CHAPTER NINE: GOTCHA!

Dalandzadgad
Gobi Desert, Mongolia
0930 hrs
September 30,2030


     Alexei Kazansky, commander of the Mongolian Atrox Expeditionary Force, had only to look up at the sky, filled with enemy vessels and he knew he was betrayed. And he had fallen into a trap.

     "Damn Kindjal", he cursed under his breath as bombs exploded all over him and his beleaguered and outnumbered force.

     Kazansky seemed to revert to a flashback mode, trying to determine how he had fallen into this situation-and how he had been manipulated. For weeks, ever since he had been assigned to Mongolia by Yevgeny Charnenko himself, his Atrox forces had been holing up in Dalandzadgad on the northern tip of the Gobi Desert.
They had not encountered any PLA opposition in their entry and it had remained that way as they further settled and established bases along that particular strip of territory. But they seemed to be waiting to long. Not even a single Chinese unit was detected in their close proximity. And so, the long period of inactivity began to take its toll of Kazansky and his army.

     Until that morning. Kazansky's second-in-command, Colonel Kindjal, had gicen him a message by word, that a small PLA contingent was moving closer to their position and had given him the coordinates. And Kazansky had hurriedly ordered the entire force mobilized and sent to the said location.

     If Kazansky had not been so eager for action after months of doing nothing, and if he had taken in more time to actually confirm the report, the present situation would have been averted. And furthermore, if he had utilized more his Spetnaz agents in the Atrox Army, he would have known that Kindjal had a hidden agenda. And Kazansky was on the wrong side of that agenda.

     As it was, Kazansky had acted without thinking much, and now disaster had reared its ugly head for him and those under his command.

     Instead of the few PLA fledgings that Kazansky had expected to encounter, he instead had smashed his army into the bulk of the PLA Mongolian Command, under Gen. Nicolette Joan Blanchfleur. Unlike the Atrox, the Chinese had been busy for the past few months, combing the south and the Gobi Desert, destroying every small Atrox outpost that was unlucky enough to encounter them. As it was, the Krasnorussians were both outmanned and outgunned, and their badly planned rush at the Chinese was working against them.

     Kazansky's infantry, though backed up by Nerushmiy tanks, fell back agaisnt the crushing onslaught of the PLA Elite Guards, and those unprotected Russian troops who were retreating were finished off by the Dragon Tanks waiting for them at the far ends of the battlezone. The Krasnorussians stalled their retreat with their chemical weapons, but it was evident the were in the down side and that the Chinese were merely shifting position for new assaults. Kazansky thought that the day could not get worse. But the worst was still to come.

     Aided by his gas bombs, Kazansky personally led a charge across the sieged Chinese position in his Nerushmiy. The force he led seemed to be making gains, blasting away some PLA infantry fodder. Then came the Japanese.

     They came aboard their mechs. The sky suddenly was darkened with their arrival. They were an imposing sight, with their gleaming and jagged armor. Each mech was piloted by a single Jap. The mechs were not uniform in size, shape and their weapons. Some had gattling gun emplacements in their arms, some had long synthesized blades popping out of several locations. These types resembled human form the most. Their movements were so fluid, almost like having minds of their own instead of having human pilots. Others were bulky. These types released missiles and bombs. And behind them, was the largest of them all, a meg-mech standing over a hundred feet tall, broad and imposing. The Japs called it the
Izanagi.

     Kazansky, like everyone else was stunned at the sight of the Izanagi. But his shock soon faded away. "Japs?! Mechs?!", he thought. He was outraged. The Japanese Directorate had signed a non-aggression pact with Charnaiz even before the Krasnorussian-Chinese conflict. What were they doing allied with the PLA? Kazansky was determined to survive and tell the tale. But that was the problem. He ordered the Brutes against the mechs. It was already a desperate effort. Some mechs could fly, and the Brutes were stupid. They jumped on the mechs, which most took immediately to the air, swinging back and forth and dropping the Brutes. However, some Brutes succeeded in destroying some mechs. A group of them would engulf a mech, and pound into oblivion, killing the Jap inside. The problem was, the Brutes would continue to pound on the mech after it had already been destroyed.

    Kazansky was watching all this action when an explosion jarred his Nerushmiy. Getting up painfully, he and his aide, Natasha Kalashnikova hurriedly scrambled out of the damaged tank. Only the both of them had survived. A shell from the Izanagi had hit their vechile, and now they were out int the open. Kazansky, brandishing his AK-47, looked around. It was hopeless. His Brutes were being strafed left and right by the mechs, who were mostly ariborne now. Hellhounds, the foreign mercenaries of the PLA, were now scrambling across the battlefield. He fired, and hit one. The others ran for cover. Natasha, rocket launcher in tow, let loose at the Izanagi. It was a flea bite against an elephant.

     Just then, a massive explosion blew Kazansky and Natasha off their feet. Kazansky was thrown a few feet back, and a piece of shrapnel cut across his face, opening a deep gash. Kazansky landed hard on the sand. Getting to his feet, he saw Natasha sprawled on the ground, bloody all over. He rushed over to her side. "Stay with me, dammit!" he yelled at her. But it was only a matter of time. She was painfully gasping for air, and after a few more moments her eyes, still open, became fixed and her eyeballs dilated already. Kazansky remained immobile, stunned. Natasha Kalashnikova, his aide of five years, killed just like that.

    Then his senses returned. He was still in danger, and apart from the bloody wound across his cheek, he was not badly injured. He closed Natasha's eyes, and slowly got up, intending to rendezvous with some of his forces and escape the battlefield.

     But as he turned, he was suprised. Behind him, was Nicolette Joan Blanchfleur, who as fate would have it was at that time also in that part of the battlefield, scouring over the scene of her victory, killing off the few Atrox who remained. Behind her were some Hellhounds. Both Kazansky and Nicolette wete stunned, but Nicolette recovered first. She quickly wound up a punch, connected and Kazansky's vision was suddenly engulfed by darkness.


    Kazansky dropped to the ground, unconscious. The Hellhounds quickly picked him up and carried him in tow. "GOTCHA," Nicolette murmured.