now that was a beast of a chapter. a good one 2.

i have an idea about her, but ill keep it too myself till you tell us.

Fixed, thank! I reckon I do quite well for someone who learned English almost solely from TV and the internet. A little while ago I reread a by now old Warcraft fanfic (The RTS not the MMO) of mine. If my vocabulary was a bit limited at the start of this, it was way more limited then, not to mention the *expletive* I wrote before that.


When you find out, please tell me if you were correct or not. I'm curious.

I just traded the last piece of frre time i usually use to sleep to go trough this incredibly good, atonshing chapter. I also have to admit that i skipped the second part about Lexa... i was glue to Mac Nathan Phebe....

I'ts like crack, you can feel the universe under your feet... but when the effect slowly fade down.... and your eye are pointing at the iterval between shots, then you can measure the weight of the coming wait

what a chapter i feel really peacefull i got transported in an other world for almors one hour, without chemical substance, only a good thrilling story line.

I love it! The story is intense - tremendous work! You're getting better and better; it's a pleasure to watch

Chapter 58: In the Thick of It is up for reading! And it's a big one! Even bigger than the previous one, meaning you might want to grab a cup of whatever you fancy. And like the previous one it needed to be divided in two. The next one is bound to be big too, but I'll see if I can make it into a two-parter and upload the first part next weekend.

As for this chapter's contents, less M rating and more progression story-wise.

Also, I hope no one is offended by the recent influx of swearing, but it can sometimes get a bit tame if swearing is intentionally avoided. Especially someone like Lexa would have no qualms about unleashing profanity every now and then. I'll make sure to keep the profanity to surgical strikes, though, rather than a flood.

And
Thank you both!

Epic. This is only getting better the farther you draw us into the story. Thanks so much for your effort. I can't wait to see what happens.

Marc

yea, great ending to a chapter, and a great read. i almost feel sorry for aeon lol.

*Drum Roll*

You know how I said I'd divide this chapter into two parts? Well, I did, and then uploaded 'em both. Chapter 59: Overdue Vengeance Parts 1 and 2 are up!

Minor spoilers That ends Phebe's story arc as well as Gladius', but it starts up a new one for Fletcher. Those who've played FA's campaign will know how his story arc ends, but there'll be some stuff in between. (yes, the arc is that long)

As for SupCom 2, I've played the demo and already I can see a major difference between when I played the original supcom demo and this one. The original had me all giddy about playing the real thing even though my computer back then slowed down when about a 100 units were in game. Not so with this one. . .

Maybe I'm biased because of the original (probably actually), but I get the feeling SupCom is heading down the road of Red Alert. The original RA had a sort of real feel about it, a little tongue-in-cheek, but the art design looked fairly realistic. No frikkin trained bears, octopuses and dolphins with rayguns. Chrono tanks and time travel was about as crazy as it got. Then you got RA2, which was fun in it's own psychotic way. Then came RA3. . . Yeah. . .

It feels SupCom 2 jumped right in between RA2 and 3, complete with hammy acting and armour plated dinosaurs. I hear good things about the gameplay, though. Thankfully I've got a few episodes to go before I get anywhere near SupCom2 territory.

Applause! Excellent work. Hopefully this won't be the last we hear of these characters. They're an interesting part of this future history you've woven.

MOAR!
Marc

this.
i never thought i'd say this twice about chapters, but holy hell, that was a beast of a chapter. i like it!

After much writers block, Chapter 60: Graduation is now here.

And to reply to that age old (read: three weeks old) comment, as this chapter will attest to, those characters will still appear, but for now they're done having a major influence. That is, aside from providing perspective and maybe killing a character or two during the coming battles

Very nicely done. I get the feeling that there's a bit of ugliness just around the corner for all of the characters in this story.

Keep up the good work,

Marc

And here comes chapter 61: On a Leash

Potential spoilers for the chapter For those who don't remember Sarah (and I don't blame you, I use a separate .doc file to keep track of all the characters, especially the minor ones) she appeared in the previous episode as the TDF commander with the cool toys. Barge and Hannibal were (and still are) her SCU pilots. Aside from that anything you need to know will come up on it's own.

Since the site redesign, why is my signature all screwed while the links on page 1 are still fine? I don't see any issue with my bbcode urls. . .

Also, I apologise for the irregular updates, but my writer's block has yet to fully pass and I've actually been racking my mind over modelling and even thinking about a mod. None of that is good for a regular writing schedule.

Anyhoo, happy reading.

Very nice chapter Dagonian. All the characters seem to be moving towards a grand finale for this story. I really like how you're able to manage multiple story lines to create a complex theme.



Go to your Profile and select Profile and then Edit signature from the Options menu. Make sure the Disable BBCode check box is not selected. Click on Submit and your links should work again.

Keep up the good work,

Marc

Should work now! Thanks! I have a habit of overlooking such simple things as a check box. . .

Hey, why don't the better pilots choose to customize their controls? it would be very useful to have say a force-fire function for artillery units like is commonly used in some other games e.g. Red Alert 2. What do you think? It would be a micromanager-only thing but hey it would work well against stealth...

Let me guess, the pilots attacking Steeltip, at least the capital, have a life expectancy of one minute? (Strategic Artillery, what you mentioned way back)

I do belief I mentioned a couple of times that pilots can modify their of UI, at least it was implied when Sledge entered a simulator and it loaded his preferred settings. I also recall others using simple programming to direct, say, artillery units when they were busy with something else themselves.

Lexa did that during her competition match when she had two heavy artilleries and had programmed one to attack the other pilot's resource bases while the other restricted itself to the main base. By that I did not mean a simple sequence of orders (like shift clicking in supcom), but rather that the artillery would go after anything newly added as well without waiting for her to tell it to.

So it's not like they don't customise controls, it's that I haven't covered it in detail yet.

As for life expectancy. . . Thanks to Phebe they do know about the artillery, so perhaps they'd devise a plan?

Oh, and as for the next chapter taking a long time, it's getting rather big, bigger than I expected. And this weekend I got family coming over, so writing is probably going to be bumped down the list of priorities. Expect the chapter around Monday or Tuesday. Damn, I sound like dots predicting when there's going to be a new chapter.

Woot! thanks for the heads up.

As promised, Chapter 62: Reactivation!

Well, it's still Tuesday where I am anyway

And as for it being big. . . Well. . . It's actually the biggest chapter of the entire story (so far at least), so that should be an indication of how much of your favourite liquids you should have ready for any first thirst that might occur. And yes, I know it could have easily been split up, but I simply went along with the original chapter outline I'd made and this what came out. I even merged two scenes to cut the total length. It's also nice that the chapter had to be cut in two due to the character limit and thus fills up the last two reserved slots, so I'll be bumping up my post count next time.

The next chapter, whenever that will come out, will of course also feature explosions

Very soon, tomorrow or the day after that, I'll probably be giving all you faithful readers (all five of you) a lil' treat. It will involve images and will (obviously) be related to an aspect of the story.

Yes, I can be a tease when I aim to be.

Nice one Dagonian. I had to divide my reading between home and work so I'm not going to do the spelling/grammar critique this time. I really didn't notice anything that substantially changed the story. It appears that all the characters are coming together in time and location. The build up to the finale is awesome. I really like how you've been able to weave multiple story lines into an exciting story that all fits together in an interesting way. That's a skill many writers don't, and never will, have. Congratulations.

Can't wait for the next one,

Marc

Is it just me, or did the site not work yesterday and the day before that?

Anyhoo, as I said, a treat, including images.

A long while back I made a SotF technology thread, which died pretty quick. It contained same crappy images of the Thor gunship (people who know a thing or two about modelling will probably agree that it's crappy). Now I present something similar:

The Grizzly experimental assault bot!

Why, you ask, do I use this thread instead of the old one or a new one? I have my reasons.

# # # # #





Armament:
2x Heavy Proton Gatling – Arms
12x Nanite Missile System (slow firing) – Spine
6x Nanite Torpedo System (slow firing) – Spine
6x Torpedo Defence (slow firing) – Spine

Description:
This hulking mass of metal is currently the Steeltip node's most powerful ground unit thanks in great part due to it's two arm mounted Gatling cannons. These weapons, adapted from the naval mounted proton weapons, have a high rate of fire, good accuracy, fair range and are powerful enough to punch clean through any armour that doesn't belong to a Galactic Colossus. However, after a few seconds of firing the weapons need to cool down. In terms of pure fire-power and range this unit is capable of dealing more damage than the aforementioned Galactic Colossus. Compared to it's Aeon counterpart it does lack the high amount of armour and it will not be able to stand toe-to-toe at close range.

Mounted along it's spine is a large array of support weapons which grant a defensive ability against air and naval units. These weapons fire too slowly to be competitive with dedicated units, though.

The Grizzly is faster than other experimentals, an advantage especially important with regards to it's main competition: the Galactic Colossus. In case speed is incapable of rescuing it, it is also capable of taking flight. Engines mounted in the thighs and chest coupled with an anti-gravity engine (which does the bulk of the lifting) fitted deep in it's chest allows it stay aloft for an effectively infinite period of time. When airborne it can still use it's main weaponry, but the engines put out so much heat that the weapons cannot fire as fast as they can on the ground lest the unit's internal power-plant overheat, effectively halving it's fire-power.

Aesthetically the Grizzly resembles a dinosaur more than it does an actual grizzly bear, though early designs did have it looking more like the latter. Early designs also had it capable of floating on water. Later designs scrapped this ability, but retained it's amphibious nature. It can still walk along the seabed. It's ability to take flight has seen many revisions over time as well, mostly in terms of engine configuration until the designers settled on a combination of an anti-gravity engine and more traditional thrusters.

Aside from adding to an bestial aesthetic the unit's head also serves a purpose. It's the main outlet for coolant, which as it is heated during times of intense firing rises to the top of the coolant system: The head. It's is then vented out through the 'eyes' and 'nostrils'. A nano-lathing system then replaces the coolant. When the firing continues even longer the unit runs so hot it starts venting coolant from it's spine in an effort to get rid of the heat.

The unit is currently seeing limited deployment to find and eliminate any problems there might be with the design and determine it's effectiveness in general.

# # # # #

Those who know a thing or two about modelling will notice this model doesn't contain many polygons, which was done on purpose due to time (I've got other things to do as well, you know). Those same people will also notice there's a great deal of clipping going on. And they will also notice there is no texture (well, aside from an all-white texture with low glossiness). This model is actually a couple months old (erm, I'd wager at least half a year by now), I actually made this before I ever saw CybranZilla, or whatever they call it these days.

I posted this now 'cause this unit will probably be playing a big role in the next chapter, and those after that, so it seemed like a good idea to actually show it.

Anyhoo, flame away!

That's what its mouth lacks

Great model. It looks like what it is: dangerous.

legs and feet are good (apart from clipping). head needs to be less smooth, and more like the legs. then it would rock.

Like so?
Old Front:

New Front:

Old 3/4:

New 3/4:

And for the Mech Marine point of view:

Regardless of whether it's better or not, thanks for the critique.

Well, when it's firing long enough it starts venting coolant vapour from the eyes and nostrils, that vapour is then illuminated by lights set in the eyes and nostrils, making it look like they're burning. You know, for that psychological effect. That said, I don't do effects (not yet at least) and my Photoshop skillzzzz are. . . not very good.

Chapter 63: One More Statistic

Day 129

Should I tell her? Danko wondered to himself drowsily. He was not quite asleep, but not quite awake either. They had four hours of mandatory rest during which they were supposed to get some shut eye, but even though they were absolutely exhausted from more than two straight days of fighting it was hard to actually sleep. Just the knowledge of what was going on out there was enough to keep him awake. Again and again when he was about to give in to his sleep he would recall someone else was out there, people he knew, risking their lives. He was worried, to say the least.

So he tried to restrict his thoughts to one person in specific. She was displayed one of his screens, also trying to sleep, though not successful. Every minute or so Lexa turned over in the seat of her ACU, trying to find some comfortable arrangement of her body that let her fall asleep.

Should I tell her? He thought again. Should I tell her what I used to be? Of course I should. But when? How? Hey! Did I mention how I used to falsify ID’s and collect debts for my boss?!

He sighed loudly. In response his other team-mate, Sledge opened his eyes on the other screen. The tall man had been sitting with his arms crossed looking as if he were asleep. Normally he was a very heavy sleeper, had even slept through a surprise inspection in the middle of the night, so it was unlikely Danko’s sigh had woken him up. He must have been unsuccessfully trying to rest just like him.

Sledge glared at him a moment as if reading his mind, knowing Danko thought about telling Lexa. The glare told him he had to tell her now, but if there was one moment he knew was the wrong one, it was now. It would only cause more distractions, something they really didn’t need right now.

For a while longer Sledge glanced at Danko before closing his eyes again. But it wasn’t for long. Just two minutes later their ACU’s automatically powered back up. All their screens and lights lit up like capital city on new years eve, whereas they’d previously been dimmed.

“Ugh, those were the longest four hours of my life!” Lexa complained loudly as she rubbed a tired eye. “What about you guys, get any sleep?”

“A little. . .” Sledge muttered.

Danko didn’t even get the time to reply. Their Division Commander, Sarren, had already noticed their ACU’s were back online. He contacted them with new orders. “This is no time for naps, boys! New orders for you. The three of you will be going to Hectarus 8, a godforsaken little rock.”

“There’s just three settlements for you lot to protect, each about ten kilometres apart, so you’ll each be landing at one of them. We expect this to be one of the last planets the Aeon will launch an assault on before they’ll slow down. After this their blitz will end as their pilots will be too exhausted to continue. The settlements are already being evacuated, but it’ll still take about an hour and a half before it’s complete. If you’re lucky, the Aeon will land after the civilians have been evacuated.”

“That long?” Lexa inquired as she looked at the mission file that appeared on her screen. “With that population it should be possible much quicker.”

“The local terrain lends itself poorly for constructing additional gates for the evacuation due to the scarcity of suitably flat ground outside the quantum wake radius of the existing gates. Not only that, but, believe it or not, we’re actually reaching the limit of the quantum gate network itself.” Sarren explained.

“The entire Sol 3 and New Lupus nodes and all those little nodes around them are evacuating all at once. Apparently the network wasn’t meant for such excessive use in a local area. The entire network is ‘shaking’, whatever that actually means. Something about quantum wakes building up or something. But this isn’t the time for a science lesson. Do you guys understand what needs to be done?”

“Yes, commander.”

# # # # #

There was no visible reaction, nothing to indicate any sort of distress. Nathan was more stoic than Mist remembered him to be. He hardly even blinked when she showed him footage of the UEF pilots on Jaguar 3 gating off-world. When the footage ran out she shut off the hologram.

“You’re alone now. No backup, no one to take you back. You’re cut off.” Mist said as she slipped the small projector into a pocket.

Annoyingly, the colonel only shrugged and rumbled nonchalantly, “No news then.” He then glanced at her and asked, “Do you like wasting time? ‘Cuz that’s what you’re doing. Shouldn’t you be out there kicking Aeon butt?” She rose a single eyebrow to question what he meant. “There were all sorts of rumours about impending Aeon invasions. That looks very much like an invasion. So why don’t ya just hurry up and get yourself killed, hmm?”

She didn’t feel like answering that and so instead asked, “What are the current command codes used by Earthcom?”

“Like I’d know. Earthcom’s useless anyway.” It had already been a long day and she was starting to get tired of his evasive answers. To show her irritation she plucked the UEF torture device from a pocket and positioned it precisely in between them on the table.

Even though he had felt it’s sting numerous times by now, Rathburn seemed unimpressed and started telling her about some past incident with Earthcom, fictional or otherwise. “You know, they once sent me and my team to what they said was a geologically dead rock. What we arrived at was the crater of a supervulcano the size of Yellowstone that was about to go up in a big cloud of smoke.” Annoyed, she tapped the device several times, but he continued telling made up tales. “Another time they told us we’d be up against a small number of Aeon pilots, instead there were twenty.”

He looked like he had plenty more fabricated tales of Earthcom stupidity, but before he could tell them Mist decided to tell a story of her own. “I once saw a symbiont who’d had his AI fried.” She said as she tapped the device, silencing Nathan. “A traitor who had communicated important information to the UEF. When they were done with him he was bleeding from his eyes, ears and nose. The facial circuitry had been burned into his forehead. He was in complete shock, his entire body was tense, as if he were being electrocuted. He died two days later of sheer shock.”

As she finished speaking she stood up, walked over to him and pressed the device against his head, not giving him the time to protest. Set to fifty percent, she activated it. The result was not pretty. The colonel thrashed so much he nearly toppled his heavy iron chair even though it was fastened to the floor. Despite that she kept the device pressed tightly to his head. Thick veins bulged up in his neck, his skin reddened and he shouted incoherently.

When Mist finally retracted the device again the colonel was bleeding from his nose and still groaning in pain. “Oh, that was good. That got the kink out of my neck.” Nathan muttered defiantly in between pained groans. “Could you do my back too?”

This isn’t useful. . . Mist thought to herself. The colonel simply won’t break to pain, at least not in the available time. Next time I get him out of his cell I’ll just have to fry the AI. Then I’ll let him stew in his own mind for a while. If he hasn’t changed his tune after that I’ll just have to get creative.

“Hey, you listening?” He asked as he looked at her, having noticed her momentary absentmindedness. In response she pressed the device against his head again.

# # # # #

“What is your answer?” Barret inquired of the two people currently displayed on his screens: Gladius, acting military leader of the Sol 3 node, and Greyton, leader of the New Lupus node. “If we combine our forces under one command structure we’ll be better capable of resisting the Aeon.”

“I concur.” Greyton quickly said. “Combing our forces under a single commander will let us fight more efficiently. I will tell me people to report to you from now on.”

“Thank you.” Barret said, nodding slightly to the node leader. He then turned to Gladius. The tired commander looked torn. No doubt the old rivalry between nodes, along with his exhaustion was playing havoc with his ability to decide. “Gladius? My people have helped yours so far. This is no time for old hatreds.”

Slowly nodding, Gladius said, “Alright. I doubt they’ll be happy about it, but I’ll tell my commanders. I suppose I’ll be taking orders from you from now on. . . One condition, though. You will help reclaim the Sol 3 capital.”

Greyton, whose node had now also lost it’s capital, then cut in on the deal. “Indeed, it would be best for all of us if the capitals of both Sol 3 and New Lupus are reclaimed.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Barret promised. “Now, I’ll go see how many other nod--”

Again the New Lupus node leader cut in. “No. Let me do that. I’ll see how many of the other nodes who’ve lost their worlds due to this campaign will join under your command.”

Although he disliked letting someone else do something of this importance, it was probably better if Greyton did it. It would seem like he was making use of the situation to gather power if he did it himself. “Alright, I’ll leave it to you. Thank you. Gladius. . .” He turned to the man in question. “Report to Sarren for now to figure out the defence of your territory together. Greyton, your people will report to Dekker.”

Both acknowledged the commands. It was only when they were off his screens that Barret realized he’d just ordered around the leaders of two other nodes. For a moment he shook his head at that thought, it just felt so strange, before looking back to the holo table that displayed the entire campaign region.

The dark green colour that indicated territory conquered by the Aeon covered most of Sol 3 and New Lupus. For a while now the flashing that indicated territory that was contested was becoming less common now that the initial blitz of the Aeon was running out of steam. It was quite something how the Aeon had managed to keep their forces going for nearly three straight days without critically fatiguing their pilots. What made it even more incredible was that they were actually outnumbered by the combined forces of the Cybran nodes they were up against. It was quite clear that Lord Crusader Amalda knew her tactics quite well.

Numerous times Aeon pilots had arrived on planets to conquer it, or so it appeared. They were actually a diversion. Once Cybran pilots had arrived to intervene, more Aeon pilots quickly landed on other planets that were now under-protected and quickly conquered it. That was the basic template that had governed most attacks of the early campaign, but it had been cleverly disguised each time, making it hard to pick up on.

By now Barret had and no longer took the bait, but already Amalda had come up with a new tactic. It was obvious that a lot of time had been spent planning the campaign, so she had to have numerous tactics in reserve for when he figured one out and countered it. He would just have to predict and counter them pre-emptively. ‘just’.

He really didn’t like the position he was in. This whole corner of the galaxy, the Cybran part at least, now relied on him for orders. When he’d volunteered for pilot twenty years ago he hadn’t imagined he’d ever be in a situation like this. If he had, he might have reconsidered volunteering.

An idea struck him. Or rather, he had had the idea for a while longer, but now realized a way to expand upon it. A way to throw a wrench into the Lord Crusader’s plans, no matter what they were.

A while ago the Steeltip node Council had decided upon constructing a new and improved quantum gate network in the node’s territory. The old one was kept in place and so far still supported the bulk of interplanetary travel and communication. The whole point of a new network was to be able to destroy the old one in the event of an invasion. Without knowing how to access the new network, the invaders would be forced to hop from planet to planet and use improvised tactics for long range communication. In the mean time the node would be able to strike anywhere within the node’s territory.

With that having been the plan all along, he now realized a new addition to it: Destroying the network within a radius around the node as well, by destroying the space gates in orbit around Sol 3 and New Lupus planets. The new and improved network within Steeltip territory could be used as a jump off point to strike any of those planets. The Aeon, stuck with the old network, would have to go planet hopping to reach the same planets.

If he hurried he might be able to get a couple more space gates of the new type online in the remaining Sol 3 and New Lupus territory to give himself an even greater manoeuvrability advantage compared to the Lord Crusader. To achieve that very goal he gave Sarren and Dekker new instructions and organised the node to donate the necessary Quantium for the construction of the gates. Aside from being used in the construction of ACU’s and a lot of other vehicles that passed through the quantum gates, Quantium was also used in the construction of the space gates themselves.

As everything started moving to get more gates of the new type online around a few select planets in Sol 3 and New Lupus space, Mist entered the room. If anything it was a welcome change of pace to not have to look at that dreadful holo table.

“Any progress?” He asked as she stepped up to the hologram.

“Very little.” She said as she looked at territories displayed. An ever so slight frown momentarily appeared as another system went from flashing to dark green. “The colonel is not impressed by pain.”

“I’d be surprised if he was. What about that UEF gizmo?”

“He tries to hide it, but I think it does worry him. Not enough to make him talk, though.” Mist said.

“Will he cooperate after the AI’s made. . . Permanent?” Barret inquired as he walked around the table to stand closer to Mist.

Mist considered the question a moment. “Maybe. He might break, or he might shut himself off so much that he’ll be even less willing to talk. But either way, he’ll be weakened enough mentally for other methods to be more effective.”

“‘Other methods’?” Barret inquired almost disgusted. He disliked torture as a whole, even when applied to someone like Rathburn, who’d done more than enough to earn it.

“Chips, drugs, methods that force the truth, make it impossible to lie. . . There’s a long list.”

Disliking how she could sum such things up so calmly, Barret now found it just a tad harder to say, “Well, remember, after tomorrow I want you back in your ACU. I could use a well rested pilot with the skills necessary to tear up any Aeon pilot.”

Raising a surprised eyebrow, Mist remarked dryly, “Praise? From you?”

“Don’t get used to it.” Barret quickly replied equally dry. “But unfortunately it’s true. The bulk of our pilots just doesn’t have the experience to stand up these Aeon pilots. The reports from the battles indicate the majority of these Aeon pilots are above averagely skilled, and they’re led by a set of very skilled and experienced pilots.”

“You sound almost desperate.” She said, not happy with her own analysis. There were no better strategists in the Steeltip node than Barret, and she doubted there were any in Sol 3 and New Lupus. If he was approaching the end of his rope, it wasn’t looking good.

“Not desperate. Troubled. I know who we are up against.”

For a second she looked back at the holo table, then back at Barret. “I could cut the interrogation short. There’s no point in breaking the colonel when the node is getting destroyed.”

“Hmm, thanks. Still, it’d be better if you fry his AI first. Then, in case the node does survive, he’ll have had plenty of time to reconsider his situation. Don’t be too hasty, though. Killing him will only be a waste.”

“I’ll get it over with as quickly as possible without killing him.” Mist said, acknowledging the new instructions. As she left the room she noticed the conversation had left a bad taste in her mouth, though. These invaders meant business and judging by the map it would not take long for them to arrive in Steeltip space.

# # # # #

A small vehicle had been prepared for Damian and Zip upon their arrival on the Zulu node capital planet. The driver, a simple technician, raced the transport through the hallways at a breakneck speed while miraculously missing the many other people that were there. Damian hadn’t even needed to arrange for the vehicle as the locals were apparently aware of Zip’s condition. It helped them greatly in getting to Apone in a timely fashion for their meeting.

Damian had always avoided coming to the Zulu node as they were mercenaries more interested in a good fight than in inter-node politics, Damian’s field. Zip had of course been to the node numerous times during his long tenure as Prime Advisor.

Abruptly the vehicle came to a halt. “In there.” The wildcat driver/technician said as he gestured at a nearby door.

“Thank you.” Damian said to the young man while helping Zip get off.

The driver waited impatiently for Zip to get off, then said, “Right, ciao!” And he drove off again at the same breakneck speed as before.

“Hey, wait up, we’ll need to--” Damian called after him, but was stopped by Zip.

The much older man slowly shook his head and said labouringly, “He’ll be back when we’re done.”

“Oh. . .” Many questions as to how the driver could know when to be where crossed Damian’s mind, but he decided it was better to leave those and get on with the meeting.

He supported Zip on their way to what was apparently Apone’s office. The door opened automatically for them and Apone was already standing in front of his desk with a chair ready. “I have heard you are not well, Zip. Please. . .” Apone kindly said as he gestured at the chair. Damian was quite taken aback by the sudden change in mood. Since arriving he had been glared at repeatedly by every pilot they had seen, not to mention thoroughly shaken by the driver’s ‘style’, but Apone looked much more considerate. He was rather young too, to be the leader of a node.

“Thank you, young man.” Zip said gratefully as he made it to the chair.

Apone helped him get seated and then turned to Damian, this time with a much harder glare, more like how the other pilots had treated him. “I suppose you are Damian?”

Deciding to not be intimidated by the younger man, Damian extended a hand and greeted, “Indeed, Damian. Pleased to meet--”

“Spare me the political cr*p.” Apone scowled, ignoring the hand, clearly not fond of politicians. “You’re only here because Zip’s with you. Just take a seat and we’ll get started.”

As he did, Damian thought back to what Barret had told him about Apone. When Barret spoken of Apone, he had not described such a harsh man, instead mentioning a surprisingly nice man. It really had to be the fact Damian was a politician.

When he was seated Zip leaned over to him and muttered, “Don’t take him the wrong way. He always initially dislikes people who aren’t soldiers. Don’t let him walk all over you and he’ll respect you.”

Well, at least that was something Damian had experience with. Thus, he decided to take the initiative. “Commander, I’m sure you’re aware of the situation. The Aeon have invaded Cybran space. Already they have destroyed whole nodes and are on the verge of completely driving the Sol 3 and New Lupus nodes out of their territory.”

“Of course I know what’s happening. You’d have to have no senses at all to miss the Aeon invasion. Now tell me, why am I supposed to care?” Apone replied tiredly.

Damian decided to be blunt. “Because you’ll die if you don’t.” The leader of the Zulu node momentarily looked incredulously at Damian before starting to chuckle. Before he’d finished doing so, Damian added, “Your node isn’t very far from mine. I have been told the Aeon’s goal is the Steeltip node, but do you think they’ll stop at that?”

“Oh, they’ll probably try to get as much bang for their buck as they can.” The Zulu node commander muttered as if it were a rather boring fact. “Anyway, I think I’ll like you, Damian. Hmm, yes, I’m pretty sure of it. Besides if you’re with Zip you can’t be all that bad. So, what’s it you want from me? Pilots? Techs? Resources? Axel sent me a message detailing just how screwed up the situation is, and he mentioned it might be best to pass on payment for now, at least until the situation’s resolved.”

“We’d need everything you can spare. We’d be in your debt.”

“Big time.” Apone said with a considerable smile tugging at his lips. He then activated a holographic screen on his desk and looked up a few facts before saying. “I’ll be able to spare about two dozen ACU’s and good number of SCU’s right now. Within a couple of days I can probably pull a lot more from elsewhere, though I’ll have to shift around a couple of contracts with other nodes. I might just come myself as well, collect me a couple of kills.”

“Thank you.” Damian intoned gratefully, glad to hear there would be immediate reinforcements ready.

“Just be glad you’ve got Barret as your ‘Army Commander’. At least I can rest assured he wouldn’t sent my boys to die meaninglessly.” Apone pointed out as if they were very lucky indeed.

Not remembering any recent joint operations between Steeltip and Zulu before the recent training program, Damian asked somewhat surprised, “You’ve fought with Barret before?”

Now surprising Damian even more, Apone shook his head and said, “No, not personally. But it’s my job to know everything about the possible employers of my men, him included. Anyway, I think this concludes our business. I’ll have the pilots and all the other personnel report to Barret. The driver should be back outside the room. You’ll be back on Urial in twenty minutes.” After the obligatory farewells they were quickly sent on their way.

“That went much better than I expected. . .” Damian muttered to Zip as they exited the room. “Much quicker too. But just how grateful should I be that you were there, even though you didn’t say anything?”

“You probably wouldn’t have made it onto the planet without me.” Zip said, looking proud to have been of use.

Damian couldn’t help but smile. It appeared there was still much Damian could learn from his predecessor.

# # # # #

Danko found himself protecting a settlement of roughly twenty thousand inhabitants. Unfortunately the tiny area in which the town had been built only had room for one quantum gate, as the quantum wake from departing vehicles would disrupt any additional gates that might be built. A single gate was all he could effectively use to evacuate all twenty thousand people, meaning he still needed to protect the town for a heck of a long time.

Building another gate outside the quantum wake’s area of effect was too risky as his opposition had already arrived. A total of seven Aeon pilots had arrived on the planet, two of which near his position, two near Sledge and three near Lexa, who had taken it upon herself to protect the largest settlement.

Danko had a head-start of three minutes compared to the Aeon, which could tip the scale in his favour. He certainly hoped it would as his scouting efforts had just shown who they were. The very same pilots who had been the first to arrive on the Sol 3 capital planet, the ones who had killed Opus. In fact, that very pilot, a Templar Phebe, along with a Crusader by the name of Inasha had been confirmed as his opponents for this battle.

There wasn’t the time to find out how the other Aeon pilots had been divided amongst his two squad mates as he had his hands full with these two. They had landed not even ten kilometres from his position and right now both sides were grabbing as much territory as they could.

The past couple of days had taught him, and all the other recent graduates, a lot about real combat. Simulators and arranged scenarios simply couldn’t quite replicate the feel of actual battle. There was never any real danger in training, not unless you monumentally screwed up in a life-fire exercise. So to suddenly be thrust into battle against pilots who had more kills to their name than he had battles. . . It was unnerving.

Despite that constant feeling of dread he managed to do quite well. He captured the two most resource rich locations that lay between him and the Aeon pilots and promptly sent additional engineers to reinforce them.

The Aeon pilots went for an altogether different strategy, forgoing static defences almost entirely in favour of a swarm of units. The single radar installation in Danko’s forward base showed a swarm of units. They knew that if they played it right he would never get to their base anyway, so static defences were only a waste of resource.

The Crusader focused primarily on ground units, initially especially using the relatively long-ranged Aurora light tanks, while the Templar focused her efforts on air units. They worked well together, but Danko had a plan of his own. Using his head start of three minutes, he decided to get to tech two as quickly as possible so he could use the Haribon. With it’s nose mounted proton gatling cannon it could engage ground units before they could return fire. If used correctly a ground force’s anti-air capacity could be destroyed before the Haribons could be touched.

And it worked. For a while. . .

With interceptors covering them, a squadron of Haribons repeatedly wreaked havoc upon any ground units that dared to get close to the two forward bases that blocked the way to the settlement. Often the last thing picked up by Aeon sensors was a quick stream of bright yellow shells tearing up units, with the aircraft screaming overhead a couple of seconds later while already turning back around for another pass. Even the introduction of mobile shield generators only briefly set Danko back, until he could build more Haribons.

It was when one such squadron of Haribons dove towards a new attack force that had just appeared on sensors that the tactic broke Danko up. The cannons fired, producing an awesome stream of shells that shot forward and impacted the still unidentified units. The units were torn up so quickly it surprised Danko.

But as the fighters flew overhead of what was now barely more than shrapnel, he understood. The units had only been Flares, the cheapest of Aeon units, and they had been bait. A small group of Aeon air superiority fighters burst onto the scene. Having never been designed to stand up to the firepower of such powerful aircrafts, the whole squadron of Haribons was taken out in mere moments. The same thing happened elsewhere to another squadron before Danko could adjust the orders of the Haribons and they too were taken out.

“It would be better for you abominations if you fled now.” The Crusader said upon contacting Danko while the wreckage of the last Haribon was still arcing it’s way through the air. “You are outnumbered and outclassed, and those toys will not change that fact.”

Despite the contempt in her voice, her words managed to be entirely reasonable to Danko. He was indeed outclassed. But being outclassed hadn’t stopped him from beating Grav once in an exercise. “This is a Cybran planet!” He called back. “I will defend it’s people with my life if necessary.”

Looking amused, Inasha replied, “How predictable. Come then, monster, show me how far you will go.”

“She’s taunting you.” The apparently omniscient Sarren pointed out after Inasha had stopped transmitting. “Don’t pay her any mind.”

“But I do intend show her something.” Danko muttered more to himself than Sarren. His eyes strayed to a construction project in his main base that was nearing completion. A Grizzly experimental assault bot.

“Just don’t do anything rash. You’ll be dead before you know it if you do.” After those final words of wisdom Sarren closed the channel again.

Although he really wanted to put the experimental through it’s paces, he decided to take the Division Commander’s words to heart and use it only for defence. With a couple of shield generators for protection it should do quite well in that position, he thought to himself.

After one more minute the vaguely dinosaur like monstrosity of metal was finished. The red lights turned on in it’s eyes and nostrils to show it was now fully online. Upon being given the command it used it’s powerful legs to push off against the ground and jump. The anti-gravity engine in it’s chest came online at the same time, greatly increasing the duration of the jump, long enough for the thrusters in it’s thighs and chest fire up. The whole unit bent forward, ensuring the leg and chest mounted thrusters pointed almost directly down at the ground. Between the anti-gravity engine and the thrusters the unit possessed enough upward thrust to remain airborne.

Using the increased speed of it’s flying form, Danko ordered it to the forward base that was under the greatest threat of land units. As the Templar had a lot of fighters around by now Danko made the unit land again some distance from the base as to not give her a single chance to end the experimental’s career prematurely.

The entire planet seemed to momentarily shake as the unit landed and the anti-gravity engine shut off. The thud echoed against the distant mountains several times before finally fading out.

It then stomped it’s way through the forward base before coming to a halt underneath the protection of several shield generators. It was a perfect elevated vantage point that gave the Grizzly a clear line of site in every direction from which Aeon units could conceivably come. To the left and the right were the entrances to the base with several groups of land units encroaching on both.

The gatling cannons that were the Grizzly’s forearms started spinning and the very moment they were up to speed they fired. Thick yellow proton shells blasted forward accompanied by the rapidly repeating blast that shook the entire landscape. The stream of shells passed over the ranks of Aeon units, pulverising them indiscriminately. Only Harbingers and Abyssal heavy tanks could stand up to more than one hit, everything else was wiped away instantly.

Incredible amounts of energy were drawn from the unit’s internal power plant to fuel the thirsty weapons. The resulting heat build-up was equally immense, so much so that even the Grizzly’s advanced coolant equipment couldn’t keep it from overheating for long. Heated coolant flowed to the very top of the unit, it’s head, where it was expelled through the ‘eyes’ and ‘nostrils’, turning to vapour instantly. The red lights set within them caused the vapour to glow red, making for an intimidating visual display.

As the weapons kept firing, destroying every land unit within range, the heat continued to build, forcing coolant to be flushed out through secondary vents in the spine as well. In that state it could only continue to fire for a second more before the more heat sensitive systems would start breaking down and so it was forced to stop firing. For a while longer the unit vented superheated coolant before it’s internal temperature had dropped sufficiently. The Aeon pilots made grateful use of the temporary calm to retreat their remaining units.

Quite amazed, Danko looked at the heavily pitted landscape that was now covered by wreckage and shrapnel. Only a portion of the Grizzly’s shots had hit a unit, the rest had punched holes in the ground, sometimes blasting apart entire boulders. He had seen the unit be used and during the past few days had used it himself, but it had never been quite as effective as now.

While things seemed to be looking up for him, they were looking quite grim elsewhere as Sledge’s desperate looking expression would attest to. “I cannot hold this position! The settlement has only had thirty percent evacuated so far.”

“Same here!” Lexa called, keeping her gaze completely focused on her tactical screens.

“Just get a Grizzly online, it works great as a defensive tool!” Danko said, happy he was having better luck than his team-mates, but simultaneously worried for their safety.

“I am using Grizzlies!” Sledge pointed out in return. “Two of them. It’s not enough!”

“Same here. Only one’s still online.” Lexa added. They managed to get several Grizzlies online before he got even one?! He felt slightly trumped, but all thought of that vanished when Lexa gave new orders. It was clearly hard for her, but she nonetheless persevered with giving the order. “Retreat to my position. We will ensure the largest settlement is evacuated.”

Danko could hardly belief what he was hearing. Abandon this settlement and let all those people left behind be killed? It took him a while to process the fact that she had actually said that. Sledge too looked shocked, but after a short internal struggle said, “Understood.”

“What?!” Danko blurted unbelieving. “No! I can defend this settlement!”

If it had been hard on her before, it was even more so now. “This is an order, Danko. Retreat to my position.” As she spoke new unit signatures appeared on his sensors and they closed in on his forward bases.

“No, I can do this.” Danko protested.

“Danko!” Lexa called angrily, but he didn’t respond. He had a job to do and that job was protecting people, not abandoning them after he had promised their safety. No doubt she was fuming right now, but that was something he could deal with later. He closed the channel and focused on the approaching units.

Once more the proton weapons spun up, but this time he had to abort firing as he had spotted a large number of tactical missiles soaring towards the unit. Under his direct control, the weapons stopped spinning and the Grizzly moved away just in time. Tactical defences shot down some of the missiles and the shields stopped a couple more, but one managed to break through. Thanks to his quick reaction it missed and instead hit a shield generator.

It was only then that he realized his mistake. The Grizzly would have been able to take the hit, although it would have done considerable damage, but at least the shield generator would have remained intact. Now not only had that shield generator been destroyed, but the Aeon units had managed to close in relatively unscathed. Other defences had still opened fire automatically, but their firepower was vastly inferior to the Grizzly.

By the time the Grizzly could bring it’s weapons to bear the Harbingers had already clashed with the few Loyalists Danko had near the base. Near his other forward base, the one lacking support from a Grizzly, a Galactic Colossus had showed up and was now ploughing through it at a steady pace.

Once more the ground shook as the experimental’s weaponry came alive, but it was already too late. Harbingers were rushing underneath shield generators and taking them out, followed by bombers appearing with impeccable timing to take out the now unprotected anti-air emplacements. The missile launchers set around the Grizzly’s spine fired at the bombers but they were not powerful enough to do any real damage against those numbers of bombers.

All he could do now was try to blunt the Aeon assault as much as possible and perhaps even keep his Grizzly online. Making it walk backwards and setting it’s gatling weapons to half their normal firing rate to reduce heat build up, he had it make a strategic retreat. As it walked backwards the proton weapons fired off shell after shell. Any ground unit that tried to chase it was quickly rendered into several big pieces. Using the Grizzly’s better mobility than other experimentals, Danko managed to evade direct hits from several strategic bombers as well.

Although the Grizzly was still mostly intact, the forward base was not. With most it’s defences gone it crumbled underneath the Aeon assault. But Danko wouldn’t give up so easily, the settlement had to be protected. If he retreated now he would never hear the end of it from Lexa.

The Colossus came after the Grizzly, a mistake on the Aeon pilot’s part as the Cybran experimental had the advantage. It could fire while walking backwards and had superior range.

Danko happily made use of both advantages. Keeping it out of range of the Colossus, he had the Grizzly fire at such a speed that it wouldn’t overheat. Shell after shell impacted the thick armour of the Aeon unit, but it kept coming. Even when the first proton shell punched right through the dented armour did it keep going.

Aeroplanes appeared on Danko’s long range sensors with their speed suggesting they were a fresh squadron of bombers. And then it dawned on him, his Grizzly was being herded in a direction away from his main base so the bombers could take it out without being interfered with. And if he ordered it into gunship mode now it would be stationary long enough for the Colossus to catch up.

Not today, he said to himself as he once again tooled around with the experimental’s firing rate and walk speed. The weapons were pushed beyond their safe maximum and the unit itself was given a new move order, straight at the Colossus. The unit’s engines and servos fought the recoil in the attempt to keep it from falling over.

The unit on the receiving end of the flurry of shells ground to a halt due the many impacts and even staggered backwards once. It’s already damaged armour fell apart, exposing the relatively tender systems beneath it, which were promptly torn to shreds.

As the coolant venting Grizzly raced past it an explosion tore through it’s lower torso, taking out the main reactor amongst other things. It sagged to it’s knees, remained in that position for a short while, then crashed forward.

The Cybran experimental, on orders of Danko, was ignoring all the signals that begged it to go easy on it’s power supply. Instead it accelerated beyond the safe limit to get to Danko’s base before the bombers arrived. The internal structure of the unit creaked heavily underneath the stress, but held together just long enough for it too get to base. All it’s internals needed extensive repair, but at least it was safe from immediate damage.

Or so Danko thought. More units appeared on his sensors, so many that he found it hard to belief only two pilots were after him. How much time did I buy the settlement? He wondered. How many more people could get out?

Before long the air was once again filled with weapons fire. Every manner of air and land unit swarmed around his last remaining base. The Grizzly fired everywhere around it, but even it couldn’t stem the tide of units. Already Aeon units were going around him and targeting the settlement.

He had no choice, he needed to get out. But his own quantum gate was unusable due to quantum wakes from the settlement and attempting a getaway via airlift under these conditions, well. . . Simply initiating the self-destruct would amount to the same thing. A quantum teleportation upgrade for his ACU was the only option.

The shield generators around him gave way and strategic bomber dropped it’s payload right behind him. Rocks and shrapnel as well as the blast wave pounded the back of his ACU, tearing up the armour there. Upon recovering from getting rattled by the impact, he noticed a dreadful message on his screen: Rear upgrade systems damaged. The very upgrade systems he needed for teleportation!

“Damn it!” He cried out, along with a long string of other curses, some of the more colourful of which were directed at the Aeon pilots.

The Grizzly took another hit, this one to the right knee. It promptly gave way and forced the Grizzly down to the ground, but stubbornly the unit kept on firing. Coolant vented out of every available port as it kept firing well past the safe limit. A shell from a mobile artillery unit hit one of it’s overheating arms which promptly exploded, spraying metal all over the field. The blast nearly forced it down on it’s one good arm, but it attempted to compensate to stay upright. It ended up overcompensating and fell down on the damaged side instead.

Over twenty Harbingers ganged up on the fallen giant, grinding it down bit by bit while it tried to return fire for as long as possible. Finally it couldn’t take any more and simply shut down, it’s one remaining proton gatling cannon falling silent.

Danko looked at his fallen guardian for a few seconds before opening a channel. First one to Sledge to whom he said, “Don’t tell Lexa about my past.” Then, as the Harbingers closed in on his ACU, he opened a channel to Lexa as well and only said, “Sorry.” Then shut down all channels, no reason for her to see him get shaken around by the hits. He wanted to say so much more, but there was no time. It had all gone too quickly.

He tried overcharging a couple of units, but after the first shot his ACU’s weapon was blasted off, leaving him practically defenceless. Bombers overhead dropped their charges. One such charge filled his screen. Then.

Nothing.

# # # # #

“Sledge?” Lexa asked, staring at her screen. “What just happened?”

Sledge too couldn’t quite belief it. “I’m not sure. . .”

“Focus on the mission!” Came the voice of the clearly omniscient Sarren. “We will clear it up later.”

The words fell on deaf ears, though, at least with Lexa. She continued operating her army perfunctory, but wasn’t listening to anything anymore. She even shut down the channel between them. Sledge tried several times to get through to her, but gave up when he realized that she was at least still fighting.

The evacuation was nearly complete, only ten percent remained. Their two ACU’s stood side by side, facing five Aeon ACU’s. A terrain advantage was the only thing keeping them from getting overrun completely.

And before he knew it, Sledge sat in a darkened ACU. The screens no longer displayed the battle and were on idle instead. The lights had dimmed. Everything was silent, no more distant pounding of explosions or even a fusion reactor humming in the background.

He was on Bern 4 again.

At the press of a button the main view screen showed the outside view, mainly Lexa’s ACU. It stood silently, unmoving, barely visible in Bern 4’s night. Should he contact her and say something? But say what?

A secondary screen lit up, showing Barret. “I just heard from Sarren. Are you okay?”

Confused and unsure, Sledge looked around at anything that wasn’t the Army Commander for a while before saying, “I, uhm, I. . . No, not really.”

“Just hold it together, kid. How’s Lexa?” Barret asked. For someone who had spent three months training them, Sledge thought he looked very unaffected by what had happened.

“She won’t answer.” Sledge answered as he looked at his main view screen.

“I see. . .” Barret mused. “Still, I’m glad she didn’t just shut down mentally and managed to get off-planet.” He looked at some screens of his own for a second before saying, “Things will calm down from now on, so you’ll have some time. Try to get through to her, okay? We need every pilot we’ve got.”

“Alright. . .” Sledge muttered, thinking he too needed someone to talk to now. Danko had been his friend too.

# # # # #

It brought back old memories for Barret that he had rather kept buried. Two old friends of his from long ago, pilots who had been more than friends of each other. He had seen them in Lexa and Danko before. Even more so now. The one important difference was that Lexa had cut herself off, rather than go on a suicidal rampage.

But it wasn’t something he could concern himself with, not now. The Aeon were running out of steam, their pilots had tired themselves out. But his own forces were exhausted as well. Only the recent reinforcements from the Zulu node were still fresh, but he had them busy preparing the additional space gates. As he rubbed a tired eye he realized he too had had little rest.

The reports indicated his plan was going well, though. The first gates had been constructed in various systems bordering on Steeltip territory. It was time to shut down the old gates and deprive the Aeon of their manoeuvrability and ability to communicate.

# # # # #

All across Lord Crusader Amalda’s screens reports appeared about parts of the quantum network shutting down and self destructing. Several groups of pilots were caught in the areas now deprived of access to the quantum network, meaning they could not be contacted immediately.

This turn of events worried her only marginally. After carefully going over the intelligence provided by her Templar she had come to expect it and had acted accordingly. Specialised structures had been built on key worlds that functioned as limited ground based space gates. They had swallowed up a lot of the precious Quantium that she had been allowed to use for this campaign, but they provided her with a backup system. She wouldn’t be able to restore the network everywhere as the fact they were built on the ground caused interference and shortened their range, but it would be enough to get to the Steeltip capital planet. After that she could request more Quantium from Avatar Marxon.

She opened a channel to one of her Grand Crusaders, the aging Samin. “Grand Crusader, the Cybran in command has initiated the second phase of the campaign as expected. Activate the ground stations.”

“Understood.” Samin replied at once and ordered her subordinates at every station to turn them on. She then turned back to Amalda to point out, “The information I’m getting suggests the Cybrans have shut down more of the network than we expected.”

Amalda had noticed as much as well, but nonetheless said assuredly, “Yes. We will still manage, though.”

“Of course, Lord Crusader.” Samin agreed at once.

When she’d disappeared Amalda let her eyes wonder to the small file she had on the Cybran most likely in charge. An old familiar by the name of Barret. Although he hadn’t been know as a strategist before. . . “He appears to be more capable than I thought.” She muttered to herself as she looked back to the other screens displaying the relevant portion of the galaxy. The Cybran had managed his forces well despite being up against pilots who on average possessed far more experience. This campaign would require more effort on her part than she had initially expected.

# # # # #

The door closed behind Nathan as he was once again dragged to a different room by Mist. Sarah could only watch with worry edged clearly on her face, so clearly that Frank muttered, “I don’t understand what that bastard can possibly mean to you. Why the hell are you so worried?”

“None of your business!” Sarah shouted in return, feeling in a particularly bad mood today. “He’s just someone I know from way back.”

Frank had long ago figured out that much from just observing the interaction between them. “And here I thought you were part of a Cybran node. How do you know a UEF colonel?”

She looked at him sourly and muttered sarcastically, “Yes, how could I possibly know someone from the UEF since it is completely impossible, right?” Frank got the message and quickly backed off.

Once more Sarah looked towards the door, then she rested her head on her hands and wondered whether the rest of her team was still alright. They must be worried about her, especially Barge. But what could possibly happen to them? They had tech for more advanced than what even the Steeltip node possessed and the node wouldn’t want any trouble with them. They would be fine.

She looked to the door again. He would not be.

# # # # #

“Last chance, colonel.” Mist muttered as she positioned the UEF torture device on the table in front of Nathan. “Tell me something interesting, or I’ll ensure you’ll be permanently incapable of finding a home anywhere.”

“What? No further attempts to use other facts to manipulate me?” Nathan rumbled sarcastically. “You didn’t even try to take advantage of how I used to be engaged to Sarah in there. What’s up with that? Losing your edge? What a shame to be losing your edge at your age.”

“I am out of patience. Besides, I have viewed the security footage. Except exchanging insults with Materza, the only thing you do is stare ahead, thinking about this.” She tapped the device on the table. “This is more powerful than any fact. So? Anything?” Almost playfully she picked up the device again and showed it to him up close.

This was really it? He wondered. She was going to use that thing and that would be it. There would be no going back. Pah! There had never been any going back since the moment he had accepted general Yamamoto’s mission. It had always been a one-way trip, he now realized.

“Just get it over with. Have your little pleasure.” He growled at her.

Her expression not changing in the slightest, Mist replied, “Happily.”