KA-BOOM!

An explosion went off behind the ridge he was looking at.

Or maybe I just can't see where the fight actually is.

"That was an artillery shell. MICA? BELORTA?"

"Old timer?"

"We're over here!"

Shouting their names, he found the two of them. They were above the lift, with an artillery emplacement next to them.

"Thank goodness. We were worried about you. The Raptures are about to come over that ridge." said Mica. Belorta was busy loading the next shells in.

"When was this set up?"

"Ark High Command was worried of this happening, so they decided to start setting up defensive emplacements on all 15 of the lift exits. We're the only ones trained on how to use them though."

The thunderous crack of the Admire's main gun was heard. A demented screech was heard from behind the ridge.

"Well, I guess we know who the Tyrant Class is."

All of Counters made various disgusted faces.

"Uh, who is it?"

Laplace's face was a picture of confusion.

"Chatterbox. He's the only Rapture that we've encountered that can produce vocalisations that loud."

"Sounds like he doesn't like Admire that much. Firepower always makes him angry." Neon added.

All of them started to take cover. If Chatterbox was here, they would need to take him out before he came into melee range. Various lower class Raptures started to come over the ridge. Maxwell and Anis started firing at them, having weapons with extreme range.

Eventually, the tide started to push forward. Almost everyone was firing now, save Neon with her close range shotgun.

A short while later, Shikikan could hear a helicopter nearby. After emptying enough heavy ordinance to push the Raptures into cover, it landed near him. Pepper and Mary exited and it took off again, heading back to the Ark.

The two of them checked over Counters and Matis. None had suffered severe injuries yet, but the Raptures were about to enter firing range. Shikian took cover in the artillery emplacement. Rockets started to fly back at them, as the Raptures engaged.

"Start moving! Neon, get closer, you still can't hit them. Pepper, go with her. We want most of these guys gone before Chatterbox get bored with the Admire."

As if to prove his point, another salvo exploded behind the ridge. The lack of response indicated it had missed him.

The lift doors started to open again, revealing, another commander?

"What are you doing here?" Shikikan yelled at him over the battle.

The three Nikkes and the commander looked at him dumbly. Finally, the commander spoke up.

"Are you Shikikan?"

"Yeah."

"Anderson sent me. This is my first real mission and, you're apparently my mentor."

He looked at the squad. Two Nikkes had a massive piece of metal strapped to their back and sidearm. The other had a rocket launcher and a bandolier of grenades.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Hiroto. And this is Kinetix. Phyrancha and Hyphase carry parts of the Seige. It's basically a massive railgun. Yphelion is perimeter defence while we set it up. In theory at least."

"Alright, first lesson. You will never be in ideal circumstances to deploy that thing. But luckily, this is a good chance. Bring it up here."

"You heard him. Move."

Hiroto pushed one of the Nikkes carrying the weapon. She had an angular, but nice face and bright yellow hair, like Elegg's, except it was tied into a ponytail. Clearly struggling under the weight, Shikikan got Maxwell's attention.

"Hey, can you help them with that?"

"Sure Honey. Hyphase is that you?"

"Hey Maxwell. You know that scaled-up railgun you always talked about? Well, Ingrid gave me the funding to do it."

"Errr, I actually bypassed that problem already.... and it's a lot smaller than that thing."

"Shut up! You're built to fight, not yap."

Maxwell gritted her teeth, but Shikikan laid a hand on her shoulder and whispered to her.

"He's new. And he isn't me. This is how most commanders are. Rapi told me that."

Hyphase, meanwhile, just nodded and began setting it up. Phyrancha helped her, and in less than a minute, it was ready.

"He's nearly here!"

Shikikan could see the top of Chatterbox's head peeking out from the top of the ridge.

Helm - Commander?

Yeah?

Helm - I won't be able to fire anymore, because I can't guarantee that I won't hit your position.

Okay then. How much damage were you able to do?

Signal - He heals a lot, but Helm shot off his left arm. It's starting to grow back though.

"INCOMING!"

Drake leaped aside as a rocket blew up where she was a second ago. The more elite Raptures were starting to make it further. Flyers were also starting to appear. Neon and Pepper had already activated their overclock modules* on account of their shorter range and closer proximity to danger.

GRAWWWWHRAAAAAG

"We're out of time."

Chatterbox had finally made it.