A cool breeze howled through the suburban landscape of Calina. Snow banks were melting in front of single story houses of the quiet neighborhood, revealing the green grass beneath. The waning light of sunset gave way to the light of smart street lights, which faded in and out as traffic approached with almost no glare. Breaking the silence, the Avenger came thundering down the street, followed by an ASV, APC and a pair of scouts in geolev mode. Above, a pair of UCAVs arrived to relieve the manned fighters which peeled away.

Rick leaned forward between the seats. “So, where is it we're going?” he asked. “Black Haven. It's a long way from here, somewhere up in the mountains,” replied Athena, “It's off the books, completely self-sustained. Should be safe for awhile.” As they left the city limits, they turned off on to an old abandoned road. “Wait... you mean the Black Haven? Isn't that a myth?” said Kincher. Athena continued, “I though it was until recently. I didn't know about it until last week, when an automatic protocol on T.I.'s servers sent me a coded message about it. My grandparents must have written it back when they ran T'garth Industries.”

The road they were on hadn't been maintained in almost a hundred years. The pavement was cracked, broken, and partially buried in the Bedronian mud. It also wasn't optimized for geomagnetic vehicles like the newer roads, so  while the lighter ASV and scouts could remain hovering about a foot off the ground, the heavy APC was forced to drive on it's wheels. It cut through the heavily wooded forests that covered much of the landscape, and bordered the many farms.

After driving for about an hour, they pulled off the road and began setting up camp. The scout vehicles landed, and their crews of four each set up a defensive perimeter. Solders dismounted the APC, then began unloading bedrolls from the autonomous support vehicle. “Okay, listen up,” barked General Tomas, the solders standing at attention, “We're in tribal territory. Therefor, hold weapons until fired upon. They are friendlies, but keep in mind they'll be watching us. Carry on.” They continued setting up a rudimentary camp. A fire was ignited, casting it's glow on the trees around the clearing. With stars above, they all slept through the night.

Meanwhile, only a few yards from their camp hidden in the  darkness of the woods, crouched a cougar-like female. She wore a loin cloth and thin vest sewn from deer hide leather. Feathers adorned her shoulder length black hair. The tribal woman peered down the iron sights of her rifle, which was adorned with decorative feathers and leather strap. “Is she with them?” she whispered. <She is> The puma lowered the bolt action rifle and slung it over her shoulder as she stood up. “I hope your right about this,” she said.

With her hands held out to her sides, she stepped out in to view of the guards on watch who were watching her heat signature through their night scopes. “Hold!” shouted one of the solders, “state your intentions.” “I'm Terra, of the West Garth tribe. I must speak to Athena,” she announced. The solders lowered their guns and waved her on.

The old colonel crouched by the fire, wearing an old camouflage army jacket and smoking a cigar. Memories of the battles he fought were still fresh in his mind, keeping him awake. Rick's generation was only the second to see a full scale war, following his father's generation. Before then, Bedronia was a peaceful place. Bedronia has no religion, so there were no holy wars. There were property disputes and drunken brawls, but conflicts rarely got violent. It took the invasion of a wolf-like race from a neighboring planet to break the peace, and spur the creation of new weapons of war. The crude guns of the era, which were designed for hunting deer and bison, now had to evolve.

Rick pulled his combat knife from its sheath and looked at it. The 14 inch blade was carried by his father in that very first battle. A reflection in the steel caused him to spin around, the knife in a striking position. Terra jumped back, leaping on top of the APC out of reflex. “Damn it, Terra. Scared the shit out of me,” he said softly, “Your cousin is over there in the truck with Terry... what are out doing out here? Is your tribe near by?” She smiled at the failure face, slipping off of the nose of the machine. “They are not far,” said Terra in her tribal accent, “I know of the trouble. The warcat is here, he spoke to me. He's here to help.” The colonel nodded, sheathing his knife.

The light of dawn was just beginning to cypher through the trees as Terra approached the truck, where Athena and Terry had just woken up. Athena opened up her tablet, unrolling the translucent screen which lit up a pale blue. “Great,” she murmured, “no connection.” “They're jamming everything, probably won't get through on regular frequencies,” said Kincher. She retracted the device and slipped it back in to her vest as she looked up, seeing her cousin approaching. She opened the door and got out. “Athena! Too long it has been,” said Terra as she walked up to Athena, wrapping her arms around her. “How have you been? How's grandmother?” said Athena.
“Well,” she replied, “Warcat came to me. Said you are in trouble, that a great danger is near.”
“The Cartasian Guard went rouge. We think it's the Ga'harin.”
“Breeg says the legend of Ga'harin is true.”
“Breeg?”
“The Warcat. He is here.” Terra pointed in to the tree line, where the Warcat's outline was just barely recognizable. <time to leave> Breeg's ghostly voice whispered in their minds. Just then, the hum of areal guns drew their attention to the sky. The UCAVs were engaged with something. From the forest, gunfire erupted as the tribe fired upon the object in the sky.
A saucer shaped craft briefly appeared above. Smoke was coming off of it, clearly taking damage from the gunfire from the UCAVs and the ground. It flew off before any one in the caravan could get a shot off. Everyone scrambled for their vehicles and their guns, no time to pick up camp. Breeg bolted from the clearing and knelt next to Terra. “Go now!,” she shouted as she jumped on to the Warcat's back. Athena clambered back in to the truck and fired up the engine. Rolling down the window, she said “Are you going to be alright?” “Don't worry about me,” Terra replied as she road off.

Athena flipped open the center console, revealing a row of four rocker switches. She flipped on the switch on the right, and out of the bed rose a turret with two rail guns unfolding from the center. Each had a ammo feed belt on the outside of the breach, which fed from a pair of ammo drums in the front of the bed. At the same time, a compartment in the passenger side dash opened up, and a joystick extended out. “Holy shit, that's cool as hell,” said Kincher. He picked up a small eye peace that was folded up with the joystick and put it on before grasping the stick. “Careful with that. It hasn't been tested yet,” said Athena. He smiled, “Relax, I'm a professional.” The colonel jumped in the back seat just as she put the truck in to gear. They speed off in to the morning fog as more gunfire erupted. Terry tilted the stick and swung the guns around. A heat signature lit up in the sight, and he squeezed the trigger. A plum of plasma erupted from the twin rail guns as they sent a swarm of four metallic bolts in to the air at ten times the speed of sound with a thunderous electric roar. A section of the sky flickered and caught fire as they hit their mark. 

The caravan pushed on before more hostiles showed up. The drove all day, on in to the night. They splashed through mud, and forged a stream that had flooded the old forest road. Eventually they came in to a ghost town. It's probably been dead as long as the road going through it. Most of the structures had been left in ruin, though a few houses still stood. The main street was bordered by  a cracked and broken sidewalk, and street lights that flickered. “Viper to Adder, we're entered Fairwood. What's your ETA on extraction?” said Kincher over the radio. 'Adder, copy Viper. ETA 40 minutes.' “Copy. We'll lock it down.” He looked at Athena, “The heavy transport is on it's way, it'll be at the air strip in a few minutes... are you okay?”

Athena's ears were lowered, “It's... just a lot to take in. Things have been strange in Darmoth ever since they first detected that planet, I thought something might go awry, but not like this,” she replied as she turned the corner. The Colonel sat quietly in back, rifle resting on the floor between his legs, looking out the window. General Tomas's voice came on over the truck's short range radio, 'Kincher, we'll need you to set up an F.F.P. in case we end up getting ambushed. You're the only dead eye who can spot snipers fast enough.' “Copy, wilco.” said Kincher. “Going stealth,” said Athena as she turned a dial on the center console. A wave of pixels washed over the truck's exterior as it's color shifted. A second later, it was nearly invisible to the naked eye. They broke off from the caravan, which soon vanished the same way.