Raid from the West

Shion and the troops were driven to the middle of a petrified forest. These were not uncommon as pollution levels were so high from all the coal burning factories, and chemical plants that life simply ceased to exist in some areas. When polluted winds brought large amounts of pollution all at once, even animals in some places died and became hard as if they were sculpted out of marble rather than flesh. 

In these areas, a single gulp of air could prove fatal. These barren sites were one of the best places to fight a battle though, because of the lack of life since stray bullets would not harm any bystanders.

The autopilot on the transport vehicle alerted to the high levels of toxins before coming to a slow stop. Shion accessed the vehicle's onboard camera system, and no enemy was in sight. No airships, fighter jets or anything yet. Maybe the intel they got was wrong or the invaders decided to turn around.

Shion beemed Colonel Suzuki who was in charge of the air strike force, "Colonel Suzuki, this is Colonel Tanaka, any updates with the enemy's location?" 

There was static at first but then a few minutes later, "Tanaka, we've taken heavy equipment losses, enemy using soldier operated aircraft. Enemy is crazy, full of kamikaze. All remote drones are down. Enemies should be close to your location, using stealth coating. I repeat the enemy is using stealth coating. Prepare for imminent combat."

Stealth coating was a type of living paint created with chameleon dna that blended into the landscape. As far as Shion knew that tech had not reached the West yet. Also kamikaze? They must have been dealing with a dedicated group of soldiers. 

Shion had a sense of urgency after that conversation and readied her troops "Men take up your arms, be careful, intel tells us they are using stealth tech. Gear up with some goggles and switch to heat mode. We deploy in two minutes."

All troops grabbed their goggles from the compartments under their seats and powered them on. With an electric hum, the world changed from full color to a range of blue, orange, and red. Shion pressed the door release button and looked to the skies. About 500 meters north of the transport vehicle, a massive airship could be seen via heat vision. It was an almost perfect triangle shape with a hull large enough to fit a few hundred soldiers. The red, white, and blue flag on the side of the hull confirmed Western origin. 

Shion, Chizuru, and the five squad leaders met a few meters from the transport vehicle as the troops exited and fell into their assigned combat formation roles. 

Shion started, "It looks like the ETA of the airship is less than fifteen minutes.  If they are using stealth. I think we should also consider activating stealth before we are discovered. I believe we should await descent of the airship and try our best to encircle the enemy then in a cohesive strike mow down as many of them as possible. We can send a small one or two squad team to infiltrate and take down the airship from the inside." 

Chizuru spoke up, "I think it would be more efficient to pick a two man team and secure the ship more discreetly and minimize the risk of discovery. I honestly think the two of us can handle the ship."

Shion, "I don't disagree with that strategy but we need to ensure we leave a next in command before we leave. Who do you reccomend?"

Chizuru, "The most level headed person I know.is Sgt. Honda. I think she would handle the responsibility well.”

Shion replied, "Ok, we can go along with Lt. Yamamoto's plan. All ground units engage stealth mode on your helmets. We move in two minutes." 

All the clothes in the New Japanese military were coated in stealth paint which was activated with a small electrical pulse which emanated from a chip in standard issued helmets.

The Squad leaders relayed the info to their troops who rapidly began blending into the petrified wood. The team spread out and once the ship had come about 100 meters from the ground, the squads split up and began encircling the airship. 

About ten long black ropes were flung out of the sides of the airship and dozens of soldiers began repelling to the ground. The orange and red  blobs began to rapidly form squads of their own as the New Japanese soldiers surrounded them.

In silence, the team approached. Shion checked just to be sure and yup only static from neurolink. Something about the directness of the enemy's approach left a bad feeling in Shion's gut that only could be explained by experience. Usually with such an obvious approach only one thing came to mind, it's a trap. 

Just as Shion started to signal for a stop, shots rang out, "Hostile at my six,” yelled a soldier from the north squad. 

Shion and Chizuru began looking towards the treetops and nothing. Shion removed her heat vision goggles and started looking for color abnormalities. Her modified eyes were very sensitive to the slightest of color changes and the smallest of movements.

Shion saw an unnatural shift in one of the trees to her right. With lightning speed, Shion whipped the wire on her back in that direction striking a soldier on the throat, spraying the surrounding trees with blood. "Gotcha" Shion snickered.

Shion took a look at the blood soaked wire and suddenly spun it quickly over head spraying blood in every direction revealing the location of several hidden soldiers. 

Chizuru went to work, severing limbs off of the soldiers, intentionally spraying blood everywhere, revealing about a dozen more hidden soldiers who began attacking as soon as they realized they'd been spotted. 

As Shion engaged some of the other soldiers, she shouted out a bellowing  scream, "Let's paint this forest red!" 

Shion began to slash enemies left and right, like a true artist Shion swung her wire around almost as if dancing. Dodge, duck, swing, jump, if not for the fact that her artistic mode was blood and her canvas the white stiff trees of the forest, anyone would say that she was truly beautiful and elegant in those moments.

Shots continued to ring out, and grunts of pain scattered as the battalion went to battle. Once the situation looked more under control, Shion found Sgt. Honda turned over command to her.

Chizuru and Shion began heading towards the airship, staying low to the ground. It was quite odd. In all the chaos and fighting the enemies did not make any verbal commands or utter any words. It's not like that was unusual since westerners also had neurolinks now, but something didn't feel right about this attack. Despite the two highest ranking officers leaving the battlefield, no announcement about their leaving was given which made Shion suspicious that something was wrong.

With no resistance, Shion and Chizuru were within 50 meters of the airship and the crowd of soldiers descended from the ship in just a few minutes. With so many soldiers, the pair would have to create a pretty significant distraction to be able to slip into the airship unnoticed. Chizuru pointed to a crate on the farside of the make-shift base. There was a huge fire icon with a red circle with a line through it. Shion nodded her head.

Chuzuru crept behind the crates and tore off a piece of her undershirt. She lit it on fire and returned to Shion. In a few seconds, a gigantic, earth shaking explosion emerged from the crates. Most soldiers went running in the direction of the blast which allowed for an opening.

Chizuru and Shion ran to the still hanging ropes as fast as they could. Shion motioned for Chizuru to get on her back. When Chizuru obliged, Shion quickly scaled the rope using just her arms. After the long climb, both girls planted their feet on the deck of the airship ready to start their assault.