The Remnant Wars's: Part two~IC

Yuri looked at the stealth helicopter it was about the size of most transport helicopters, but instead of being curved it consisted of corners and flat surfaces. It was the first time Yuri had seen any kind of stealth aircraft, it was impressive. Most of the time he spent on the more heavily armored helicopters when getting to his location mostly because he would be dropped deep behind enemy lines, and all the valuable targets are usually more difficult to get to. Plus the extra armor and bigger fuel tank came in handy. On this mission the element of surprise was essential since they had to go several miles on foot and there would be more than just him this time.

Yuri looked over to see Kirby coming over to see the helicopter, Kirby and the rest of his team where already here when Yuri arrived 5 minutes ago. Kirby said to Yuri “so this is what’s going to take us to the objective? It looked like it got built yesterday, no dirt or nothing.” Yuri hadn’t realized how clean it was. Yuri said “that’s concerning” the last thing Yuri wanted to do was fly in something that hasn’t been tested. Out of knower Kirby said “I call shotgun” and ran for the helicopter. Yuri wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but if he wanted to be in front he would be disappointed since there are always two pilots in a helicopter, and he wouldn’t be able to fit that RPK of his up front anyway.

The black stealth aircraft canted slowly as it turned toward the east. From outside the helicopter there was almost no rotor noise. With no running lights the vehicle was all but invisible against the moonless night sky. To add to the security the pilots flew nap-of-the-earth, this technique would minimize their silhouette against the sky.

Saunders, Kirby, Yuri and the Squad all fit tightly inside the second stealth helicopter. Sara and her team were all piled into the first or lead helicopter. Saunders, as usual, didn't have a lot to say. He had covered the mission with the Squad, they had rehearsed and prepared extensively, now all that remained was to get to the objective and get going. However, once the mission started, Saunders would do a lot of thinking – Would the enemy detect them at the LZ? Would they have to come in hot? Did they have large caliber weapons or small arms? These were all questions and scenarios that Saunders ran through his mind, each time working through the team’s reactions in his mind. One thing Saunders was sure of, if the Remnant wanted a fight, they would give it to them.

They were flying in the air now, the dead landscape going by in a blur below Sara’s feet. She was nearest to the open doors of the helicopter. They were open so she could point out were to land. And being the highest ranking she would also be out first, the thing was… Her feet were practically dangling out of the helicopter, and looking down scared the life out of her. She closed her eyes, and listen to the wind blow by.

“That’s pretty far down huh? Man I’d hate to fall down there…No help coming to get ya this far in” said a young man about 16 Jackson Maybe..Jacksomething Sara couldn’t quiet remember. A new replacement. “Private, shut your mouth or I’ll do it for you” Sara said sternly into the coms. The private shut up after that. She was glad, he was voicing her own fears…

She gripped her rifle tightly, sweat prickling down her face, it’s hard to believe she ever was a polite.

The helicopter jolted up and down staying 15 feet from the landscape which was a technique called nap-of-the-earth, where you stayed 15 feet from any landscape. Tree’s rocks, dirt, anything so that the shadow of the earth would hide you better than if you were at the sky line; were the sky would give you away. Sara’s felt her gut twist painfully, she grinded her teeth and closed her eyes trying to keep what lunch she had left in.

As the helicopter flew Kirby looked at the landscape it had the usual burnt out trees and patches of dirt and grass. It’s the same everywhere you go except the ocean which is all water. Not wanting to think too hard about it he looked at the guy next to him. It was Yuri looking as menacing as ever, with his sniper rifle in his hands and all the straps of burlap all over the place.

Kirby asked him “why does a Russian sniper come all the way out here?” Yuri looked at him with the same look he had on all day. Kirby was pretty sure that he did it to look more menacing, but it didn’t scare Kirby at all and Yuri was starting to figure that out. Yuri said “I left looking for the ultimate kill.” Kirby a little confused and asked “which is what exactly, I mean with that bag of eyes I’d say there isn’t much of anything you haven’t killed”, Yuri had a grin on his face “a Dragon”. Kirby with surprise said “what like a modern day knight in shining armor, where is you fair maiden good sir” Kirby didn’t believe in all the Dragon myths going around. Yuri just looked at him displeased but not surprised, feeling bad Kirby said “sorry man I’m just not a believer in all that Dragon stuff, its hard enough beleving that the human race is going extinct.”

Before Yuri could respond they had arrived at the drop off point and had to do a rapid deployment. A rapid deployment is when they fly 15 feet above the ground and slide down a rope, like a fireman pole. The one down side is if you let go of the rope you would be falling 15 feet instead of sliding. Saunders went first, when doing rapid deployment the team lead always goes first. He slid down the rope and checked the area below, Kirby was next and raped his legs and arms around the rope and slid down, when he got to the bottom he did a quick look around the area and started watching for enemy activity from the south.

The squad quickly moved to their positions, riflemen on the flanks, machine gunner and grenadier in the center. They had practiced this 1000 times, both in combat and in training, and each man acted instinctively and without hesitation.

Sanders switched his visor to NVD (night Vision Device). The moonless night turned bright as mid-day as the previously dark shapes and shadows morphed into the green world of electronically produced night vision. Saunders could see the forest all around him. The scarred trees, burnt brush, blackened trails, and water filled shell holes. Obviously this location had been a battlefield, but now it was a hiding place for a team of desperate soldiers on a near-suicide mission, a hiding place Saunders hoped would not soon turn into their mass grave.

Sara's mind was a fog as she grabbed the rope and slid down the helicopter as it hovered. She felt her feet hit the ground with a painful thud, dazed for a moment but soon got herself and her team in order. She trotted across the scarred landscape over to Sergeant Sanders, "Sergeant." She said and went on not talking directly at him though but to everyone;

"From this moment on we will NOT use the coms. Or the Remnants will be here faster then a nuclear bomb. Whispering and hand singles only." She said looking behind her for Kemp.

Yuri and the rest of the team had been moving through the woods for about 2 hours now, moving fast enough to make time but slow enough to keep quiet. With them being deep behind remnant lines they didn’t what any unwanted attention, the only real advantage they had right know was surprise. They had ventured in to a field with grass going up to their waste, it wasn’t the most concealed rout but it was necessary if they wanted to get to the objective by morning. The team has formed in to two fire team wedge one was Saunders and the other one was Sara’s , a fire team wedge is when a squad lines up in v formation, as they went they did bounding over watch, which is when one team covers the area as the other moves up.

Yuri was moving up with Sara’s squad, he looked ahead to see a patch of trees ahead, they stopped to cover Saunders team as they moved up. Yuri climbed one of the trees as he covered them so he could see the area ahead, as he looked around he thought he heard the sound of scraping metal for a second. He gave everyone the signal to stop, he looked through his scope which was light up with knight vision, and he spotted a remnant patrol headed there way. He jumped down and told Sara “I spotted a remnant patrol headed our way, from the looks of it I’d say just basic remnant. How do you want to prosed?”

"How close are they?" Sara cursed silently, "We can't be seen in this open field, How many? What kind and how close are they?" Sara asked Yuri biting her lower lip as they crouched down on the grass.

Yuri said “they are about 400 yards south of us, there are 8 of them, all just basic remnant. From the looks of it they will be right on top of us in a matter of minutes” Yuri has been able to elude remnant patrols before but never with this many people. Yuri said “if I could make a suggestion lieutenant, the best thing we can do right now is go prone and try to let them pass.”

Kymer's eyes snapped open at an unfamiliar sound. It was a very dark night, no moon in the sky. The only light that he was aware of was the soft flickering light that shone off off of him. His brown eyes, peculiar for a Moltensteel Hellkite, scanned the cave that had been his home for the past week. He didn't move, so there was no indication that he was awake other than his eyes. He even kept breathing heavily as if he was asleep.

He didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and the sound was gone. It had kind of been like a whoosh, like something large and possibly mechanical and flown by. Maybe it had been one of those metal flying things Kymer had seen before. What was it called again? A lane? No, pane? Plane? Yes, that sounded right. Maybe it had been a plane. It was a really quiet one, though. He had barely heard it.

Or maybe there wasn't a sound at all, he could just be imagining it. It could have been a dream. Kymer sighed and sat up, banging his head on the roof of the cave. "Ow!" he yelped, ducking down again. Dust and small rocks cascaded from the cave's ceiling. "I really need to find a bigger cave." he muttered.

In the morning, I am going out to find a new cave. This place is too small and full of spiders. After a moment, Kymer's stomach rumbled. "That's juuuuust great." he muttered. Kymer lay down again and put his head between his front paws/feet. I wonder if I really heard that plane, or if I was just dreaming. That's the problem with sounds like that. They're so fleeting it's hard to tell.

Sara nodded grinding her teeth, she could already hear the clacking sounds of approaching Remnants, their shifting joints and gears always made that sound…The one not like any other sound she had heard from any robot earth had made. ONLY Remnants made that sound, a slow grinding whine that tone grew lower as the joints bended, and louder as they approached.

Sara glanced to her right, the grass they were in was thick, and tall it was a black-ish tan color, but if they hide they might go unnoticed. By the love of God she hoped they did, silently she prayed.

She then turned her head back to Yuri, he had said they were basic remnant, probably mostly junk bots then by the sound they were making. It was a more chunk, chunk whine sound then the other Remnant. She gave the single to go down, by taking her hand making it flat and pushing downwards and she said as loud as she dared “Down!” She whispered loudly. She held her breath unknowingly and went flat into prone, as flat as she could she checked they everyone got the command. And pressed herself as close to the ground as she could.
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Rook looked up into the night sky, the star shining bright, Maira had STILL not come back, she started to worrie and distracted herself by looking at the stars. Some were more blue or red then others, she watched this curiously.

Its amazing to think that those are as large as the earths Sun! And yet they looks so small! Theres so many, but their all different…All... Different in their own way… She suddenly felt a wave of loneliness but she didn’t know why. She had Maria, she had Ewan, Sharptalon. What was there to be alone about?

She didn’t know, she looked down and walk over to the edge of the cliff that was at the far eastern edge of Mari’s land. And looked downwards, at the rolling hills rocky landscape she wondered what earth use dot look like. Before the War, Before the Remnants came… Now it was barren and patches a green were scattered, rocks and cracks cliffs… Just barren emptiness. Barren…And….
Lonely.

Kymer's eyes snapped open. There it was again! That was no plane, it sounded too small and close! He sat up and reached for his bag. It was made of chain links and was big enough to stuff a couple of small people inside. But Kymer's bag wasn't full of people- it was full of explosives. Sticks of dynamite, hand grenades, basic bombs, nothing very high-powered. Kymer selected a stick of dynamite and held it in his hand, fuse poking out of it.

He narrowed his eyes. Whatever it was, it was right outside his cave. Kymer poked his head out and was scared at what he saw. It was one of those metal things! It looked just like the one that had woken him up a few weeks ago! Except this one was bigger and looked a whole lot scarier. Kymer growled softly and got ready to throw the dynamite. "Hey, ugly!" he yelled at it. "Take that!" Kymer spat a spark onto the fuse, lighting it. He threw the explosive right at the Remnant and grabbed his bag again.

As the explosive went off with a large BANG, Kymer ran out of the cave with his chain link bag, extended his wings, and took to the sky. Fortunately, the thing couldn't fly and hadn't known what hit it. Soon he was off of its sensors. Kymer debated extending to full length- he loved flying full size- but decided against it. He didn't want to attract unwanted attention, so he remained firmly at 35 feet long.

Kymer wasn't the quietest flier in the world, especially not right now. He tried to calm himself down and be quiet, but he was simply too freaked out about what had just happened.

((Obviously that wasn't a very good Remnant, was it?
Also anyone can find Kymer.))

Yuri got down like everyone else, he had strips of burlap and grass weaved into his cloves to break up his shape. Sara’s team had mostly tiger strip camo and Saunders team had a uniform that changed camo to what best fits, it didn’t make them invisible but it was still more effective than any one camo could be. Yuri envied him, he would have to ask where he got it.

Yuri could see the remnant coming into sight now, they looked old with their metal body looking faded and worn. They walked across the field unaware that they were being watched; they had walked right past Saunders team and were getting close to Sara’s team. They walked right in front of them literally within inches of stepping on Yuri, he could see the bottom of there foot as they walked away. Yuri looked at Sara and said “that was to close, let’s hope there aren’t many patrols until we get to the objective.”

Rook watched the landscape below, as the owls and night birds sang their silent song. The moon shone full above, its ray casting all about below her. Shining on smooth rocks shining on her scales, on the barren land; and giving it a glowing look… She wondered, what would happen if the remnants returned?
Her thoughts were distracted by a small explosion far below, its red and orange flames blowing up then diminishing as quickly as they came. Curious, she open her large cyan and blue wings, many thought ran through her mind. Was it the Remnants? The humans? No, no… It was probably nothing she was sure. Just some human thing… But…
It didn’t hurt to go look.
She jumped off the edge and unfolded her wings catching the air and falling down gracefully and fast. She flapped them once, and twice catching a wind current and flying off into the sky. What could have made that? She wondered, was someone hurt? Maybe she could help them, she flied circles above where she had seen it trying to see if anyone was down in the small barren forest. She was looking down….
But not up.
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Clank clank creak whine

Clank clank creak whine

Clank CLANK CREAK WHINE

The sound was like a recorder, play over and over and over again in Sara’s ears. Every time it got louder, ever step the Remnants took made her heart jump. Every sound scared her, the adrenalin pump into her blood, and she tried her best to stay calm.
She closed her eyes and she could have sworn one passed right by her by INCHES. Finely they were gone after what seemed ages and everyone could breath again. Sara let out a breath, and waited another five minutes before answering Yuri saying “Yes lets hope. Is everyone okay?” She asked standing up.

Kymer saw something cyan and silvery fly by underneath him, towards where he had just been. He flared his wings and turned around, hovering mid-air before deciding to follow it. It looked vaguely like a dragon, yet he couldn't tell in this darkness. The bad of explosives clinked and he sped up.

I can't let whoever it is get hurt by that thing. Realizing he had to stop it somehow, Kymer drew in breath and roared at the top of his lungs. The roar shook the landscape and caused the Remnant to fall. His wingbeats lost all pretense of trying to remain silent and Kymer descended several feet in a spiraling pattern. It would be nearly impossible to not see him, glowing as he was and a whole lot larger than...whatever this silvery-blue thing was.

Kirby and the rest of Saunders team moved through the field, after that last close encounter they started slowing down a little, makes it easier to hear to their surroundings. Kirby was in the rear, looking behind them every so often to make shore enemies weren’t fallowing. Kirby was used to being in the rear, there were many times they had enemies sneak up on them, and the fire power of his RPK would slow them down enough for the rest of the team to get in to cover.

They suddenly came to a small hill and in the distance they could see a large where house. Sara gave the signal for rally point and everyone got in to a circle formation, Kirby got up next to Saunders. They could see the warehouse in the distance, about 400 yards away. It was a pretty significant size big enough to fit two passenger planes wing to wing, the building had nothing around it except ditches and some large rocks on the right side. But from this distance he couldn’t see any details, but that is why Yuri was here. Right at that moment Yuri was coming over after talking with Sara.


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Yuri got next to Saunders, and said “I just did a scan of the area, they have remnant gurading the base of the building. From the two sides I can see they have four in the front and five on the right side all with standard remnant rifles except one on the right that has what looks like an LMG. They look like they are trying to stay hidden but there cleaner metal stands out with all the rust behind them. From this angle I have no idea what's on the other side of the building “. Yuri was used to giving these kind of information over the radio, in fact it’s easier with Saunders right in front of him because Saunders can see the big picker himself. Yuri then said “the LT wants your input on the situation and how to approach it”

"OK Yuri, good job" Saunders replied.

"We will have to use the drainage culvert to infiltrate the base defenses". (Saunders was referring to a large and deep concrete drainage pipe that ran from within the base and out to an exterior drainage field. From their current location the men could travel along the culvert and get just under the wall before their progress would be block by a horizontally attached metal filter grate that was designed to allow water to flow out and yet prevent animals from entering in).

"I will go forward with Kirby to recon the route and assess the strength of the grate inside the base wall", Saunders continued. With the special cutting tools we brought we should be able to quietly cut away the grate supports. If that goes well I will radio for the rest of the team to move forward.

"Yuri, when I radio back to you I need you to create a distraction so the guards attention will be turned from the grate and the wall as we get close to it - can you do that?" Saunders asked.

Yuri had remembered an old truck they passed just before they got here, it gave him a good idea for a distraction. Yuri said “not a problem, I have a good idea for a distraction that won’t make it seem like they are being attacked.”

Sara stood beside Saunders and nodded unconsciously as he spoke, “Good plan Saunders.” She said “once you and Kirby recon the grate ahead call us forward on the COM’s, and we’re will move forward and into the grate. “ Sara said and added to everyone “Try to be stealthy, if they get a single off or see one of us we’re good as dead. The remnant are hiding something in there, we’re here to find out what.”
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Rook glanced around, what was that? A dragon? A plane? She had no clue and this confused her, she hovered for a second flying in circles; then decided to go after this…’thing’ whatever it was. She caught a air current and slowly just her wing span and glided with it some meters above the glowing large flying thing. She gave out a roar as a call to the thing.

Kymer flared his wings and pulled up next to the cyan thing. He could see now that it was a type of dragon or something like one. He shifted the bag of explosives to his other shoulder. "I couldn't let you get near that metal thing, they're hurt me before. Name's Kymer Firebolt, engineer and Moltensteel Hellkite." He studied the other dragon and noted that it was not a type he'd seen before. Weird feet was his first thought.

Rook was unsure but nodded at the new dragon, "Well Kymer I'm Rook, RaptorWing. What are you doing all out here? I thought most of the dragons went back underground, besides the Chronicler and a few others I know of." Rook say having to raise her voice over the wind.

Kymer blinked and tilted his head to the left. "Nice to meet you Rook, but, uh, what's a RaptorWing? And who's the..Chronicler?" His voice was also raised above the wind. "I think we should land somewhere to talk. It's loud up here." The wind toyed with the chain link bag, causing Kymer to put it on his other shoulder again.

Saunders and Kirby slowly made their way along the culvert toward the grate. Saunders knew that this close to the Remnant, one misstep, one sound could give them away and get them all killed. He moved carefully, looking at the spot he would place each step, laying his foot down heel to toe, each movement agonizing and slow. Kirby was careful to place his feet exactly where Saunders had stepped, following step-by-step in perfect rhythm with his leader.

After what seemed like an eternity, Saunders and Kirby approached the grate. They knew Yuri was watching them through his sniper scope, and so perhaps radio COM's would not even be needed...

Rook nodded "Very well I agree!" She yelled over the wind "After you?!" She called she was being nice but wasn't going to take to many chances...Just in case.
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Sara watched the team is the moved biting her lower lip, hopping all went well.

Yuri had moved to the left of the rest of the group closer to the truck he found earlier. He was looking through his sniper scope watching Saunders and Kirby, after a short time they had made it to the grate. Yuri know that this was when he was suppose to make the distraction, He went over to the truck put it in neutral, and started pushing. It was already on the slop of the hill, so it was just a matter of getting gravity to do its job. After a few seconds it started to roll down the hill on its own, it got faster and faster until it was doing at least 50 miles an hour, by which time the remnant took notice. It rolled past the left side of the warehouse like Yuri had hoped, it finally came to a sudden stop in a ditch with a big crash noise. All the remnant surrounding the building quickly ran over to see what it was, leaving the side Saunders and Kirby are on completely empty.