The Siege Against Tolkeen

Donald Hartman completely climbed out of his Super SAMAS for the first time in a week. It felt good to smell the fresh air, good to be feel the cool breeze blowing on his skin. But then, he began to smell something else, something entirely unpleasant . "Hey, buddy?" he said to the Coalition crewman who was tuning up his power armor. "Can you tell me where the showers are?"

"Sure," said the mechanic, struggling to fit a fresh piece of armor plating onto the SAMAS's chest. "Down to the right of the barracks, in a big grey building. Can't miss 'em."

"Thanks," said Hartman, hurrying away. "Oh, and be sure to empty my suit's septic tank, okay? After a week in the field, it's probably pretty ripe."

The mechanic, shrugging this latest job off as merely another menial task, grabbed up a suction tube and opened up the small septic tank concealed in the robot's inner thigh. He was totally unprepared for the stench which emitted from within, and for the first time in 12 years truly regretted his job. He spent the next 15 minutes vomiting into a garbage can.

Upon taking a long, very hot shower and changing into a fresh uniform, Hartman emerged from the showerhouse and took a good long look at the Coalition airfield. It wasn't much, just a series of crudely made ferrocrete runways and a few control towers, hangars, and barracks. On each corner was positioned an anti-aircraft weapon. Normally, this place would be merely another air base, nothing to get excited about. But today, it was so much more.

The robotic suits of his Black Dog squadron were standing in a line, as if they were at attention, while a team of mechanics worked to clean them, reload their weapons, and repair their armor. Nearby, 24 Warbirds and 6 Scout Cycles were getting the same treatment. A great number of Nightwing and Talon jet fighters were being wheeled out from their hangars onto the runway, where they stood side by side with a wing of AF-17 Diamond Backs. Behind the base was a gigantic Air Castle bomber, far too large to fit onto the meager runways. Pilots, mechanics, and guards were all over, in a chaotic struggle to prepare for the air attack.

A mercenary clad in ragtag body armor walked up to him. "You Donald Hartman?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"The brass told me to find you. There's a briefing in the control room which you need to attend. Follow me." The two men walked over to the air control tower.

"You must be pretty good if the CS hired you," said Hartman to the merc. "I've never heard of them hiring headhunters before."

"We're pretty good," said the mercenary modestly. "My squad, the Thunder Riders, specializes in high-altitude, precision strikes against urban targets. That happens to be exactly what's needed here, so they hired us. It's actually just the Air Castle that they really want."

"I thought those things were illegal."

"You'd be surprised how many of its own laws the Coalition's willing to break." With that, the two men walked inside, where the other pilots were already seated. Hartman and the mercenary sat down, and waited for the briefing to begin.

Meanwhile, in Tolkeen, Possman was briefing Perrin about the upcoming bombing, in a locked bathroom. "They're gonna pick us up at 02:04:Bravo, which I think is the marketplace," said the ranger. "A couple of Sky Cycles slip away from the battle, pick us up, and then haul ass back to the nearest base, while the bombers arclight that fucking pyramid."

"It's about friggin' time," said Perrin happily, lighting up a cigarette. "You know, I wondered if I was ever going to get out of this place. It's hell, man. Nothing but magic and evil here. I was beginning to crack up."

"At least you had these guys to keep you safe."

"YOU try dealing with these lunatics for a month, and tell me that they're safe! They're led by a crazy, for cryin' out loud! They shot the guy who saved my life, did you know that? Buncha rat bastards."

"Well, your nightmare is over, Jack," said Possman. "Because tomorrow, this city is going to burn, and you are going to get back to human civilization. But you know, I've got a question for you. What made you want to come to this shithole in the first place? Loyalty? Money? What is it?"

Perrin's knee-jerk response was money. But just before that answer could come out of his mouth, he took a moment to ponder the situation, and the events leading up to his acceptance of the Coalition's offer. "Vengeance," he said softly.

Possman looked at him oddly.

"I want to do two last things before I leave this city forever," said Perrin. "First off, I'm going to organize a halfway decent strike against their air defenses, so that the CS can nuke this city a bit better. These cannon fodder terrorists will be perfect for that. And second, I want to see this place blow up real good."

The skinhead clicked off his tape recorder. He had heard plenty. His Juicer friend would hear of this, and tomorrow they could blow their fleeing "leader" to hell. And, if somehow they failed in their mission, well then, the rest of the HFA could hear the tape and find out just how much their master really thought of them.

Back at the air force base, Hartman looked around the briefing room as the bald, uniformed general got up to speak. The SAMAS squad leader was amazed by what he saw. Almost every pilot in the CS with a good rep was here. It must have been murder, even in a regimented military, to select and assemble such a prime team. If the super-weapon was so important that everyone here was needed to knock it out, then Hartman knew the thing must be inspiring some major fear in the leaders of the Coalition.

"I will not kid you," began the general. "Your upcoming mission will be very difficult, and many of you will probably not survive it. The most insidious weapon ever produced by demonkind is near completion, and if humanity is to survive, the super-weapon must be destroyed now. Tolkeen's air defenses are indeed mighty, but with luck and talent we shall prevail."

"The city walls of Grand Alamar are equipped with several formidable air defenses. They have mystical rift generators, as well as anti-aircraft lasers and several SAM launchers. Many of the rooftops in Tolkeen are equipped with mini-missile batteries . Light planes patrol their airspace, along with hatchling dragons and even some air elementals. As you can see, this is a varied, fairly comprehensive defense plan. However, it is also unwieldy and slow to react. We believe that if you attack swiftly at low altitudes, then you should be able to catch them out of their element and destroy the pyramid before they can muster a strong defense."

"The attack plan is as follows. The power armor soldiers and sky cycles flank the bombers, taking out rooftop batteries and enemy fliers for them. They go in at low altitude, skirting the rooftops. Meanwhile, the mercenary company's planes go in at high altitude, as far up as your planes can go. The Diamond Backs flank the Air Castle, taking out any SAMs and fliers that the bomber's defenses might miss. However, you are not to fire at any low-altitude or ground targets. This is because of Tolkeen's most insidious defense...an illusionary spell which blankets the city. At high altitude, you can't trust your perceptions."

"So how is the Castle supposed to bomb that super-weapon?" asked a mercenary.

"One of the sky cycles has been equipped with a laser distancing device," replied the general. "It will feed the thing's coordinates into the Air Castle's onboard targeter. Once the Talon bombers have exhausted their missiles, they are to begin the retreat, and signal the Air Castle to commence its bombing run. Are there any other questions?"

A young Sky Cycle pilot raised his hand. "What does the super weapon look like, sir?"

"We're not really sure," replied the general. "It should be the largest structure in the city. Odds are, it's either a pyramid, a cannon, or an obelisk of some sort. We think you'll know it when you see it. Are there any other questions?"

No hands were raised.

"All right then," he said, saluting them. "Good hunting!" The pilots rose, and dashed off to their vehicles.

Next Chapter

By David Haendler.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 David Haendler. All Rights Reserved.