The Witiko's monster moved in ten-yard strides toward Trevor who ran for his life.
Ignoring the annoying sting of rifle fire, the creature pursued, sensing an opportunity to strike a heavy blow to humanity's Empire.
Stone bolted to the north, sprinting across the parking lot around a black-painted military Humvee with a California Cooperative insignia two seconds before one of the monster's feet squashed that vehicle.
Trevor's hand found the chameleon generator button and switched it on. He felt the camouflage of the suit power up. The mesh covering flickered and morphed into tones of gray and black to blend with the pavement and shadows of the complex.
The creature's eyes, however, swept the ground like the searchlights they appeared to be. The cones of light found Trevor easily enough. Trevor ran faster, whipping around the corner of the northern-most building and bolting to his left-. He stopped. Trevor stood alongside the tanks, pumps, and cisterns of a fuel station. The ground shook again. A shadow turned the corner, following Trevor. He heard the hissing of the Witiko officer's jetpack. Trevor pulled two grenades from pouches on his battle suit and yanked off the pins.
Glowing cones of light from the beast's eyes swept the pavement in search of its quarry. A massive rock-like oval foot pounded down.
Trevor tossed the grenades. One rattled against a small cistern, the other between two fuel pumps. Then he ran again. His legs pumped hard and he eyed a green dumpster sitting in a lonely alcove near a pair of doors marked "Cafeteria."
The gigantic rock-thing passed the fuel depot just as the grenades detonated. One blasted the fuel pumps, sending a streak of burning liquid up like a geyser. The second explosion ignited the fumes inside the cistern.
Trevor dove behind the dumpster and covered his head.
A stormy inferno engulfed the rock-creature, scorching its stony plating and igniting the red tendons between those plates. Its round mouth expanded wide and it bellowed so hard a gust of wind roared over the rooftops. The flames slipped beneath its exoskeleton and torched tender parts.
Scraps of metal from the tanks and pumps dropped around the dumpster. A wave of heat covered the entire area.
When Trevor emerged, he found flames consuming the entire beast. The giant screamed as it cooked alive.
Just as Trevor realized he had survived another against-odds encounter, the creature toppled forward, forcing him to run for his life once again. A moment later the beast crashed into the building above the dumpster.
He stopped running and watched the surreal sight of the motionless, burning monster. Its Witiko master hovered overhead, stymied by the sudden change in fortune but only for a moment; he presented an easy target for Oliver Maddock's sniper rifle. The silvery goon fell from the sky into the burning pile.
Trevor, half amused and half aghast, walked backwards away from the destruction, trying to escape the foul smell of burning monster-flesh as well as the waves of intense heat emanating from the pyre.
His ass-end bumped into something fleshy. Before he realized that he had bumped into another person, that other person sent him head over feet in a judo flip. Trevor landed hard on the concrete looking up at the silenced end of a pistol barrel…and two blue eyes under blonde hair. Nina's hard expression turned to shock as she realized whom she had flipped and pointed a gun at. Her jaw unhinged. "Oh shit," she muttered and holstered the weapon. Trevor, still on the ground, gazed at her. "Um, Captain Forest. Well done."
She helped him to his feet, then also helped him brush debris off his battle suit. Swells of heat blew around them from the mass of burning creature.
"I'm sorry. I mean, I'm sorry, sir."
She frantically tried to dust him off as if dusting him off could also dust away the embarrassment. He grabbed her hands and stopped the dusting..
Soldiers from the strike team hurried around the bonfire to come to the aid of their leader.
"I mean it," he said. "You're the best, you know."
Trevor realized he still held her hands. He let them go, nodded, and retrieved his rifle from the ground. And while he no longer held her hands, he held her attention for a while longer.
6. Brothers in Arms
The Witiko Stealth Field Generator at Beale went dark on March 27 ^ th.
The next day, the garrison at Callahan surrendered without a shot to a small force from General McAllister's Mechanized division. Many of those Cooperative turncoats accepted advisory positions in Stonewall's ranks while the rest simply went home.
More Californians followed the Callahan example. Over the next ten days, coastal defenses along the northwest shoreline at Crescent City and Trinidad Head either sat out the balance of the war or actively assisted The Empire's advance from the north.
Without the advantage of the stealth field, Cooperative jets lost control of the skies north of San Francisco. Two dreadnoughts-the Chrysaor and the Excalibur — with their compliment of air superiority fighters, fighter-bombers, and support craft cut in from Oregon and Nevada. Witiko Stingray cruisers engaged in hit and run attacks but failed to stem the advance.
On April 5 ^ th, after enduring constant air bombardment and facing the threat of two inbound dreadnoughts, the defenders at Weed slipped away on Interstate 5, hoping to re-form to the south at Shasta Lake.
Imperial Apaches and A-10s chased the retreating columns, finding and destroying almost every ground vehicle. That destruction came at a high price as Stingrays knocked four choppers and two Warthogs from the sky.
On April 12 ^ th elements of General Tom Prescott's 2 ^ nd Corp., crossed from Arizona into Southern California along Interstates 40 and 10 covered by General William Hoth's Philippan.
A massive air battle inside the dead zone of The Cooperative's southern Stealth Field Generator just outside of Barstow ensued a day after the new front opened. The Philippan suffered nearly fifty crew killed when a California F-16 scored a direct hit on a crowded flight deck. However, the stoic General Hoth-serving as Captain aboard the ship-showed his customary resolve and pushed forward despite holes in the Philippan's superstructure and shrinking reserves of heat-seeking anti-air missiles.
His fortitude bore fruit on April 15 ^ th when the Pennsylvania 1 ^ st Armored Division blasted through well-manned ramparts east of Newberry Springs and rushed the Stealth Generator at the old Marine Corp Logistics base.
On that same day, the Excalibur obliterated the heavy artillery, well-dug entrenchments, and Witiko officers of two hundred stubborn hold outs barricaded inside government buildings in Sacramento. Brewer used the ship's 'belly boppers'; powerful energy weapons based on technology stolen from the Redcoats.
At that point-with three of the mighty ships moving with near-impunity over the state's skies-garrisons south of San Francisco reconsidered their allegiance.
Still, the Witiko used what cruisers still functioned to cover retreating loyal soldiers and managed to mount local counter-attacks to buy time. Time for what, however, became a question because unlike The Empire, no relief force waited in the wings and their war stocks dwindled.
After his mission at Beale, Trevor shuttled between dreadnoughts, forward operating bases, and the various fronts but remained relatively out of the line of fire.
This did, however, expose Trevor to what he had hoped to avoid: news from home. Or, rather, the political and PR battle.
While most of the media praised the military's success, some commentators and reporters-not to mention a certain Senator-remained focused on casualties.