Eating a quick meal, the marines and their new alien friends loaded up. Forming a large fleet of seaborne craft over nine hundred Calornese and IGA paratroopers landed on two of the seven islands. Greigorsson found himself with the group landing on the island to their right. He expected heavy gunfire from machine guns, rifles, snipers, and mortars, which would no doubt lead to heavy fighting. There was also the prospect of a massacre on this island. What they found instead were five sharkmos camped out on a separate island to another with crater holes from that alien bomber. It killed the five sharkmos and destroyed some automatons on the other island that was so close to it. A rowboat could barely get through the space between the islands without running aground. Moving on ahead they find the rest of the automaton robots near an eight-story high platform making the total number of bots to forty. Finding nothing else but the blood, shattered sentries, and spilled fuel running the automatons, the Marines went for the third island. On this one they found the 146 IGA Marines who attacked the platform held by mutant monsters who took it from the Gantronese invaders. Holding up inside the platform they found the remnants of the 146 Marines that took the platforms. These Marines eliminated 276 Mutant monsters who were part of a different faction.
Just taking a looking at these mutants they found a variety of mutants, monsters, and humanoids. Among these alien corpses they found some Cultic Fanatic, some Druid, twenty-eight raptor humanoids, humanoid guard, forty-one Demons, a Mage, thirty-three Centaurs, and a Noble who appeared to be alive. Others included some alien priest, fourteen Draconic Men, some Abjurer still breathing, one lizard scout, an Arch Druid, Arch Mage on top of a Spy, a swashbuckler, an assassin, thug, and Bard. Checking each body they found precise shots in them from the alien Marine Humanoids who also took out what appeared to be a Woadi, some centipede reptile, a Conjurer, a Mutant Veteran, Diviner, Gladiator, who covered the still breathing bodies of an Enchanter, Illusionist, and Evoker. Forcing them up they made them move ahead of them. They also identified some Woadi warrior among the corpses of a Knight of Allon, Kraken Priest, martial artist adept, some master thief, a necromancer with no nose, some four-armed transmuter, war priest, Troll warlord, and three cat folk. Among the mutants they discovered some mutant weasel, mutant vulture, mutant toad, mutant sharkmo, Scorpion man, rat man, three octopus, five snake mutants, two mutant grabs, three mutant crocs, three ape mutants, five Bear Mutants, and three Boar Mutants who were all experiments. Near the entrance to one of the platform towers they found fire beetle humanoid, a frog humanoid with its tongue cut out, a Goat man, some lizard folk, a centipede, and a Black Guard with one arm missing. Upon approaching the closest tower, a Woadi Berserker and three Warlocks attacked them. Forced to kill these humanoids the Vestrisians revealed there were more on this island. As for the rest of the CSO members a pair of wounded Gnolls, a Lizardfolk fighter, a cultist, some clueless champion, two bandits, and a female archer came out of one of the buildings. Each one allowed themselves to be taken prisoner by the IGA forces. Taking another look around the blood, and spilled guts were starting to dry on the sand, and metal floors.
Pressing forward to the other island they overheard the Mutants took the island from the Gantronese whom still have a presence close by. On the island north of them their fellow Marines found an island held by one hundred automaton sentries that held against Gantronese, and CSO. The alien bomber took them out quickly. Hardly losing anyone else the Marines pushed on to the next three islands. Dividing their forces into three groups would strip them of their strength. On two of the islands they found seven IGA soldiers, two pilots, and forty IGA Elves who joined them. On the third island were one hundred more of those automatons that held a platform. Eliminating the remaining sentries, they spot other islands. A total of five or six more islands between them and home base. Through binoculars their commanders spotted the flags of the CSO, Order of the Beast, the Gantronese and one other faction. Greigorsson, and his fellow squad mates took a peek at these flags for themselves. In the far distance they could see the archipelago circlet they left with Yvonne. He knew days had gone by, but to him it felt like a whole month went by already.
It was more likely half a week that went by between them leaving the archipelago and now. Under the command of Captain Eaglestone, and the Majors the Marines and allies prepared to launch an attack on one of the islands. Each had a sizeable force holding on to it. With a battalion of eight hundred fifty-two Marines, twelve alien Marines, seventy-eight Paratroopers, they attacked the closest island. A total of nine hundred forty-two or less made up a battalion that could have formed into a brigade. All the IGA forces went in first since this occupying force was more of their enemy than the Vestrisians' enemy. Forming a vanguard in the first wave, these alien marines attempted to catch the garrison of mutant brutes holding the island. Signs of the Gantronese, and Iperantosi presence was too obvious to ignore. Dozens of Iperantosi corpses lay in stacks next to a pile of Gantronese corpses. The fighting happened the moment they landed. Scores of Brutes opened fire on the landing parties. For sixteen minutes the Brutes defended their claimed island with only one hundred and one various Mutant Brutes. Wielding a variety of weapons these brutes attempted to hold their gains against a larger force. Checking out the weapons Greigorsson saw they had Gantronese Yekato Assault Rifles, Numei Katan rifles, Poisoned Flowers or PF 71s, other strange alien weapons, and a mixture of melee weapons.
Ordered to clean up the bodies Greigorsson and his squad mates found all sorts of mutant brutes. A pair of Purple Mutant cyborg chefs who cooked skogers, nine reptilian shell mutants, crocodile mutant, two ape mutant ogres, a shark mutant, goat spider, Orc humanoid, two bat wolves, twenty-four wolverine beasts, some scaly corpse eater, fifteen four armed, big headed blemmies, sixteen brain mutants with pincer claws, a trio of Pig mutants, three mutant lizard frogs with deformities. A pair of wormlings with arms, stingers, and suckers for mouths, a mutant dire mouse with no fur, six limbs, a split head and a long tongue. One psycho mutant demon that took thirty bullets to kill, a Blue Fuzz monster, an orange scaly lizard drake with one hone called a Lizod, two tri-clops vampiric Goblin, an armored dwarf wolf, large turquoise skinned steer ogre, and an Ugly tall creature as the leader. These one hundred one mutants took down forty of the IGA marines, and three of their own.
Only stopping to line up the dead they prepared to invade the next island. Maneuvering all the craft needed for the other island took some time due to the shape of the recently cleared island. Calling it "Mutant Island" as a pun the Marines and their new allies left no one to guard it. While they were advancing on the next island to the east, a report via radio, had orders to head back to base. Once they cleared the other three islands. The sun dropped down turning the day into dusk as they approached the next island in force. Hardly giving the defenders a chance, they overran a force of one hundred three C.S.O. members that claimed this C shaped island. Every structure and tower on that island were arranged to form a castle wall without the walls in place. None of them had any arrow slits just glass windows. Gleicherson was near a Captain Eaglestone who took out a map of the area. Under the roof of a dome shaped structure, they discovered they were closer to Colonel Gleicher's position. Two or three other islands remained in alien hands within their vicinity. Given permission to rest the Captains and Majors ordered any fresh people to collect the dead. Just seven of their marines, and paratroopers died in the fighting. Losing a Marine did hit them in the gut, but it was expected during a war like this. It was not shown among them, but most of the Marines expected to die during this expedition into unfamiliar islands on their home planet. As for the aliens they were down to one hundred forty-three Marines, and seventy-five Paratroopers. Including the pilots and soldiers their forces increased to two hundred sixty-seven. Merging their own unit of eight hundred fifty-two made up a brigade of a thousand personnel.
That night Greigorson and some of his squad mates checked out the dead CSO members. With a flashlight or two they made out six Ghoulish Hybrid aliens, three black rat beings, and a human sized sentient crow in identical clothing. A crew of seven Goblins they killed were found near a Gantronese battle tank, one large black alien ant wore a white sand poncho, and a skeletal warrior wielded an axe, and shield before going down. Some automaton knight with more flesh than armor had to be killed with grenades. Some Ghoulish Giant that killed two of their invasion force still gripped its weapon in death. One winged Orc killed while on the roof of a tower had to be fished out of the wet sand. There was some bull-headed human beast that stood tall and angry. It lay dead with eight shots to the chest. An ugly purple haired troll with a gut, chubby limbs, and amethyst on its belly had to be decapitated in order to kill. Four dire fish humanoids were almost going to become dinner until they found some disease on them. One large Sharkmo lay nude save for a tattered shirt and collar. Five ugly, creepy fly humanoids tried swooping down to attack some members of their invasion force. Each one were blown to pieces. Dressed in armor similar to the Vorcadam Samurai, four feline humanoids lay dead near a bulldog man in a rough studded vest, and chainmail leggings. Five ape men hybrids in alien fatigues were found lined up with a Dire Beaver mutant in regular clothing, and a tall Bionic Warrior that took three grenades. Over half of this CSO force was made up of fifty-three aliens that resemble black and white flightless birds found in the glaciers. Finishing their little peek at the dead aliens they found two Death warriors in in banded mail with skulls on the shoulders, some robot cyborg sentry in green-red colors, and some tusked sea mammal Mutant. The last one dressed similar to a whaler and pirate with one leg missing. It was shot in the head as it was just waking from a nap. Wherever these aliens came from, they brought a wide variety of strange, exotic weapons to their world.
Going for the next island to the northwest, the combined force attacked a spider shaped island. Slightly larger than two of the previous islands combined, this one was garrisoned by ninety-six Gantronese. These Gantronese clung to a platform the IGA attacked two days ago. Holding on to a keep tower shaped platform, the Gantronese here put up a decent defense. For them to take this platform, encircled by a clearing in the jungle, they had to besiege it. Snipers, and Marksmen chipped away at the garrison. Over the course of four hours ninety-six Gantronese soldiers died, and just fifty-seven of the attackers died in the fighting. Just the Gantronese Captain remained alive who put his life in their hands. Greigorson recalled how many times they took a prisoner of war who was an officer. They proved useful yet at times chose to be deceitful if they did not have the right person interrogating information out of them. In the process of burying the dead they marked this island like they did the others. Collecting their corpses would have to wait, since the main enemy still had forces in the north, and new alien factions were in the south. Before they attacked the last island that lay between them and home base they took their helmets off in honor of their fallen. Four minutes were spent praying their souls would be transported to the afterlife in peace. Putting their helmets back on, the marines, and aliens boarded their craft. Pushing to get back to base, they went ahead with their assault.
Each man felt like they grabbed a pair of balls, and the women nerves of steel attacking the last island. Met with a hail of a multitude of different aliens wielding exotic weapons, the coalition unleashed all they had. Not caring how much ammo they used up the brigade swarmed the island held by a force of three hundred fifty-two aliens. These aliens happened to be Order of the Beast members. Forced to take cover the attackers lost forty-four of their own while killing the whole garrison, except for five. Just five aliens ran away to the south. Recalling the ferocity of the battle Greigorson walked around in order to shake off the adrenaline of the battle. Like the other islands, he got a good look at each dead alien monster. Making up the islands defense were seventy-eight Duck humanoids in alien jumpsuits, three tall hairy monster gunners, two Death Ghouls, five bunny humanoids, one orange ape man, five reptilians with back shells, thirty-four beast men, a dire sentient black cat, one toad humanoid, twenty-two bear men, an alien horned monkey beast, some orange dinosaur beast with a catapult on its back. According to the IGA marines the rest were likely offensive forces, or simple bodyguards, and scientists. Such aliens included twenty-one Centaur Beasts, three triclops aliens, four wolfmen, forty-five Gnolls, twelve wolf demons, six sea wolf beasts, four Bearded Devils, two half dragons, six orcs, thirty-one Bull Mutants, four Lion men, three skunk apes, Lizardmen, Skink Priest, twenty Beast men hybrids, some rat beast of terror and a Wyrd Demon. Other aliens included three Satyrs (Goat men), three Owl Knights, a tusked mammal humanoid, five troglotrolls, three hunchbacks often found among the Nazdar ranks of Grevaskii slave soldiers, three ape cats, three hobgoblins, four Ogres, a cyclops, and some Goblin engineer pilot. As for the rest of these alien monsters they appeared to be five mastadon warriors, a cyclops centaur, and two snake men who fought the IGA, the Gantronese, and the Vestrisians until their end. Seeing a chance to head back to base the nine hundred sixty strong force returned to base. Greigorson collapsed on his cot next to his friend, the typist, and a few others. Staring at the ceiling, he knew it was only a matter of time before the Gantronese counter attacked.
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