1120hrs Day Three Killrock

1120 hours Day Three Killrock

 1. The Last Stand at the Mesa

 General Manning stood there on the Twin Peaks as his surviving Rangers have all mounted the slopes. They are going to hold the last stand here. He was down to four hundred Rangers; alive but mostly wounded. He can see Squad Five climbing up to his position.

 "Lieutenant Basilus, I ought to promote you for being here." General Manning shook the hand of his Lieutenant. "But you would refuse me as always."

"Thank you, Sir. But I think we got a battle coming up. If we survived, I would consider." Basilus replied. "That is the truth, Sir."

The General could not reply as the Draconian had crashed in at the slopes. Basilus had charged down the slope as his last few members of the squad was down there. He raced down and without stopping; he jumped off a rock outcrop with his rifle blasting away at the Draconian below. It was a twenty metres fall at this height but he had landed on some Draconian at the bottom.

"Yah!" Basilus threw away the emptied rifle and kicked out with his legs at the downed Draconian. He drew out his PH450 in the right hand and serrated blade on the left hand. He ran up to the nearest Draconian whose back was to him and cut at the back of the left knee. The Draconian fell on his knees and Basilus laid the PH450 at the back of the Helm and pulled the trigger. The gun projectile blew up the Draconian head and its contents to the front of it Helm.

Basilus felt the mallet hit at his chest but the breast plate saved his life; it took most of the blow and cracked the plate. He fell back and all his weapons fell off his hands. He rolled over in pain and the Draconian pushed on for another blow, but he was shot by Pete holding the PH375. Pete ran forth to check on his leader, and smiled when he saw Basilus still breathing.

Pete pulled him up and passed him another PH450 into his hand. Basilus looked daze but he was slowly collecting his thoughts. He nodded at Pete and both of them rushed forth to confront another Draconian.

Mira who was shot earlier laid the rifle on the stone ledge and fired it at the available target with her PH750. Every time she fired, the rifle recoiled back at her body causing great pain but she was still firing. Her partner, Marc was laying near her, but he was flinging fragment grenades.

"Mira, are you okay?" Marc had asked her five times in the last ten minutes and she was irritated at that.

"Yes, I am." Mira shouted back. "Don't asked me again."

Mira fired one more round and then discarded the rifle. She reached for the PH450 and fired away. The handgun was ineffective at this range and with her injury, she was not getting the target she wanted.

"Use this one." Duncan threw another PH750 next to Mira. "Let me handle the smaller handgun."

Mira dropped the PH450 and picked up the rifle. She felt more comfortable with the sniper rifle and took her shots again.

Duncan picked up the PH450 and holstered it. He then picked up a discarded PH375 and checked the ammo. It was empty so he threw away the rifle. He then saw the serrated blade handed to him by Jimmy, his other surviving crew. Duncan weighed the blade and smiled.

"Its about the same weight as the wrench. I am good at it." Duncan smiled and then both of them rushed down to the Draconian line. He saw Basilus battling the Draconian with another Ranger at the side, but they are outnumbered two  to one. Both Duncan and Jimmy rushed over and stood by the Scouts.

"Room for more?"There was never time for an answer as the Draconian charged them with the bloodied mallets but the charge did not come as the Draconian were thrown back by a Thor missile exploding behind them. The same explosion also threw back the Rangers. Basilus looked up into the hot sun and saw the most welcome sight.

"Storm Troops.." Basilus muttered to himself. The skies were all covered with dropping Storm Troops; the Federation Rapid Deployment Forces like the Rangers except this troopers are all mechanical droids. They are dropped in battle zone to change the odds like the one which was affecting the Ranger. The Storm Trooper looked like any Ranger except they are taller at two metres height and carry a mini cannon in their hands with the ammo pack on their back.

The Trooper dropped down and stood there with the legs braced for the recoil on the cannon. It then fired off the mini cannons at the Draconian from the right and left. A draconian shot at the Trooper but the shot just deflected off its chest plate. It was all metal inside the droid and hydraulic pipes. More Troopers dropped down on the slopes with their legs braced and their mini cannon shooting away at the Draconian.

The second wave was the ten drones which are flight bound mechanical crafts with a wingspan of ten metres armed with missiles that can penetrate armor thickness. Their target were the Tigers and Vampires.

The third wave were the Controllers; Tech Officers who controls all these mechanical droids and drones.

"Major Blaine." The Major introduced himself to the General. "My apologies for being late but we were caught on Dinesh V. The Draconian have just declared war on the Federation. They have hit at seven outpost, four colony and five remote station."

The General looked at the Major and await the next line.

"Sir, we are limited in units and have to do our best to get here." Major Blaine liked to deal with droids; they don't frown at you.

"Clean up anytime." The Draconian have withdrawn back to their lines, but the mechanical Storm Trooper are not pursuing.

"General, we are to evacuate the Rangers. Those were the orders." Major Blaine told the General. "Sir, the Rangers have done their mission at Selvan VIII. We have officially declared war on the Draconian as of 1200hrs."

"So this was one of those which the Rangers undergo for the Federation? You wanted them to slaughter a Division to justify a large scale war. " General Manning looked at the Major Blaine. "I don't expect you to reply, Major. I been in those Command Center to know about it; and most times its after the mission was launched."

"Sir, can we evacuate the Rangers?" Major Blaine asked again, as he was keen to move out too.

General Manning nodded. The 1^st Division of the Rangers are always ready to served and to die for their service to the Federation.

"General, can I have the Black Box that was on the freighter?" Major Blaine asked the General.

"The Black Box remains with me. I would personally hand it to the Command."

Major Blaine saluted and went back to his task.