The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 8: Salem Loves Animals (But They Don't Love Him).

Baseplate Sierra, surface of Stonehaara One, August of 8096 AL.

Salem stepped into the medical tent after Nikolai just in time to catch the others walking to the rear of the canvas structure, back towards the Rabbit parked out back. He followed, his feet dragging as he shuffled back to the truck and climbed in beside General Harper.

"We're just about ready to set up the base," Alias said, turning the key to start the truck. "We've got three Supremacies prepared to land, the Stonehaaryns are coordinating the landing."

"Good," Salem said simply, looking up from the dashboard. They drove around the medical pavilion and followed a dirt road through the middle of a huge clearing.

The clearing was almost ten kilometers square and covered in a thin, yellow grass that grew in small clumps. As they got closer, Salem noticed stakes with ribbon running between them; markers showing where the Supremacies would be landing. As he watched, three of the massive rectangular ships appeared over the trees to the west and moved into the clearing. They hovered over the markers, their rotors as long as a tank and half as thick. Salem spied a blue-skinned man standing off to one side with headphones on. He spoke into the attached microphone, ordering the Supremacy pilots to move this way and that. Finally getting them in position, the Stonehaaryn with the headset made a downward motion with his hand.

The hovering troop carriers slowly descended, dropping in altitude surprisingly quickly without moving off-center. Dust flew in all directions as the rotor's downdraft picked up the loose soil, throwing clouds of ash around the clearing. The closer it came to the ground, the more the dust swirled away and into the air. The clouds became so thick that Salem could only make out the rough outlines of the three mobile bases, their ends linked together to form three arms extending from the center.

As the dust cleared, Salem caught sight of massive metal legs extending from the sides of the carriers. They lowered, driving ten-foot stakes into the ground. The dust settled, and as it did so half a dozen large slots opened in the sides of the Supremacies. Only moments later a crunching sound split Salem's skull open and hundreds of cubic feet of dirt poured out of the slots as the mobile bases dug into the ground, extending the complex underground to allow for more space and better protection.

Dozens of soldiers rushed forward with shovels and burlap sacks, using the gray dirt to fill sandbags that were then stacked several meters away from the Supremacies to set the outer perimeter of the base. Gun turrets were mounted at intervals along the barriers, meticulously placed to allow for maximum range and overlapping arcs of fire. The rotors folded inwards and small buildings extended from the Supremacies, setting themselves in the dirt.

Soldiers swarmed to the medical tent, helping to carry equipment and the wounded to the operational hospital shooting off from the western arm of the base. Others carried ammunition from the ammo dump/armory on the eastern arm. A structure rose from each corner of the base, opening at the top to reveal watchtowers with spotlights and a pair of Stonehaaryn snipers and a machine-gunner. Tanks rolled out of the massive garage opening in the side of the northern arm of the base. Rabbits followed, rushing off to patrol the perimeter while Gorilla mech units lumbered out to guard the three sides of the base. A radar beacon rose from the center of the base, directly above the command post. Beside it rose another beacon, this one throwing threads of blue light into the air above the base; a shield generator, providing protection from air strikes that were sure to come. Harper parked nearby, and after only half of an hour a mid-sized forward operating base was ready for use.

Salem almost smiled at the sight of the triangular base; he hadn't led a campaign from the ground in centuries, and he was thrilled to have a chance to strike a telling blow against the Titanus. He got out of the truck and started walking towards the eastern barrier, but stopped as he heard rotors overhead. Turning his gaze upward, he cracked a grin as he watched a Phantom swoop in and set several familiar shapes on the ground in front of him; the armor suits that Octavian had made for Demon Squadron. Only two suits sat in front of him, so he assumed that Augustus wore his own. He tapped the chestplate of his suit and it unfolded, its limbs opening to admit him. He stepped backwards into the suit and felt the cool gel form around his body, his HUD lighting up as the nuclear battery woke up and flooded the Baron with power.