself up and slapping the butt of the weapon against his shoulder. He aimed using the laser reflex sights and fired off another burst, watching the plumes erupt from the rocks across from them as his bullets hit the area. Lakadors screeched and returned fire, a few succumbing to the gunfire coming from the Marines.

A few grenades tossed by the Lakadors detonated in the mass of Marines, lightning and other elements being discharge from them and Marines toppled, screaming as the energy coursed through them. Lorain had to jump from his position to avoid a grenade, narrowly avoiding a dismal fate. As he landed, his friend Webster grabbed him and dragged him to a safer spot where both the GIs reloaded their weapons.

To retaliate the Lakador use of grenades, the Marines answered with their own grenades, which were seen flying through the air and landed near Lakador positions. The grenades exploded, lethal shrapnel from the grenades shredding the Lakadors and getting loud screeches of pain and horror.

The last Lakadors got up and retreated from their positions. A few Marines fired short semi-automatic bursts from their rifles to help finish off what Lakadors they could.

More Raptors and Dragons flew overhead, attacks and missiles raining down upon the enemy forces.

Lorain looked up and saw the volcano, less then a mile from them, spewing ash and volcanic matter into the air. They were close. It was now or never, all the Marines had to do was stop this ‘Fang’ and the war could end here.

A scream broke Lorain from his thoughts and he looked over and saw a large black creature adorned in a black armor standing, a sword plowed right through a Marine that it held by the neck. A few more dashed up and deployed shields. Their right arms carried swords and a few had what looked like a cannon for an arm.

The Marines opened fire immediately, bullets pinging off of the creatures bit to little effect. Finally after a good 20 found burst a creature buckled and then fell to its knees before exploding in a haze of dark energy.

The others roared out and one fired its cannon-like arm. A huge sphere of dark energy flew at a pain of Marines and sent them skyward as the energy detonated. A few Marines took cover and these new creatures roared in approval. A black dragon with silver armor flew overhead, grabbing onto an ice dragon that flew overhead. The black dragon bit the neck of the ice dragon and sent it into the lava. It blew a black flame into the sky before flying down and landing nearby.

Lorain immediately fired his rifle at it, as did the other Marines who weren’t already preoccupied with the other creatures.

“Fools! You shall all perish! My Master has ordered it… so it shall happen!” Lorain saw him charge up a beam of energy and he fired it directly at his position. He felt himself being lifted into the air and he screamed aloud as he was sent airborne and skidded to a halt. His vision was blurry, as was the audio that filtered in through his ears. He tried to make a grab for his rifle but time seemed slow to him. He saw Webster, clutching a wound on his arm, grab a hold of him and try to drag him to safety once more. The dragon flew nearby and laughed some sort of insult.

Lorain blacked out.

End of Chapter 10