[012 - 0H] Zaa'nabar

[Blitz]

The lush jungle planet of Zaa'nabar, home of the warrior-race, the Aranek. Unofficially annexed by the Republic of Zeleniy around 30-40 years ago, the Republic has shown an unnatural interest in this planet. It has unremarkable mineral deposits, a vicious, unforgiving, and unconquerable jungle that spans for continents, and a uncooperative and rebellious population of Aranek. Only one shared Rhg'Zez/Aranek city has been established, Uk-Hurun, with a network of Zeleniy-loyal villages surrounding it. The rest of the planet is assumed to be full of neutral, feral, or insurgent Aranek.

The Republic of Zeleniy's marines and army guards not only the villages and the city of Uk-Hurun, but the ancient ruins of past Aranek civilizations, curiously enough. In orbit is a detachment of the Zeleniyan fleet, as well as a single commerce station, and one Zeleniyan Navy communications station.

While it may seem like a mere attempt to attain a colony, the Republic of Zeleniy knows Zaa'nabar's true past, one that will help them in their agenda for ascendency.

______________________________________________________

A patrol of Zeleniyan Marines cruises through an unused jungle path, just a dirt road. They are about three squads, some of them sitting atop ZMP-2s, few others patrolling alongside and ahead of them. They are making their way to a village with reported insurgent activity, trying to patrol the area and force out the enemy. The man at the front was unlucky. He was the new guy, and thus had to take point. He was younger than the others, and had his uniform squared away and tidy as could be, unlike his more rugged comrades. He held the AK-2360 close, scanning around the thick jungle on either side of him. Suddenly, he heard a staccato *click*, and the next thing he knew he was on his ground, stunned. Everyone was running around him. His ears rang loudly, under neath the ringing he heard the deep brassy sound of the ZMP-2's firing off.

The young private had stepped on an Aranek IED, tearing off his leg. He lay there, bleeding, staring up at the sky through the thick canopy. Suddenly he cried out in pain and anguish,"Pomygyme, mama, pomogitme!", followed by a shrill scream. The ZMP-2's pulled a herring bone, pulling onto either side of the road and lit up the tree line with HE fire. The infantry dismounted and rushed into the tree cover on either side of the road, firing blindly into the treeline. From the commander's hatch of the last ZMP-2, a well groomed Rhg'Zezian man with a halfmask, a large red cybernetic eye, and a beret takes hold of his short-range radio phone, and yells,"Cease fire, cease fire!" The ZMP-2s immediately ceased firing, the infantry taking a few more moments to cease fire as their squad leaders waved them down, yelling over them.

A man that was taking cover behind one of the ZMP-2s rushed to the private, a large red cross over the top of his helmet-gasmask. The private lays dead, his mechanical and organic arm death gripping his amputated right leg. His eyes are stone cold and dead through the mask. The medic looks up to the commander on the ZMP-2 and runs his hand across his neck, signalling to him that he's KIA. He and another medic quickly drag him to the first ZMP-2, where they slide him into a bodybag and toss him into the back. The commander sighs and looks around, the jungle has been silenced by the explosions and gunfire. His men are on edge, he knows no one was firing at them. He raises the phone in his hand and speaks to the squad leaders over the radio,"There was no return fire, I need all my squads to lock their shit down, now they definitely know we're coming. Form a 360 and wait for further orders."

He looks down at the radio rack in the turret, and switches it to the long range frequency. Raising the phone to his mouth again, he opens his mouth before he is abruptly cut off. "Command, Charkov-1'5, we've run into so-" A single crack echoes from the forest and the commander drops the phone, it tumbles over the side of the turret, dangling by the cord. The commander grips his neck and sinks back into the turret. Followed by this is a rain of heavy machinegun and mixed small arms fire from the trees, with roars and barking behind it. The Marines light up the trees on either side of the path, their enemies must be atleast 300 meters away in good cover, and it didn't help that they were already camouflaged for it naturally. A squad leader grabs one of his men's shoulder, taking the phone off the radio pack on their back. He begins to yell into it,"Command, command, this is Charkov-1'1, we've run into some lizards! Requesting immediate artillery support!" A brief moment of static, and a calm voice returns the call,"Uhhhh--copy that Charkov-1'1, call your targets and we will relay, over."

The men of FOB Polonov sat in the dirt, sweat, and heat. Sitting atop their artillery guns and ammo boxes, they chatted and played cards. They had a tan, unnatural for Rhg'Zezians, most of them wearing their off-duty uniforms. Their lieutenant bursts out of the metal bunker in the center of the FOB, waving a PDA at the men,"Let's cook some lizards, boys!" The men stop what they are doing and immediately stand up, running to their artillery guns. Their gun commanders man the computers, typing into them quickly as the lieutenant calls out coordinates. The loaders work in pairs to bring over small crates of ammo, cracking them open and loading them into the guns. Within a few minutes all of the guns are loaded, and the lieutenant gives the order to fire. The large guns' booms crack through the jungle, shaking trees and making animals flee or fly away.

[Blitz]

It was a slow day at F.O.B. Dariya. The outpost controlled a massive checkpoint over the roads that lead into civilized, Zeleniyan-indoctrined Zaa'Nabar. The F.O.B. itself was nothing extraordinary. It was a fairly large complex with an underground facility that filtered carbon monoxide gasses, but on the outside it looked like a dump. The walls were mostly thick sand walls and bags of sand, with bunkers on every cardinal direction. Several construction and supply vehicles sat in the motor pools, next to olib-drab shacks. It sat atop a hill overlooking the jungle and had sight of the roadways a few klicks to the west. A single winding road led up to the F.O.B.

Two soldiers, Private Slevecz and Junior Sergeant Dobrestova, sat at the entry station down the road. Private Slevecz was standing next to the gate controls. He was not in combat uniform, wearing only boots, pants, a gasmask with a tank attached to his hip, and a tank top that was plastered to his body by sweat. He loosely gripped the kalishnikov 2360 in his hands. Junior Sergeant Dobrestova sat in the small guard booth, his feet kicked up onto the window. He was wearing only pants and boots, a field cap, and a gasmask. He periodically lifted his gasmask to take a drag from his cigarette. They were both fairly organic, with such low rank they could afford only so many augmentations.

The young Slevecz readjusts his gasmask, tightening some of the straps on the back of his head, cursing loudly. "Blehyt, these fucking things are strangling my scalp. What time is it?" Dobrestova lazily lifted his wristwatch to his face. "16:45. Just 15 minutes until guard change, Slevecz, hold in there, mosinka." Slevecz snorted, lifting his gasmask and spitting on the ground. "Fuck this heat. I'm going to get cancer if I stand in this sun any longer." Dobrestova opened his mouth to speak, but there was a familiar rumbling. An IFV was approaching. Dobrestova picked up a log book on the window of the booth and flipped through it,"Is that second platoon? They're supposed to be back by 18:00.. something isn't right.." Dobrestova took his feet off the window and picked up the radio headset hanging off the wall, bringing it to his head.

"This F.O.B. Dariya to unknown mechanized, identify, over." No response, Dobrestova repeated himself. Slevecz looked uneasy, bringing his rifle up to his chest. A ZMP-2 rounded the corner of the winding road, appearing through the brush of the jungle. It turned itself towards the toll booth and stopped. Dobrestova squinted at the vehicle,"Where is the rest of the platoon? This definitively isn't right." Slevecz raised a hand, waving at the ZMP-2."Hey, hey! What is your problem? Is your radio broke?" A pause. Suddenly the turret pivots, shooting 5 40mm HE rounds at the private. The private is blown away, his remains falling into a ditch on the side of the road.

The guard booth is rocked and Dobrestova hits the ground, picking up the radio headset and covering his head. "Charkov 6'Actual, this is Charkov 3'2, unidentified ZMP-2 is firing on friendlies, over!" A low growl is heard above Dobrestova, he raises his head. An Aranek warrior, complete with war paint and tribal armor, points a crudely made weapon with a bayonet at him. Dobrestova reaches for his side arm but is immediately gunned down by the beast. He seized up and sputters blood, the warrior moving on from the booth. The radio murmurs,"3'2, 6'Actual, repeat your last.. 3'2, 6'Actual, respond."

The whole base lights up with activity, Zeleniyan soldiers pouring out from the underground bunkers, running to the walls and defensive bunkers. An officer yells above the commotion,"We got scalies with captured vehicles, ZMP-2s. If you see one of our vehicles out there, assume it is enemy unless notified!" Another ZMP-2 cruises out from behind the first and begins to make its way up the hill, firing their 40mm cannons at the sand walls.

A desperate radio transmission is sent to the orbiting space station, surrounded by the defending Zeleniyan fleet. "This is F.O.B. Dariya to Z-B'Command actual, we are under attack from rebel Aranek forces, they are using a mass amount of captured vehicles and weaponry. Rebel forces breaking through loyalist territory, we're being surrounded."

[Blitz]

The space station returns the transmission,"Dariya, Z-B'Command, copy that. Code; Vengeful Angel, Vengeful Angel, all available air support being diverted to your area. Danger close, anything 200 meters outside of walls assumed enemy. Keep your heads down."

The space station spat out several MiG squadrons, they broke off and turned to enter the atmosphere. They descend into the lower atmosphere, after half an hour the several squadrons come into view of the black pillars of smoke in front of them. They broke off and went further down, below the clouds. F.O.B. Dariya was in sight, 3 kilometers away. The flight leader stated calmly,"Dariya, Badger-5. Flights Badger 1 through 5 reporting, responding to Vengeful Angel. Lase priority targets, we're coming in, 2-mikes." Suddenly, the cockpit blares loudly, the flight leader's copilot screaming,"Shit! Radar lock! Break off, break off!" The flight leader pulls on his joystick as he screams into his headset,"Radar lock, radar lock, we got anti-air threa-" A Strela-Z77 anti-air missile shoots from the jungle canopy and strikes the jet. Its right wing rips off and it explodes in a ball of fire, the wreckage falling towards the jungle. The hooded Aranek who had fired it raises the 9Z78 Igla-2 anti-air launcher over his head, roaring loudly. He scurries off into thicker brush with his companion, who slings a satchel with two more missiles sticking out the top over his shoulder.

The jets pull off and dump flares and anti-radar chaff. A pilot speaks over the radio to Command and F.O.B. Dariya in a frightened tone,"Lizard's got MANPADs! I repeat, LIMAs got MANPADs! This is Badger 2-5 pulling off, all squadrons maintain holding pattern 5 kilometers south!"

In the space station, Admiral Utvhovsky scowled at the map of F.O.B. Dariya, at the large red dot noting where the jet was shot down. He rubs his chin, furrowing his brows,"Get me the 5th Mechanized."

Main Operating Base Obrek, Ak-Shabir Nu'La province.

The base was flooded with activity as several Tetrovka MBTs, ZMP-2s, and Urals full of men drove around the base. The main battle tanks started to form up on the main courtyard, with the ZMP-2's in front. The soldiers were exiting their briefing tents and rushing to grab their rifles. The long convoy moved out within the hour down the road. Several farmers looked up from their crop, seeing the massive amount of tanks roll down the road. They simply looked on in apathy as the tank commanders and soldiers flashed the peace sign.


Zaa'Nabar Command Space Station.

The bridge of the space station was filled with the voices of many radio operators, logistics officers calling out orders. A communications officer picks something up on his headset, an encoded message. He types quickly into the computer, and something is played into his headset that makes his eyes go wide. He types even quicker, calling out to the Admiral,"Admiral, Sir, Admiral! The Aranek rebels are broadcasting a transmission!" The Admiral barked back at him,"Then shut it down, we have the technology!" The communications officer raises his hands in confusion, squinting at the screen,"Sir, I can't.. I just can't--the ship can't!" The Admiral moved towards him with great purpose,"What the hell do you mean it can't, they don't have the capability to withstand our jammers!" The officer swallows nervously,"Admiral, sir, it's being broadcasted beyond this system.."

In rough Slavnov, a raspy lizard voice speaks,"We are the Second Sultanate of Zaa'Nabar, and we seek vengeance against our oppressors, the socialist Republics of Zeleniy! For many cycles they have held our world captive in the interest of 'peace'. They have turned our brothers against each other and drove them away from their home, they have decapitated the former governing bodies, they have denied us true representation in their controlled cities, they detain or murder any who go against them with no trial, never to be heard again. They have defiled our places of worship and stripped them bare for collection of their holy artifacts, they purge neutral and innocent villages!

But this message is not meant for our invaders, no, this is directed towards those who also rule the stars, who would seek to rid us of our dictators. I plead with the star-sailors, deliver us from this war. The Template dictates that the most honorable warrior should not wish for war, and all we seek is peace. But that cannot be accomplished with the demon-machines that are the Rhg'Zez, the Zeleniy!

And to my brothers and sisters, No longer we will suffer this! No longer will we fight in the cover of the Nightmother's veil. I, Khe'lik Selan say this to my brothers and sisters: Shake yourself from slumber, we have risen again, and we have declared war. We are aware as individuals. We are powerful again. We will strike without mercy at the invaders. Nak'tu qalaf Zeleniy!"

[Mother Superior]

BND Stealth Frigate "Yellow Shark" (SSA-001); 1230 ZULU, Zaa'nabar Space

The BND manned frigate jumped into Zaa'nabar space, they decelerated and were now at cruising speed, this being done to avoid detection of the Zeleniy fleet stationed in the area, the stealth fields of the lightly armored frigate contributing to this.


"Jump complete, sir."

"Good work, the data package from the insurgency has told us to land at the abandoned palace in the 'Kalak-nu' province on the southern side of the planet. We will touch down there, set up a perimeter and attempt to make contact with the envoy from the sultanate. How copy?"

"Solid copy on that, sir. Inputting coordinates now."

Kalak-nu Province; 1400 ZULU; Zaa'nabar surface.

The frigate found its landing zone, a large Aztec-like temple situated in the depths of the jungle, the ship was eased into the courtyard, and the cabin depressurized. A loading ramp was soon lowered, a troupe of Special Forces soon descended the ramp as well, armed with their native adaptive combat rifles and the exosuits in service by the armed echelon of the BND, they swept the ruins and then returned to the landing site in order to set up a defensive perimeter so the crew could begin offloading the gear brought with them. As with most black intelligence operations the ship lacks all markings, as the does the equipment in use by both the soldiers and the crew of the ship, the only uniforms in use were that of the BND Special Forces, and even then that was only the exosuit. The Federation surely wasn’t taking any chances if these forces were caught inciting rebellion. They surely wanted a plausible deniability of sorts.

The communications gear, the mobile walls and hescos were off loaded as well. The forces on the surface only had one vehicle available to them, and that was the Mercedes C-780, armed with a mini-gun. With the crew setting up, the special operatives and the envoy were awaiting first contact with the guerrilla forces of the land under siege.

[Blitz]

For a while it seems quiet, eerily quiet. The screeches of animals quiet with the arrival of the ship. Suddenly, bubbles rise from various sections of the swamp. Ten Aranek warriors rise from the muck, pulling themselves out. They clamber up the sides of the trees, hopping off onto solid ground. They stand in a semi circle around the envoy, loosely gripping their weapons. A single warrior climbs up the vines of a tree, climbing above the canopy, he grips his throat and lets out a shrill cry, mimicking one of a native animal.

The cry is returned, and the warrior slides down the vines and jumps off onto the soft mud. A moment later, rustling is heard from the old decrepit steps of the ruins. An Aranek warlord descends the steps, he wields many gold and gem trinkets on his tribal wear. He approaches the envoy, accompanied by two guard who follow his every step. These guards are different from the other ten, they are decked out in high-tech looking uniforms and equipment, wielding stolen Zeleniyan DshKMs with belt-fed ammo swaying back and forth around their ankles.

The warlord wields a cage with a cat-sized insect animal in it, it chitters and spits, crawling all around the cage quickly. He bows towards the envoy in greeting.

[Mother Superior]

The special operators raised their weapons and all glanced in the envoy’s direction for their next orders, and to their despair the envoy waved them off. The envoy was clad in an armored suit that differed from his compatriot’s in both design and functionality. The envoy wasn’t human, no, he was a S'Quojizah, this being noted by the long legs and awkwardly shaped head piece of the armor, most notably the eyes.

They envoy stepped forward towards the Warlord and responded to his nod with one of his own. The S'Quojizah intelligence officer moved their left hand towards their left wrist, there a control panel for one of the utilities of the suit rested, after a moment of fiddling with the panel, the armored crabman spoke.

"Greetings, we were the ones to contact you over the device, as you may have figured this out by our meeting area. Your forces seem to be masters of subterfuge. The pleasure is all mine, Mister..."

The Crab then trailed off, awaiting a response from the hulking and ornate beast that stood at his front. In the meanwhile, the crew members of the vessel were still setting up COMM lines and various defenses within the palace and on the grounds where available given the age of the structure.

[Blitz]

The warlord nods deeply, speaking in a crude, hissing English,"Lord of War, Zzzek-Ssssa Lar. I speaks for the honorablesss Sssultan Ssselansss, deep respect the Sssultan givesss for unknown alliesss. I here to anssswer your inqueriesss." He then pushes the cage toward the envoy's chest with a sudden purpose,"Cusssstomary gift, behalf of the Sssultan. Oipa-nu, happy-eye bug. Consssume and sssee the Mother of Night'sss realm."

[Mother Superior]

The crabman is taken by surprise with the Warlord's sudden actions, though he accepts the cage and keeps it close to his chest.

”The Mother of Night? I will have to ask about that another time. In the meantime, my name is Etz’mor. It would be a pleasure for us to meet the sultan at a later date; after all I assume that he is busy with this rebellion and all. Is it safe to assume that this not the conditional army of the Sultanate?”

Etz'mor then moves the cage from his chest to his feet, his head turning towards the operatives and giving them a hand signal, the exosuit clad operators then form up and make their way into the jungle, more than likely scouting to get their own grasp on the land, and maybe even encounter some vile oppressors.

[Blitz]

The Warlord motions towards the two guards on either side of him. The green and muddy uniformed guards glance towards the Warlord, but after a moment their gaze returns to observing their surroundings. The Warlord replies,"Thessse two, part of persssonal guard. They are real sssoldier, command under High General. They are from 'conditional force' of Sssultanate." He then opens a hand towards the ten rag-tag freedom fighters, wearing rags and tribal trinkets, and wielding hodge-podged Aranek weapons. "Thessse Aranek from one of my village. I lead thessse. Onccce hunter, craftmansss, fisssher. Now fighter. Thessse what make our resssissstanccce, not thessse." He motions towards the trained Aranek soldiers again.

About half a kilometer down hill from the old palace, a small Zeleniyan squad moves along an old road towards the hill. With them is a UAZ with a DSkhM mounted on the top. The squad is approximately 8 men, two operating the vehicle and six on foot. They slowly make their way up the hill. They converse in Slavnok, bickering. "Chto, korobelinki? Chtoyumot! Yebat etu goru, givoniski!" A stern reply is returned, obviously an authority figure,"Zatknis, bud'te b'ditely!" The bickering soldier does not reply, and the squad continues up the road.

[Mother Superior]

The small squad composed of five men was just in front of the mechanized patrol, give or take 400 meters, their first reaction was to sit and watch. But, with realizing that the oh-so important meeting was taking place, they radioed it in.
”Godfather actual, this is Lima fife-one, break, we’ve ten possible foot mobiles and an armed jeep approaching the ruins from the old road. What is the RoE, over.”

”Solid copy on that, Lima fife-one; rules of engagement is to keep the meeting area as safe as possible. You know what to do, First Sergeant. Godfather actual out.”

The First Sergeant turned to his compatriots and made a variety of hand signals. It seems the plan of action was to open fire when the column was at their direct twelve, which was the plan for three men at least. The other two were to split, one being towards the front of the column and the other towards the rear. The men were now in position, their rifles primed and ready. The First Sergeant gave the order, and the operators opened fire from the side, front, and back.

[Blitz]

Half of the squad is killed instantly, they tumble onto the dirt and seize up. The squad leader screams,"AGOYN, AGOYN, VA'TAKU." The driver of the vehicle is killed, he slumps over onto the wheel and crashes into a tree. The gunner is jostled in his seat, he swings the gun around the opposite side of the road and holds down on the trigger, the heavy machinegun firing. Large ejected shells cascade down the side of the car. A stray round clips his gasmask feed tube, the Rhg'Zezian wheezes and coughs, gripping his neck and gasmask. He reaches down for the driver's mask but is shot twice in the chest, falling limp against the gun.

The four remaining Zeleniyans dismounts slide into the ditches on either side of the road, they fire blindly at the muzzle flashes. The highly augmented squad leader fires an underbarrel grenade into the forest, switching to automatic on the rifle. His eyes track the muzzle flashes, and he suppresses accordingly.

[Mother Superior]

The trees crack and twist, bullets being thrown every which way. Thankfully due to the swiftness of their attack, the Zeleniyans were disoriented and the First Sergeant used that to his advantage. The fire on the BND’s side had stopped. The men attacking from either the front or the back were now ordered with clean up, that being neutralizing the remainder of the squad. They moved from their position further back in the bush towards the front, slow and easy so if targets were to appear they could take them out. Though, one of the advancing soldiers had an idea, he pulled the pin to one of his fragmentation grenades and threw it into the ditch that he had seen some of the Zeleniyans fall back into. The First Sergeant and the rest of the squad advanced as well, making sure the two assaulters had the front, whilst they had the sides and the rear.

[Blitz]

A grenade bounces into the ditch, one of the soldiers swiftly turns his head and yells,"Oh! Chyort--"He grips the grenade with his gunmetal grey hand, his companion ducking down and covering his head, curling up. He sits up to throw the grenade, but it goes off just as he throws it. His cybernetically replaced arm is ripped in half, the right side of his head and body taking shrapnel. He collapses against the dirt, in shock, he blinks. He raises his right arm, blown off from the elbow down, sparks and hydraulic fluid fly out of it. He grips the right side of his face with his left hand, then begins to scream in pain. His companion looks up from his curled position, moving over to grip his shoulder,"Ivak, Ivak! Zatknis! Ivak, Zakryl yebesht! He wraps his right hand around the wounded soldier's mouthpiece, squeezing the gasmask tightly. The wounded one heaves heavily, but stops yelling. He grips the side of his head and mutters, breathing hard. The gasmask lets off a loud "ksssk". His companion picks up his rifle and takes pot shots into the brush where the grenade was thrown from.

The squad leader across the road on the other ditch jerks up to the sound of the grenade. He scans the area, keeping his head low.

[Mother Superior]

The soldier who had thrown the grenade crept back into the bush and regroup with his squad, they were in a line formation with their weapons poised and read, though just 40 meters from the road ditch is where they stopped, hoping to give the dazed and confused Slovaks a false sense of faith. Now this is where they waited, watching and waiting for targets to show themselves.

Unnamed Palace Ruins, Kalak-nu Province, Zaa'nabar surface.

Etz’mor, the crabman intelligence officer nodded along as the portholes of his suit scanned the rag-tag group of soldiers, his eyes soon settling back on the jeweled and gold adorned warlord at his front

”We’ve underestimated the size of your race, Warlord. Our weapons are much too small to even fit in the palm of your hand, let alone you fighting the oppressors with them. What would you have in mind to solve such a problem? As well as totally liberating this land from the oppressors, I understand that if we wish to eat an elephant we must do it one bite at a time, but I am sure my government will not want to send a fleet and conventional troops to aid you, they are willing to send aid, but not bring all-out war in the name of peace for two nations. I hope you understand what I am getting at.”

[Blitz]

The soldiers sat down in the ditch, the squad leader advised them to keep their heads down. He grabbed the radio off his vest and brought it to his face, he began to speak rapidly in Slavnok.

______________________________________

The Warlord nods,"Yesss, I doesss. Aranek adaptive, fassst learner. We require insssstrucccction to build weaponsss and materialsss to build with. We take from there."

[Mother Superior]

Realizing his fatal mistake, the First Sergeant ordered his men to advance. And that’s what they had done, they started forward towards the ditch with their weapons at the ready, any Slavnok to come in their way would meet their death. Two flashbang grenades were cooked and then thrown into the ditch, the exosuit clad soldiers soon following after the thunderous bangs.

[Blitz]

The grunts are stunned, stumbling around. The squad leader, unaffected due to his augmentations, stands up with his rifle and fires into the forest. "Urrrrrra! Napast menya suki!"

[Mother Superior]

With the squad leader presenting himself, the soldiers open fire in hope to take him down, after suppressing, or taking him out, they would advance over the ditch and fire into the group of dazed grunts from mere meters away.

[Blitz]

The squad leader is riddled with bullets, he keeps standing, yelling loudly,"Shtunok, m'lekskaya, suki!" He fires the rest of his mag into the forest, his left arm letting of the foregrip of the rifle. He clicks the trigger twice, and gasps, dropping the rifle. He stumbles about back and forth, eyes wide, blood seeping from his lips, hydraulics leaking from his arms and blood pouring from his chest. He falls onto his knees, his arms hanging down on either side of him. His head droops down, dripping blue blood from his lips. He dies in that upright position, due to his cybernetic limbs.

The soldiers writhe in their stunned condition, they are quickly dispatched and let out a quick cry as they are shot.

[Mother Superior]

Charlie then removed himself from the bush, moving into the carrion field he had just created. The soldiers peer over their work, soon looking to their First Sergeant for instruction.

"Alright, boys. Search for anything that'll give us the upper hand here, someone get some rope from their vehicle and string the metal one from a tree so he is in the middle of the road, we will try and make this look like a lizard ambush. Someone get the radio off the metal one as well, we'll see if communications and listen in and give our reptile friends some news."

The soldiers got to work, two men gathering the grunts and piling them up, rifling through their pockets for maps, letters, anything that'd give an upper hand or seems remotely interesting. After being done with desecrating the dead, they would pile them up, one soldier from that group went to the UAZ and got an extra jerry can of fuel, uncapped it and poured the liquid over the dead bodies. The other two men worked on getting the radio from the squad leader, that along with getting a suitable counterweight so they can hang him from the trees. One wrestled the loose radio, and the other found a nice rock to attach the rope to, and that's what they did. Soon the ambush site was filled with the stench of burning flesh, and one squad leader hanging from the tree tops. The First Sergeant ordered his men to mount up, he took a back seat to radio command.

”Godfather actual, Godfather actual. This is Lima fife-one, how copy, over.”

“We read you loud and clear Lima fife-one, you are clear to send traffic, over.”

“Enemy patrol has been neutralized, I repeat, enemy patrol is neutralized. My team and I are proceeding back to the area in an OPFOR vehicle. Tell communications to get ready to do some cracking, over.”

“Solid copy, Lima fife-one. We’ll see you back at the palace, Godfather actual out.”

_____________________________________________________________________

Unnamed Palace Ruins, Kalak-nu Province, Zaa'nabar surface.

"This can be done, Warlord. I will be sure to have our engineers draft up a weapon design to accommodate to your people. I do hope you understand that this will take time, but I assure you it will be done in a timely manner. We will supply you with the blueprints and materials, but if I may ask. What resources does this rebellion have at its disposal?"

Etz'mor adjusts his position, lightly kicking the cage at his feet. This causes the little insect inside to skitter and cause a small ruckus before calming down. The crew of the small frigate seems to be almost done with setting up the communication lines, now what is left for them to do is start constructing the base's defenses, defenses mostly consisting of sandbags, jersey barriers and a modified Hesco bastion that has a stronger and lighter frame than its predecessor.

[Blitz]

Some of the grunts had simple maps of the area, with some markings in cyrillic here and there. The squad leader's radio began chattering. "Charkov-dvat, sobschat'v... Charkov-dvat, sobschat'v... Charkov-dvat, vy nudushya v pomigishe?"

____________________________________________

The Warlord pauses before speaking, then looks around him,"The abundant resources of our lands that we ourselves occupy, and what the intruders leave behind."

[Mother Superior]

Unnamed Palace Ruins, Kalak-nu Province, Zaa'nabar surface.

The patrol that had been out in the bush no longer than fifteen minutes was speeding back into the camp with the choppy UAZ that had been commandeered from the occupying force. They sped past the Warlord, his entourage and their own intelligence envoy towards the communications bay at the other end of the palace grounds. After coming to the COMM shop, the UAZ skittered to a stop and the First Sergeant dismounted while the vehicle sped in reserve back towards the LZ.

"Captain! We’ve got something for you."

The Captain who was dressed in civilian clothes consisting of an olive drab ball cap, a white long sleeve shirt, black slacks and the only essence of militaristic clothing being an IOTV secured around his torso, he came from the makeshift shop to greet the First Sergeant.

"Well, well, well. If it isn’t First Sergeant Katz, The Butcher of Hill of Tree-Tree-One."

"Oh! And that must be Captain Meier, the slimiest damned COMMs officer in the whole damned Bundesnachrichtendienst! If I knew they had you coming here, I’d have me and my boys sent back to that hill, haha! I have an enemy hand held radio, I was wondering if you could work your magic and get a pinpoint on that thing without giving us away, maybe have some of your boys listen in and use one of those translators you fellas have."

"Sounds good to me, Katz. Toss it on here."


"They were talking earlier, I'm not too sure what they were saying but it sounded like they were calling unit call signs, for what I don't know.


Katz removed the radio from his LBV and handed it off to the Captain. Meier nodded and turned back into his little shop, it being composed of a canvas tent bordered with filled Hesco bastions. He handed off the radio to his own First Sergeant and gave him the orders of what to do, and that’s what he did. He looked the radio up to one the consoles within the tent, clicking and typing away on the keyboard. If the radio were come to life now, the characters would appear on the screen as mathematical integers, only to be converted into the native language of the BND sponsored soldiers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Understood Warlord, I can assume that this meeting is over unless you yourself have anything to add or ask, I will do my best to answer. If not, please give us a means to contact you when the weapons are ready, also if you could put together a data-package in regards to the enemy positions in this area, as well as key areas in the planet."

Etz'mor then offers his right hand forward, waiting for the hulking beast to take grasp of his mandible.

[Blitz]

The two Yelenov-6 pilots of the local F.O.B. sat at a table, playing cards. The copilot slaps down a full house. The pilot looks over his hand, then curses, slapping the cards down in frustration. The copilot laughs heartily pulls the chocolate bars that were placed in the center of the table towards him,"I'll thank your wife for the sweets, Captain." The pilot opens his mouth to retort, but three short alarm bursts rang throughout the facility, followed by the intercom clicking,"Argov-3, Argov-3, report to briefing." The two quickly wrapped up their card game, the copilot shoved the chocolates into his pockets and they made their way out the door.

________________________________________________

The Warlord looks down at the mandibles, turning his head to the side. He reaches down and wraps his hand around the top of the hand, holding it still.

[Mother Superior]

Etz’mor looks down at the awkward handshake that is about to take place, though he pans his gaze upwards and nods his head to the Warlord."If that can be done, Lord of War, we will have an easier time with everything."

The rest of the camp was getting settled in, most the fortifications were up and running, the final installment was the camo-netting being draped along the frigate, the rest of the stations and "shops" already have done such. The Special Forces First Sergeant rallied his team that had went out before and they moved back to into the bush. The moved to their previous ambush site, they looked it over and proceeded to follow the road where the UAZ had come. They moved slow enough to not be seen from the road, but fast enough to cover a moderate amount of ground.

[John_Roxton]

High Orbit of Zaa'nabar.

A small craft would enter the system, obviously un-manned as it resembled a satellite. It's FTL engine would cool down, the main core of the craft being fuel and the engine. Two solar panels would be extended, feeding power to the various computers and other devices. It would sit silent for a moment, no reactionary thrusters stopping it's slow rolling. After about a minute, it would broadcast on multiple channels, pre-recorded in the event of communication errors with the craft.

"This satellite is the property of the Coalition of Cleansed Territories, it has been sent on a mission of good will to the Zeleniy Republic, we ask you to wait until communications can be re-established and talks can begin.".

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