CH51: WAR.

[Thursday, 5th January, 4045]

[Location: Hundreds of miles away from Desper.]

*OPEN FIRE!!*

Deep in the desert, miles away from civilization, soldiers were heavily engaged in a battle against the largest terrorist group, [**]The Gazanerrin[**]. This group illegally poached and bred specific beasts for the sole purpose of harvesting their meat, hides, and using the powerful ones to raid cities, countries, and allegedly planning to destroy one of the ten floating cities.

Desper and Neveah joined their military forces to combat this and attacked the Gazanerrin. By going from town to town, they saved hundreds of terrorized villagers, took down beast-holding pens, disbanded only one-fifth of their worldwide schemes, and were able to push them back halfway through the desert.

"Left flank, right flank. We've got more winged riders in your direction. Take them down." One of the many commanding military generals, Mitchel Balkum, ordered as he and those around him saw men and women flying toward them. The Gazanerrin flew on winged beasts while carrying intermediate crystal-powered guns and blasters, firing at the military soldiers below them. At the moment, Desper and a few of Neveah's military forces were waiting for backup due to having lost their technology and weaponry to an almost impenetrable beast the Gazanerrin land troops attacked them with.

With their crystals running out of power, the military's hopes of winning were looking slim, and the Gazanerrin were slowly overpowering them.

"Sir, we're overpowered. They've brought more sandworms with them, and one hundred of us have run out of juice. The numbers are gonna increase if we keep firing without a plan"

"We're falling back. We can't go on any further."

Seeing that his men would soon be outnumbered and overpowered, Mitchel decided to execute one final move to help him and his soldiers survive and hopefully live to fight another day.

"Fall back and regroup in the trenches." He said while a couple of soldiers with him scavenged through their wrecked machinery. Thankfully, there were still traditional gunpowder guns that were fully loaded and functional. They may not be able to affect the beasts, but they were still lethal to humans. "Get back here as soon as you can. We've got a small opening, and we cannot lose it.

The left and right flanks quickly retreated into the trenches that were dug deep into the sandstone levels of the desert. Once there, those who still had some fight in them grabbed a gun with two magazines of extra ammunition. "Stay in the trenches. I want you to aim for the whites of their eyes. Do not fire anywhere else. These bullets can't and won't do anything to the beasts, so don't waste them." Mitchel ordered.

However...

"Where are they? They've just…disappeared"

"Does anyone have a visual on them?"

"Negative. There's no one. Not even those flying on beasts."

Mitchel quickly looked through the scope of his gun and witnessed the sands shifting from a distance. Just like how water splashes whenever predatory fish advance, the sands did the same, signaling that there was something moving through the sand and quickly closing in on them.

"Fall back," Mitchel muttered once he caught onto what the enemy was plotting. "FALL BACK!! IT'S AN AMBUSH. THEY'VE GOT THE SANDWORMS!!"

Unfortunately, as Mitchel was still barking his warning, the walls of the trenches at the left flank broke open as massive and aggressive sandworms drilled through and killed hundreds of soldiers. The worms, pink and soft but reinforced with segmented bones around their bodies, pinned men to either the walls or floors and drilled into their bodies, only stopping when the men they pinned stopped moving.

"We have no choice." Mitchel admitted in defeat. "OPEN FIRE!!" As useless as it was, the remaining troops opened heavy fire on the worms that were popping up from left, right, front, and back. No matter how much they shot, the bullets weren't causing any significant harm to the creatures, and the more they kept shooting, the quicker they were going to run out of ammunition.

As for General Mitchel, he led those who were still alive out of the trenches and onto the open desert floors. That way, they'd be able to see the worms crawling towards them through the sands and hopefully try to dodge.

"Sir," one bloody soldier cried with his fallen comrade in his arms, "We've lost more than half of the left flank. The right is on their way out of the trenches. We still have no idea where the enemy is right now. Please, WHEN'S THE BACKUP GETTING HERE? I CAN'T GO THROUGH MORE OF THIS?"

Mitchel looked at the soldier crying while carrying his fallen comrade and felt compassion but fear at the same time. "I understand, soldier," Mitchell sympathized. "I'm trying my best to…"

"GET DOWN!!"

Suddenly, a flock of about five hundred Gazanerrinian swooped in, each on top of a winged beast. The beasts resembled pterodactyls in terms of anatomy. Their wings were larger than their bodies, making it possible for them to fly at much higher heights. Their heads were shaped like the front end of a katana, giving them a more aerodynamic form. The beasts varied in color, had bone-piercing claws and beaks, and mounted on top of them were Gazanerrian soldiers equipped with illegally obtained intermediate-tier guns and blasters.

*CLICK*

Rounds after rounds of paralyzing blasts were shot at the soldiers below, causing them to take cover in the already worm-infested trenches. The Neveahian and Desper troops fell one by one, and soon, a fleet that once consisted of three thousand men was reduced to only five hundred soldiers fighting for their lives.

"MAYDAY, MAYDAY. THIS IS GENERAL MITCHEL. WE NEED BACKUP, NOW!!" Mitchell pleaded desperately but alas, no one replied or availed themselves to come to their rescue. Defeated, exhausted, and partly wounded, Mitchel and those remaining hid as the last of the Gazanerrinian flight troops flew past them.

"They're gone," the soldiers cried out. "They've stopped firing. We can hit back, right?"

"Negative," Mitchel responded. "They know we have no more fight left in us. These guns won't do anything against their beasts. It's hopeless. The only thing we have left to look forward to is death."

"MORE SANDWORMS INBOUND!!!"

Once again, more sandworms came crawling through the desert sounds and picked off soldiers like they were nothing but food. Mitchel ordered the others to run to the rocky dunes where the worms wouldn't be able to drill through. However, being on the rocky dunes left them wide open to one final attack from the Gazanerrinian flight troops.

"MAYDAY," Mitchel knelt down in defeat and wept as he made one last call for backup. "WE NEED BACKUP. SEND BACKUP, PLEASE!"

"This is it, General." The last three hundred said with their backs against each other while they hopelessly aimed at the beasts flying towards them. "It was an honour fighting with you, Desper troops."

"It was an honour for you indeed," one soldier replied with tears rolling down his sun-beat cheeks.

"Here they come." Each soldier dropped their guns, held each other's hands, and closed their eyes. For a bunch of soldiers trained to fight, they were pushed to their limits and as a result, accepted their fates.

---------------------

*CLICK*

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

*SHRIEK* *SHRIEK*

*THUD*

"What's happening? Why aren't they shooting?" One soldier asked but was too paralyzed with fear to open his eyes and see for himself. "COME ON. I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO KILL US YOU TERRORISTS. GET ON WITH IT!!!"

*Sigh* "Are you guys seriously soldiers? How can you give up so easily?" The voice of a woman followed by the sounds of heavy engines roaring through the desert brought a sense of relief as the soldiers quickly opened their eyes and began to weep.

Above them were three large airships floating past with other units dropping from the sky without parachutes. The mounted crystal-powered guns on the airships shot down the Gazanerrinian flying beasts along with their riders, while those who jumped out of the airships offered medical aid to the injured.

"Who's your commanding General?" the woman asked once more, but none of the soldiers dared to open their eyes, thinking it might be a trap. "Is there a General Mitchel Balkum amongst you?"

"Over here!" General Balkum, the only one brave enough among the others, pushed through the weak soldiers and saluted before the woman. "General Mitchel Balkum, at your service."

"At ease, General," the woman ordered. She stood tall at a height of 5'5" with a curvy, slim body clothed in a black jumpsuit with a zipper on her chest. Although covered by her black uniform, sixty percent of her body was mechanical, with only her digestive and reproductive systems remaining organic. Her body was made of a special metal alloy built for endurance, speed, and superhuman strength. Her curvy legs consisted of crystal-powered hydraulics, enabling her to reach speeds of up to forty kilometers per hour. Inside her chest was a heart-shaped reactor with a king-tier crystal supplying tremendous amounts of power to her super body. Lastly, her mechanical spine with a chip under the medulla oblongata provided her with an AI system designed for war. All of this was accompanied by her beautiful oval-shaped head with soft pink lips, round emerald green mechanized eyes, and synthetic hair styled to be fashionable but also give her the cyborg soldier look.

"If I may ask, ma'am," Balkum asked, having acknowledged the rank number on her suit, "which battalion do you serve under?"

*BAM*

While he was still talking, a body came falling at great speed from the airships and landed a few feet away from Balkum and the cyborg-like woman.

"Ahh, crap!" A brown-skinned man cursed while holding his aching blonde head. "I'll never get used to that." Like the woman, this man also wore the same black jumpsuit. The major difference between him and her was that his legs, hands, spine, and eyes were the only parts that were mechanical, although he too had a mechanical heart powered by a beast crystal.

"Don't worry, sir," he spoke, having overheard Balkum's conversation. "We're with the Malware Unit."

[**]"Malware Mechanized Division Unit Dheng Zhao Prince and Carla Monroe reporting for duty." The man who came crashing into the ground saluted with a cocky expression. "Don't worry, guys," he smiled while his arms, Carla's, and the others like them glowed in different colors, "We'll take care of these terrorists for you. Watch and learn."