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A long rectangular area of defenses was set fifty kilometers inside the northern border of the Barthavos desert. Known as area Z, it sudenly sprung to life. A fortified SAM battery sprung from the floor of the desert, firing upon an unmanned army recon plane of the Gaian republic and bringing it down in a haze of fire and smoke before withdrawing back into the ground.

Throughout area Z, 30 Merkava tank platoons were heavily concealed within defensive tunnels. Near the SAM sites were infantry of Yaits Security, armed much the same as they had been in the Mithral Mountains but camoflauged for desert warfare. Minefeilds had been discreetly placed before Ymiristan broke for the republic.

Air support for the assault on Aekea arrived only a few nights before A-day. 15 Mig-29 interceptor fighters were delivered directly from the south, where they had been hastily purchased. The mechanics would have their work cut out for them, inspecting the aircraft for flight readiness and repairing any deficiencies they found. The Migs would be piloted by a select group from Yaits city who had shared a single ancient Mig-23 for training, none of the pilots had ever flown in combat before.

Bakkar muttered, wondering if the hastily thrown together squadron would be able to protect any of his force from air attacks once they left the air defense safety of the defense perimeter. He saluted the pilots, going as if he had found everything satisfactory. Once they received the word from Aekea, the advance would begin.

General Bakkar cursed, it was a damned coup he thought, how in the hell did that little b***h get control of the government? he sent the order out via encripted radio.

"Blue shoes, 72 pairs," he said, it was the signal to pull back to the original formations of the original defense perimeter.

A skeletal knight ran across the deck of the Draconis, coming to a stop behind the black-armored Death Knight, who was standing at the bow - inside the dragon's head - and looking at the land below. He snapping a salute. "My lord, the beacon has been activated."

The Black General turned around to face the skeletal knight, returning the salute. "Excellent," he responded in a raspy whisper of a voice, "Send word to the Storm and the overland party, and have them get ready for the jump."

"Understood!" The skeletal knight saluted, then ran back the way he came, entering the central compartment that led down to the mess hall, quarters, and supply holds. Word was sent out by magical communications. The airships, and the land forces, came to a halt.

Runic sensors would pick up the unknown movement, and such was reported. However, since they were all due to make the jump soon, all forces were kept on standby. Mages on both ships and on the ground began to weave spells. The mages on the ground were strategically placed within each formation so that they include the majority of the horde forces around them in the radius of their spells, so that essentially the entire army could be moved at once. On the airships, however, the mages had to combine their spells in order to move something as large and heavy as an airship and her crew. The effect would be the same as the ground forces though. The only thing they awaited now was the signal.

This notice went out to the Barthovos defense perimeter, they wouldn't be liberating Aekea any time soon.

National Emergency, code Red, the capital is under attack, Send all mobile forces that can be spared for the releif of Yaits City.

Thus Operation Nomad's Hurtle was activated. The tunnels from the underground compounds began belching out the entire force of desert Merkava armor, 20 tanks spread out across the desert while advancing full speed, this time to the west, protecting a convoy of Tank transport trucks that on the way to the battle zone, this time to the west. Now all the tanks were especiallly equipped, each with a YC ground to air missile activated from within the tank, cameras on the hull top were used to scan the air. Along with these tanks were 150 Giat type APC's which were loaded with the frontline troops.

In the rear of the main assault was a convoy of trucks to carry the main infantry force. They would approach from the east, go north, the approach from the east again, cutting through any undead force in order to reinforce the city defenses.

"Agh! Hot! Hot!" Leon yelped as he felt himself cooking inside of his armor. He threw his helmet off, and then his breastplate, greaves, gauntlets, and his sword - the latter of which burned him with he tried picking it back up with naked hands. Stripped down to leggings and a shirt, both of which were torn, tattered, dirty, and close to falling apart due to years of endless use and never being washed, he stumbled through the desert, trying to salivate his mouth enough to keep him hydrated until he can find a source of water. Within minutes, though, his skin was beginning to feel burned from exposure to the sun, and being both hungry and thirsty didn't help him any much more.

Catching his foot on a rock, Leon fell into the sand, cursing out loud. "Damn you!"

His cries would go ignored and unanswered though. Pushing himself back to his feet, Leon squinted his eyes, unable to see the distant mountains anymore now that he was a regular human again. Buzzards would begin circling overhead, spotting him, squawking to each other as if they were placing bets on how much longer he will last before he keels over and dies from the heat.

The gates of Strata opened and before them lay the vast Barthavos Desert, Deo and Acacia only walked far enough to be well out of sight of the city. Then Deo got completely naked, his sister standing facing away from him with her eyes shut tight and covered from enbarassment, she couldn't believe he had picked NOW of all times to strip bare. Deo had a reason for this that he didn't bother explaining of coarse, if he transformed into his natural form still wearing his clothing he would ruin it, and he liked those pants so that wasn't an option. Then under the burning desert sun Deo's body began to change, glossy black scales spread over milky white skin, limbs shorted and withdrew into his body which in turn elongated, large black feathery wings burst from his back, stretching, gooey with blood which dried quickly under the heat and before long Deo was back to his glorious self, a large black snake with a feather plume on his head black tipped with red and wings to match.
"You can turn around now sister." He hissed in his native language. Acacia was stunned when she did.
"What are you stareing at?"
"I just.. You.. I didn't know you were so big, you're even bigger than dad.." He was pleased she was so impressed but she wouldn't be if he told her his mother was still bigger.
"I appreciate the compliment but we have to get going, time is short, grab my things and hop on." she did as she was told now that he was big enough to swallow her whole like a mouse, his joints cracked as he took off from the ground. His wings were out of shape from not being used but the updraft from the heat made gaining height easy and soon they were soaring about vulture high and it wasn't long before they encountered a pack of them circling.
"Don't look down." He told her too late, she already was and almost fell off when she saw what was attracting them.
"There's a man down there! Come on we have to help him." Deo sighed.
"He's probably already dead, that's why they're circling like this." Acacia didn't want to hear it, they hadn't actually started eating him yet and as she watched one of them take a n** she saw the man twitch.
"No he's not! He's alive! We have to help him."
"You have too much sympathy sister." That was the wrong thing to say to someone sitting right near your feathers Deo decided after his sister yanked two of his out painfully.
"Alright FINE we'll set down!" he hissed angrily. Circling lower and lower he managed to clear off the birds pretty easily before touching down softly, his sister immidiately stole his water bottle and jump down to try and help the man.
"Hey mister! Mister! Wake up!"