Chapter 17: Reinforcements Arrive

"Any idea when the Marshalls will arrive?" asked the captain of the corporate-hired battlestar-class spaceship, just as the Marshal's fleet dropped out of lightspeed.

"This is the UCG Lonestar! I, the High Marshal Givens of the Weststar Sector, am ordering all corporate forces to cease their activities on Vega VI..." the High Marshal ordered sternly. "... Or face the consequences!"

"F**k that paper pusher!..." Cursing under his breath, the Captain addressed the officer before ordering his adjutant. "... Stall those Law Dogs with a lawyer and get us three to four hours of peace."

"Yes, sir!" Confirmed the adjutant before leaving to fulfill the order.

Turning to yet another adjutant, the Captain ordered. "And you, get me the one in charge of our men on the ground!"

"Yes, sir!..." Replied the male adjutant as he tapped away on his console before announcing, "... Transmission established!"

"Good!..." Nodded the Captain before telling the Mech-Pilot on the ground. "... The timetable has changed... I am ordering an immediate bombardment of the entire park, and I need you and your men to either recover the Devil or confirm its destruction. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, sir!" Confirmed the pilot, and the transmission was cut.

"Sir, why didn't you tell that pilot that the Widow, a marshal, and three civilians are in the combat zone?" Asked the returned female adjutant.

"Because we're being paid for results!..." Replied the captain absentmindedly as he rolled himself a cigarette. "... And if we achieve results for a fraction of the cost, we can raise our profit margin."

"So you're willing to lose the mechs?" asked the male adjutant.

Nodding, the Captain confirmed. "Yes, of course! I need to think of my retirement savings. Now have our cannons pepper that place up nicely!"

...

Meanwhile, down on the moon's surface, the mech pilot and his company that the captain was willing to sacrifice were advancing into the park under the cover of heavy orbital bombardment.

*BOOOOOOOM!* It howled close by. *Booooooooom!* It howled in the distance.

As long as one looked anywhere inside the park, one could either see an explosion or debris thrown into the air by one.

*Brrr!* The sound of the pilot's mech's jet engines howled just before its activated stealth mode muffled not only the sound but also hid the entire mech behind a veil of its optional camouflage.

*Booooooooom!*

Flanked by three other stealth mechs, now also invisible as they zipped through the dust, the pilot and his team quickly passed a A few of the park's now-devastated medieval towns until their scanners detected some movement nearby.

*Booooooooom!* *BOOOOOOOM!* *BOOOOOOOM!* *Booooooooom!*

Wordlessly, the pilot transmitted his findings to his companions before he signaled them to advance upon the target the origin of the movement detected.

*Brrr!*

Their Smelter-HMGs at the ready, the three-mech team descended upon the agricultural-themed town only to find robots with melted faces, missing limbs, and burning rags everywhere.

Switching from bolt- to energy-based ammunition, the three immediately began to mow down the crippled bots by either shooting or stomping them like bugs.

*Pew!* *Crunsh!* *Pew!* *Pew!* *Crunsh!* *Pew!* *Pew!* *Pew!* *Crunch!* *Crunch!*

With only their oily footprints and muzzle flashes visible, the three mechs quickly secured the town before they moved on to the next.

*Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* Accompanied by the sounds of bombardment in the distance as they flew stealthily through the air.

The stealth team eventually picked up some strange life signatures in the park's western section that were neither fully biological not fully mechanical, but something in between  the two.

*Brrr!*

Following the signals, the mechs eventually landed inside a town set ablaze with a large, sinking pit in the center that had been razed to the ground by heavy bombardment.

From the fires all around them, their mechs' scanners immediately became useless as the heat interfered with them.

...

Meanwhile, inside a maintenance shaft connected to the sinking pit that had previously been the underground hyperloop station, Sarah and Tellius found themselves pressed against each other as they had sought shelter in it.

"Did you hear that?..." Sarah asked while sitting in her lover's lab, having picked up on the stealth mechs landing. "... That sounded like the boosters of stealth mechs under camouflage."

"You heard that and could tell they are stealth mechs?" Tellius asked, surprised, as he had heard nothing aside from the sounds of bombardment.

Smirking, the female cyborg told him. "Yes, of course I can since I had my ears modified this way. But it only works on stealth mechs, not stealth suits."

"Impressive. I wonder what kind of modifications are available by now..." the male cyborg commented before he asked his lovely companion. "... She'll we go up and take care of them or would you rather go up and escape? The bombardment above seems to have stopped?"

"I say we go up and neutralise all but the leader..." Replied Sarah with a naughty smirk as she began to climb out of his lab and onto the ladder leading out of the shaft, her rear swaying seductively. "... After all we need somebody to tell us if their Ethen's requested reinforcements or some corporate dogs here for their bottom line."

"Agreed!" Stated Tellius mesmerized by the ass swaying infromt of him as he, too started to climb up.

After pushing the heavy manhole cover above them out of the way, Tellius watched, intrigued, as she elegantly summersaulted out of the maintenance shaft.

Following her outside, much less elegantly, the male cyborg had to immediately crouch down as some searchlights nearly found him. Yet, he found temporary shelter behind a huge pile of rubble  right beside Sarah.

Aware of the severity of their situation, the two began to communicate via hand signals. In doing so, they weren't giving away their location via digital chatter and could stay hidden.

After a moment of quickly made hand signals, Tellius watched as Sarah took off to circle around the ruined town and spot the invisible enemies for him. Seeing her skillfully duck from cover to cover, the ex-commander had to admit that the cyborg Sarah was leagues ahead of her human counterpart from twelve years ago when it came to being stealthy.

Yet soon enough, Tellius spotted three stealth mechs wandering the ruins that Sarah had marked with some cute rabbit stickers.

Floating half a meter above the ground, these rabbits enabled him to detect anomalies that his scanner had previously ignored. Adjusting his scanner based on this new data, the male cyborg was able to break the enemies' camouflage, allowing him to see them.

Surprisingly, the models of the stealth mechs turned out to be quite familiar to Tellius, as they had been quite popular among the UCG's forces... 12 years prior.

Recalling the numerous complaints that Sarah had had about those models 12 years ago, he was able to identify half a dozen weak points just in time for Sarah's signal.

"Okay, let's go!" Tellius growled angrily as he slowly emerged from his spot behind the rubble.

*Slide!* *Slide!* His blades extended from his wrists, and he instantly ignited them using his Flaming Draw skill. *Foof!* *Foof!*

*Pew!* *Pew!* Two stealth mechs immediately spotted him and opened fire with energy-based rounds before the third joined in. *Pew!* *Pew!* *Pew*

*BOOOOOOOM!* A nearby explosion drowned out the rounds of gunfire, yet Tellius remained unscathed as he activated his Invincibility Skill.

Simultaneously, just as Tellius was getting peppered with energy blasts, Sarah stealthily yet elegantly climbed the mech furthest away from him. Gripping between the mech's armor, she soon reached the mech's 'head' with its scanner array.

*Booooooooom!*

Recognizing the module as she had used a similar one 12 years ago, Sarah gripped the module with both hands as she reached over its shoulder. Then with a single strong tug, the module came loose, just before the female cyborg ripped its cable.

*Booooooooom!*

Blinded, the mech underneath her. Its tights began to stumble, and Sarah jumped off, yet stayed close enough to jump into the mech's cockpit as soon as the pilot opened its hatch.

*BOOOOOOOM!* A nearby explosion threw up some dirt into the air right in front  of the mech.

Opening his hatch, the pilot remained blinded still as the dirt was limiting his view. The very next moment, Sarah jumped through the opening.

*Bam!* Sarah's knee hit the pilot's face, breaking his nose in the process, just before she drew one of her throwing knives and pressed it against the man's throat. *Sing!*"

"Dammed! Bi**h!" Cursing, the pilot's blood flowed like a river from his crushed nose.

*Booooooooom!*

"You better not move or more of your blood will cover your consoles!..." Hissed Sarah like a deadly viper. "... Now, tell me... Who sent you? Corporate or Marshal's? And why are you here?"

"We are Ares hired by Hades to secure the Devil!" Replied the pilot and spat into Sarah's face.

"You shouldn't have done that..." Replied Sarah and as she wiped the man's spit/ blood mix off her face, she casually slit his throat. "... So typical for corporate dogs!"

*BOOOOOOOM!* A nearby explosion muffled the sound of the pilot's final struggle as his blood covered his cockpit scarlet.

Jumping out of the blood-splattered cockpit, he somersaulted mid-air only to land on a pile of smoldering rock. Looking behind the mech that she had just taken down, the female mercenary spotted Tellius tanking not one but two stealth mechs simultaneously.

With their camouflage broken, the two stealth mechs looked like battered jet-sleek white marble giants. Yet despite their age, they must have been in pretty good condition before they had met Tellius if the scraps of marble-white armor were any indication.

*Clang!* One of Tellius's powerful strikes removed yet another part of armor from one mech, causing it to stumble and fall onto its knees. But just as he was close to finishing one mech, the other had to intervene and stop him.

*Pew!* *Pew!* *Pew!* *Pew!* The other mech shot before it jumped away behind cover via its jet engines mounted on its back.*Brrr!*

Looking at his already crippled foe, the male cyborg decided to finish it before it fought the other one.

*Swush* *Clang!* Tellius's right power fist crushed through the mech's remaining layers until his right shoulder hit his victim's armor.

Gripping what he could, he then pulled out whatever he had gripped. *Splatter!*

Turns out what he had gripped was not some power cable or wires but the mech pilot's spine, and a fountain of blood instantly shot out of the opening as soon as Tellius had pulled.

*Brrr!* The other mech once again jumped out of cover to shoot at the male cyborg once more, and yet, just as he was about to fire, his Smelter-HMG stalled just before his mech went out.

As Tellius looked behind the second mech, he spotted Sarah with one of its power cells  in hand.

"That worked out well..." Tellius told Sarah via transmission, thinking that there weren't any enemies left in their vicinity to pinpoint their exact location.

Sadly, he was dead wrong, as corporate forces just outside their scanner range had already encircled them.

...

Meanwhile, inside the tunnels underneath the Park's Entrance, also known as 'The City Underneath the Worldtree', Ethen had found shelter for Yelena, Tina, and himself inside the park's massive, empty vault.

*Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* *Booooooooom!* *...*

The consistent bombardment aimed at the Worldtree shook the entire vault.

"I am frightened!" Confessed Tina, her voice brittle as she hugged her legs while she sat between two empty shelves.

"Don't be, little one..." Ethen told the young genius as he pulled her over to him and Yelena. "... This bombardment will end, and Sarah and Tellius will find us!"

"You sure?..." Asked Tina, her words a choked murmur as finally, the emotions of a frightened child overwhelmed her rational mind, and she became a crying mess. "... I can't contact them!"

"Oh, I am sure. A man like Tellius and a woman like Sarah are the kind of people who would have survived even the Massacre of Thermopoly-6!..." Replied Ethen confidently and ruffled the little girl's hair. "... Why don't you try again to reach them, again?"

"Okay!" Replied Tina, and her eyes began to shine a light blue.

"I am sorry!" The veteran suddenly heard his wife say.

"What for?" Asked the marshal, and stroked his wife's hair gently.

Biting her fingernail, Yelena looked from Tina to Ethan before she answered. "For everything! My Dark Passenger, my infertility, and the mess that I have put you in."

"Shush! I love you, and we will overcome all that, just like we did your Dark Passenger!" Ethan assured his wife. "... We can always adopt a child like Tina, and this mess will become just some added paperwork to my workload for the next few years once the Reinforcements and Marshal arrive!"

That said, as if on cue, Ethan was contacted via encrypted transmission by the High Marshal, Givens.

...

Having just finished a speech to his pitifully small army of 'Walking Tombstones,' aka Dreadnought Class mechs piloted by disposable and long-ago-declared-dead soldiers from the Corporate War, the High Marshal finally had time to contact Ethan.

Still standing inside the hangar of his flagship the Lonestar, he had his adjutant connect him to the marshal.

"Marshal Ryan? Do you hear me?" Asked Givens, a grisly old law enforcement officer who had climbed the ranks all the way up to High Marshal, into the microphone at the hem of his blue uniform.

"Yes, High Marshal!" Ethan's voice replied inside the High Marshal's head.

"What's your status? What is going on down there?..." Givens questioned, eager for information that might save a few of his Walking Tombstones. "... We are detecting intense fighting between corporate mechs and some unknowns."

"Those are most likely the mercenaries that I deputized to help me!..." Lied Ethen to get Sarah & Tellius some backup firepower. "... Also, there is..."

"So, you used article 6... Interesting..." Interrupted the High Marshal. "... Please, continue.'"

"Thank you..." Replied Ethen and began to truthfully report their situation. "... The situation is as follows: Some corporate forces are here to either destroy or take possession of an AI program named the Devil. I don't know. Simultaneously, the Devil has taken over all the park's robots, and I am even suspecting even those in Roid, too. From a source, I have learned that it also has a potential Superbot codenamed Hydra, but that one hasn't revealed itself yet. Furthermore, I think that the Devil is able to hack the corporate battlestar-class spaceship that you have surely noticed.'"

"I am not concerned about getting hacked. UCG ships have remained analog since the Corporate War..." Commented High Marshal Givens with a look at the Dreadnought Class mechs that were getting ready for deployment. "... But what might pose some problems are the superior firepower of Ares's armed forces and their lawyers.'"

"With all due respect, can't we invoke article 13?" Questioned Ethen, confused as he had thought that his reinforcements had already been deployed.

"Maybe... but we still need the green light from the Sector Attorney to engage in anything beyond self-defense against corporate forces..." Replied the elder law enforcement officer, while transmitting additional orders to the Tombstones of the first wave. "... But I guess we can help your encircled deputies.'"