• Tiger rolled behind the large rock, tucking his gun to his ribs he crouched next to Black. With a quick glance out from behind it he looked back at Black and motioned.
    “What?!” Black hissed.
    “Ya got any ammo for the M16 just laying around? I kinda ran out man”.
    Black quickly fumbled around his belt to find extra clips as he looked around and surveyed the battlefield. He found a spare magazine and tossed it to Tiger. Tiger ejected and replaced the clip as Black stared intently at the massive squadron of tanks and other assorted vehicles that had assembled into the canyon.
    “So”, said Tiger as he raised his rifle to the ready position, “do ya reckon this plan is going to work? I mean, I know what you all say about Seloth and all…but this kinda battle plan is a little..iffy in my opinion. I’m not to sure about the guy as a human being for instance. I mean”, he motioned over in the direction of the ground assault, “he seems so…wild.”
    “yes. I have complete confidence in that man. I know he seems rather insane, but I’ve never seen his plains ever fall into ruin. He’s a tactical genius. I believe its that very insanity that helps him pull off such extensive plans without a single error or mistake.” Black raised his head a little, then looked over at Tiger with a minor smirk. “Besides, it’d be a real bummer to him if he made a mistake and Max died. Then he’d have no one strong enough to oppose him anymore.”


    Seloth leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding a blast from a Leeit’s rifle. He rolled under a second shot and closed the distance between him and his enemy. With a chuckle he brought his sword down on his enemy’s head, slicing into the skull in a spurt of blood. A second Leeit guard charged at him with a small dagger. Seloth laughed as he grabbed it by the wrist and maneuvered to the side and twisted. A sickening cracking noise was heard as the bone snapped and ligaments tore. As the enemy spiraled onto the ground, Seloth stabbed it in the gut, laughing wildly as blood gushed up from the wound. He ran across the dry earth and slashed at yet another leeit, slicing it in half at the waist. With a smirk he tapped the comm button on the device on his right ear.
    “Max, I believe it is safe enough to launch that little counter attack of yours”. He released the button and looked around. He saw multiple soldiers advancing in on him. “well now”, he said as he licked his lips, “looks like the show is about to become so much more fun.”

    Max stood calmly in the Neetoken flag ship’s bridge. His arms crossed he stared down at the display on the console before him. Its blue readouts telling him the position and condition of the carnage below him. He looked over his shoulder at the Neetoken shipmaster standing directly behind him.
    “Do you understand the plan, Shipmaster Neziarat?”
    “Not entirely. You guys have a rather strange way of putting things into words”, responded Neziarat with a faint smile.
    Max nodded a quick, curt nod. “Alright, fair enough. Okay, as you know, we stationed faintly above the cloud line. Seloth just gave the go-ahead. All we have to do is drop the fleet into visibility and immediately release all fighters in every hanger bay available. As soon as the fighters go out, the Earth Federation should release their aircraft as well. This will be our counter attack to the Leeit forces. Don’t worry about us being out numbered though. I asked for a flak curtain. I’m positive Seloth found me one.”
    Neziarat chuckled softly. “You humans certaintly have the confidence, don’t you?”
    “I never fight a battle I cannot win. Trust me though: we WILL defeat them.”

    Tiger sprinted across the dry earth, rushing to get behind another boulder. A leeit fighter sprayed shots into the ground as it swooped by. Tiger flinched as several of the shots hit Federation troops in the chest, dropping them. They hit the ground smoking from the lasers that had pierced their chest. He could feel his blood pulsing in his veins as he dived behind the boulder he had set his sights on. He peeked over the boulder and peered down his M16’s iron sights towards the advancing Leeit troop front. The hulking mass of enemies opened fire on the Federation front, forcing him to duck again.
    “Cripe. I can’t even get close with this mess. How can I do this? Let’s see…”
    He looked over the boulder and peered down the sights again, his heart thumping and adrenaline coursing. He picked a target and fired. The bullets pegged the soldier in the chest, jerking it back in a faint spray as it collapsed onto the ground with a dull thud.

    Seloth smiled as the Leeit forces charged forward towards the Federation forces. With a wild laugh he used a tank as a spring board and leapt into the fray, landing in between five soldiers. He swept his sword in a quick horizontal motion, slicing one that was on his left completely in half. He quickly twisted his body and brought his sword downward in an arch, slicing the soldier’s gun that was on his right in half. Then he flicked his sword again taking it’s head of, chuckling slightly as he did so. He tapped the comm. Device on his ear again as he skillfully evaded enemy attacks.
    “ This is Seloth to the Earth Federation forces. Remember that little flak curtain I ordered earlier? I say the time has come. Fire at will men.”
    Every one of the vehicles aimed their barrels up at the sky, where the shrill screams of leeit engines were heard screeching as they flew around. Explosions thundered and echoed throughout the canyon as they opened fire, throwing up a thick cloud of smoke. Rounds arched through the air as modified tank shells arched and exploded into clusters. Several leeit fighters exploded in the air while many more smoked on impact and streamed down from the sky into the ground, exploding on impact with the tough, dry ground. Other fighters maneuvered through the flak, skillfully evading shots and falling fighters, attempting to push on with the battle. The Leeit carriers and battleships up in the sky countered, fireing larg slugs of plasma and dense particles down toward the grounded army. Several vehicles were hit by the shots and exploded, sending shrapnel and bits of machinery streaming several hundred feet into the air.
    A massive roar was heard as the Neetoken fleet suddenly dropped below the cloudline. Radios crackled into a frenzy as multiple voices burst online and fighters streamed forth from the fleet, followed by the pulsating roar of the Federation’s fighter jets swooping across the canyon to join the aerial assault. Several Neetoken ships shuddered and shook as they fired their massive slugs of molten scrap metal at the Leeit fleet. Every one of the shots hit dead-center, instantly causing several of the Leeit ships to emit clouds of smoke from the damaged section. One of the Leeit battleships was blown in half as multiple shells hit it mid-ship. The ship creaked and groaned as the two halfs plummeted towards the ground, impacting harshly. Loud explosions were heard as the two halfs exploded, almost completely demolishing them. Wounded men thumped out of what remained, attempting to get away, while some of the lucky sprang out of it, guns raised.
    Smoke trails traced the sky as the Federation and Neetoken fighters let their missles fly. Tracers shone as bullets and lasers slashed through the air, followed by explosions and firey bits of shrapnel as chunks of craft from both sides exploded and dropped from the sky.