Man the Ramparts (Open, heavy fighting)

Raven awoke early in the morning the day of inspection. Every few days he would return from Garden to check up on things and make sure New Bodhum was doing fine. He even brought some soldiers back with him a few times. Each time, he would show up under the cover of darkness so that no one knew that he was there for inspection. He would rise early the next morning and follow around the patrols, making sure they actually did their jobs. If but one of those guards let their guard down, the entire colony would be at risk of destruction from the fiends that would attack.

He stretched as he walked out onto the porch of his hut. He pulled out a cigar and began to smoke it while falling into thought. He had never asked for this. He never wanted it. But fate had a funny way of thrusting things upon you. He had a sister and two kids as proof of that. But he kept going over the events leading up to him taking the reigns as leader of New Bodhum in his mind. During the battle for Cocoon, he and the Task Force were in the thick of it, caught between both the Cie’ith infected Guardian Corps and the unforgiving PSICOM. They had been shot down, blocks away from their objective with no way of getting there. Luckily, Cowboy and Dizzy had pulled a rabbit out of their hats and got the Kestrel in a good enough condition to fly what was left of them out of there. But they had suffered casualties, severe casualties. The leader and old friend of TF3 was killed as were three others, including Raven’s brother. All that remained was the flight crew, Dusty, and Raven.

They had flown down to Pulse as Cocoon began to crash and were the first ones to have a camp set up when what was left of PSICOM and the Guardian Corps began evacuating civilians. As a result, they all crowded around their camp and what would you know? Since everyday was a fight for survival, they needed a leader who knew how to fight. Of course the finger was pointed at the elite Special Forces team that no one was supposed to know about. From there all it took was one day of Dusty being in charge for everyone to ask me for my help. So now Raven was in charge of a people that had done nothing but kick him while he was down.

Raven smirked at the irony as he shook his head of those thoughts and began to walk around the perimeter. Everywhere he went, he would catch the guards slacking, but they were just quick enough for him to not be able to say something to them.

He continued along his path until he came to the guard house that housed all the scanners and turret control systems that really kept the place safe. He stepped inside and what he saw, he almost couldn’t comprehend. Sitting in the chair behind the scanners was a guard… but he was fast asleep. Raven grabbed the chair he was sitting in and forced it backwards, causing the man to wake up to getting his head smacked off the floor. Raven leaned over the scanners and looked at them intensely. They were going nuts with activity, all around the compound. Raven shot a glance at the turret controls and rolled his eyes, of course they were turned off. Raven quickly turned them back on just in time to hear a scream outside.

He rushed outside to a horrible sight. People were screaming and running as probably a hundred fiends of all shapes and sizes rampaged through the colony. PSICOM and Guardian Corps both ran from place to place, trying to get organized enough to fight back, but it was no use. This was going to be a long day.

“Why are we going here?” Zheng asked as the Siang Tien Tang approached the camp of New Bodhum, keeping a safe distance. The ghost had been ordered to keep it low and quiet by Wahkan as a precaution from the crash of Cocoon. The soldiers and civilians would be on high alert down there; anything strange moving up might and probably would get shot.

The danger didn’t stop Wahkan from going, or John Greywolf from following.

“I don’t think it would be right to stand by and watch another slaughter happen, that's why we're here.” The large man grumbled from the rail.

He was anxious to be off the ship John thought, and for good reason. When he was eight Wahkan had watched as a group of masked men had killed his entire tribe, women and children alike. No one survived save for the large man and this must be like stepping back in time for him the Shaman thought. A mass of people gathered in the open just surviving, who knew nothing of defending themselves from an enemy who meant them harm suddenly surrounded by just such a fate. Yes, there were soldiers with the means to help but from what John had learned that just might not be enough.

“We are just three, what can we do?” The ghost asked as the Air Ship began to settle down.

The gang plank never touched the ground, Wahkan just turned to glare and growl at Zheng before jumping over the rail. “Everything we can damn well do to stop a mass killing!”

“It’s all right Zheng. I’ll keep an eye on him.” John said holding up his hand. The ghost looked a little hurt so the Shaman just nodded knowing he couldn’t console him. “Just keep the ship close and if we need you will make contact.”

“How will you do that?”

“You’ll know, now take her up high and try to keep off any radar.” John said lastly before following after his friend.

It wasn’t hard to track Wahkan, not when the large man was leaving a trail as big as he was. John jogged up and caught him just as they started to get close to the camp. The Shaman was wondering if the Siang Tien Tang had been seen by anyone on the modern surveillance systems when his ears, helped b y his hat, picked up the sound of approaching feet, a patrol, trying to be quiet, trying to close in. John smiled and touched Wahkan’s shoulder.

“Let’s stop for a second.”

“Why?”

“They need to escort us into the camp.”

Wahkan was about to who the hell John was talking about when a group of soldiers popped out the brush with rifles pointed. Wahkan didn’t go for his gun or tomahawk, just grumbled and spat, “Damn hat!”

“Who are you?” One of the soldiers asked. The leader it looked like.

The Shaman nodded while being calm. “We’re here to help.”

“Yeah, and who said we needed help.”

Moment of truth, when you have to decide very carefully what comes out of your mouth John thought as he chose his words. “I spoke with one of your members, he asked us to come and help.”

“I’m going to ask one more time mister, who told you about us?” The leader asked tensing for a shot from his rifle.

Well, this could have gone better John was thinking when the soldier to the right spoke up thankfully. “We have to take them to Raven.”

“And why’s that?” The leader shot back.

“Uh, cause he ordered us to, remember?” The soldier to the left replied.

A second or two went by before the leader relaxed just a little. “Yeah, okay, but after you meet Raven you’ll probably wish I shot you instead.”

John just nodded and let the soldiers lead them away to the camp. It wasn’t the perfect meet and greet by any standard but it got the job done. He walked in front of Wahkan as the group moved into the camp past other soldiers and civilians. Eyes locked onto the pair and the Shaman only smiled and nodded back, waving once to a small girl who waved at him. Deep inside he hoped the one who put them on this course was wrong, but the feeling of doom was still heavy.

Something was going to happen.

Seconds later sirens went off and people started to run and scream. John turned to see Wahkan and the soldiers bolt into the fray, something was coming and they were going to meet it head on. The Shaman turned back to see the people had passed by running toward him, away from attackers by the dozens.

Raven grabbed his assault rifle and tore off towards the front, dodging and weaving in between explosions and wounded as he ran. He dropped into the trench built nearest where the fiends were pouring in and looked around. There were two men operating the lone turret in the trench, trying to hold back the oncoming wave of fiends. There were also several men standing at the edge of the trench, peeking over the wall and readying their guns for when the monsters came into range. Off to the side there was a soldier clutching his rifle tight to his chest and rocking back and forth. Raven made a beeline straight for him and dragged him up to his feet.

”What’s your name?” Raven said with a scowl. He did not need his men freaking out right now. They were spread thin as it was and if they had just one person who wasn’t doing their job, people would die.

The soldier’s eyes went wide as he recognized who it was dragging him around. He truly wasn’t expecting Raven to be there. He stumbled and mumbled as he tried to come up with an answer, but the whole situation had him locked up. Raven glared into his eyes and that must have been all it took. The kid swallowed a lump in his throat and said, ”J-James, Sir. James Strucker.”

Raven nodded his head approvingly before saying, ”Well, Strucker, do you have family in New Bodhum.” The boy gave a short choppy nod in agreement. ”Strucker, if you ever want to see them again then you are gonna have to buck-up and get through this or they and everyone else in this colony are gonna die.”

Raven reached down and picked up the rifle that the kid had dropped. He wiped the mud off of it and chambered a round before shoving the rifle into the kid’s hand. The kid nodded his head in agreement to what Raven was saying. Raven patted the kid on his make-shift helmet before saying, ”Just remember your training, listen to your squad leader, and keep your head down. You’ll do fine.”

Raven watched the kid shoot off towards the wall with the others before turning and looking around again. He couldn’t find the man who was supposed to be leading these men so he barked, ”WHO THE HELL IS IN CHARGE HERE!”

A man covered in grease, mud, and sweat looked up from the other side of the turret emplacement. He called another man over to take his place before wiping the grime off his face and making his way over to where Raven stood. ”Lieutenant Briggs, Sir. I guess I’m in charge here. The Captain was leading but he took half of the troops and went forward to try and hold the fiends off. Considering the fiends are now within sight, I believe it is safe to assume he and they are dead. But they did buy us valuable time.”

Raven nodded. ”What’s the situation?”

Briggs grimaced. ”We don’t have exact numbers, Sir, but we have counted approximately thirty behemoths heading straight for us. I don’t know how many the Captain took out, but we have only managed to slow them down, not kill any of them.”

Raven went to nod and tell him to keep up the good work, but was cut off by a scream of pain. He looked over Briggs’s shoulder to see a behemoth reach its head down and bite down on the upper half of the turret operator. The trench erupted in chaos as the soldiers nearby snapped into action, shooting the behemoth and trying to pull their friend out of the jaws of the beast. Another one reached its head down and grabbed a hold of Briggs. The man screamed as the sound of his bones snapping filled the air. Raven jumped on the beast’s head and began to stab furiously at its eyes. The beast reared back in pain and released Briggs. Raven hopped down and threw Briggs over his shoulder before shouting to the others, ”FALL BACK!!!”

Raven bobbed and weaved through both behemoths that were trying to kill him and the soldiers running with him and the soldiers that were firing upon the beasts. He reached the fall back point and dropped behind the sandbags. He laid the wounded lieutenant down and waved over a medic before looking around to access the situation. As he looked though, He saw something he wasn’t expecting. Moving towards him was a very large man whom he had never seen before. He knew all the people in the colony and he had never seen that man before. Behind him, but also coming towards Raven was a familiar face. It was John Greywolf.

What the hell was he doing here? was all Raven thought before turning and beginning to fire his rifle at the approaching fiends along with the other men and women fighting for their lives.

John had a hard time keeping up with Wahkan as the large man ran with the soldiers to the front of the colony. The fact Wahkan was moving so fast that he was being careless crossed the Shaman’s mind, reliving the past could make a man do that though. The large man didn’t reach for his Colt on his hip or the tomahawk strapped across his back, but just ran headlong with the soldiers pushing past the civilians moving in the opposite direction. John helped one lad up that was knocked down and as he did he caught his first glimpse of what was coming for them.

The beast, someone called them a behemoth, were indescribable to the Shaman at the moment. All he could focus on were the size of the…animals coming toward them. And it seemed every soldier was firing every bullet he could into the behemoths and not a single round was slowing them one bit.

Wahkan ran up and grabbed the assault rifle off the ground by a wounded soldier and started firing relentlessly into the flank and head of one behemoth without any effect. Raven was doing the same except for using shorter controlled burst and just like Wahkan the rounds were causing almost no damage. One of the soldiers screamed out the forward position had been over run and John realized this line was the last one before these things would be inside the colony and the helpless civilians. The behemoths could destroy the camp; kill who knows how many if not all of the people taking cover here from this fight. This was the time to call upon him the Shaman thought. They needed his help desperately.

The soldiers kept firing in a line as John suddenly appeared in a break between them. He looked out of place as the soldiers around him kept firing or was busy reloading. Some stole glances over wondering what this crazy man was doing. Some even thought the damn fool should grab a gun and start helping out, but those close by didn’t think that. No, they were too busy keeping up with shooting and wondering where all the energy in the air was coming from. The hair on their arms and head and necks stood on end as the charge in the ether grew. No one understood it was John. No one realized he was stoking his energy, building it up like a fire all around him until he looked skyward.

“Thathanka Iyotake!”

(John Grey casts his Summons Thathanka Iyotake)

He suddenly appeared, just right out of the air one of the soldiers said later. Another swore he saw a lightning stroke cross the sky before the man with the long elaborate feather headdress and a strange skull stood up next to the one with the black hat. No one was sure what happened or where the second even stranger man came from, they only noted he didn’t look like anyone else around. Then the soldiers went back to firing into the behemoths giving up on the pair.

No one noticed the new man looked rather transparent. They didn’t see him raise his right arm while standing next to John, who had bowed his head and seemed to be asleep, all of the sudden, but they did feel the ground start to shutter. They heard a distant rumbling growing closer, like hooves pounding the ground over and over. They saw one of the behemoth’s become surrounded in a bright light and suddenly stagger as if hit by an invisible force.

“What the hell is this?” One of the soldiers called out.

“Just keep shooting, he’s here to help,” was all Wahkan screamed back.

Men charged toward the line from farther back to assist their comrades as numerous behemoths tossed them aside. The behemoths slashed and bit at anything that moved, mauling the troops that were still pouring in from the now shattered front line. In the center of it all was Raven. He continued to fire relentlessly at the beasts as he ran from place to place, trying to bolster the troops and keep his men from breaking and running. He watched in awe as the new comers threw themselves into the fighting with enough vigor to fuel an army, while those who had been there for just a few moments break and run. If they could just find a way to rally them and get them all focused, they might survive.

Then Raven saw the perfect thing to get that to happen. He watched John Greywolf summon some form of a spirit. The spirit seemed to have no problem fighting the beasts and even managed to kill a few of them. That gave Raven an idea of how he could rally his own troops. He grabbed at the cross around his neck and tossed it out onto the field between his line and the behemoths. The cross burst into a bright light and George the Dragonslayer came galloping out in full charge. Without even breaking stride the man galloped straight at the advancing line of creatures. The lancer crashed into the line, his lance connecting with the skull of on of them, and the quake spell took a hold. The air seemed to ripple around the point of impact and behemoths around it were knocked from their feet. George abandoned the lance, and without even stopping, drew his sword and began to hack his way through numerous more behemoths.

The men around Raven watched in awe as both of the summons tore through the beasts. The behemoths, in turn, abandoned their charge at the soldier’s line and instead began to slash at the summons. In their fury, many of them even began to attack each other. All the while, the soldier continued their fire. The behemoths’ numbers began to dwindle against the onslaught.

George charged out of the fray and halted next to Raven. He hoisted Raven up onto the monster of a horse before jumping off the horse and pointing his sword at the line of behemoths. Raven drew out his own gunblade and pointed it at the line too. As he did so, most of the soldiers either drew their own swords, or mounted bayonets on the ends of their weapons. Raven lashed the reins of the hose and shouted, ”CHARGE!!!” before charging upon the horse at the dilapidated force of behemoths. As he charged, all the other soldiers, including the ten foot tall summons, George, charged after him. They hit the crumbled line of behemoths with a force of a hammer on fine china. The wedge that the force had made, sliced the behemoth force in half and effectively began to cut through the already weakened monsters. Many of the beasts began to run for the fences, only to be cut down by the now activated security turrets. The place had gone from a battle for survival into a killing field in a matter of moments.

As John called on his summons of the ancient one Thathanka Iyotake, the tide of the battle started to change. As the ghost of the Great Chief raised his arm calling on the phantom large White Buffaloes that appeared right out the air behind John the moral shifted among the troops. Even as the spirits of the great Tatanka raced through the Shaman and the Great Chief to strike the Behemoth repeatedly driving the infected animal to the ground and killing it the soldiers rallied and started to fight back. Then, as soon as the Buffalo appeared, they were gone leaving the field of battle the way they came and the Great Chief slowly faded from the scene returning to the vast grass plains of the other world.

The use of the summons, as always, weakened John just a bit but not enough for him to see what using it had done. What was lost was found now, courage and steadfastness replaced fear and fleeing. The soldiers formed a wall and began to stand their ground against the horde. And when Raven used his summons, well the fight was all but won. As George raised the courage of all those around even more by hacking into the behemoths with abandon the Shaman smiled feeling the moment was won. Wahkan screamed with his war cry while firing his rifle and Raven rode with George and drove the beast back, but with all battles those moments are fleeting too. John was watching when his ears picked up a faint voice to his left, the small and faint breath of the dying. He turned to see a young soldier on the ground, a boy too young it seemed to be in this fight.

“Did…we win?” He asked just above a whisper.

John quickly knelt by him and started to check the wounds when he felt the soldier take his hand and stop it. “Please tell me… did we stop them?”

“Yes, the colony is safe.” He said taking the young boy’s hand in his. The appendage was broken, three of the fingers bent in ways they were never meant to, but John held on refusing to let go.

“Then I did…good…right?”

Every breath was a gasp for the young man. The behemoth had done its work and he was dying. The Shaman’s magic for healing would only prolong the inevitable, death had laid claim to this soul and it was his. “Yes, you did a soldier’s work this day. You’re a hero to the many here who owe you their lives.” John whispered.

“Tell my father…I died fighting…tell him that please.” The soldier gasped squeezing John’s hand. It was close now the Shaman thought as the shooting started to slow.

“I will tell him my friend.” The Shaman answered as the young man took one last breath before smiling at him and passing. There was no pain now, no fear for him John thought gently putting the broken hand down on the young man’s chest.

“Is Davey gone?”

The question came from another soldier and all John did was nod. He looked to see Raven winning the fight with his summons but John was all ready thinking about the other soldiers who might be injured and in need of his help. He had helped this one as much as he could and now it was time to be the Shaman and help the others.