After a bit of a delay, here is chapter 1 of my sixth story (The fact that it's called "The New Six" and that it is the sixth story is just coincidence).

The chapters may not be as big as the ones in the previous books, but I'll still aim at a respectable size (a bit more than I have in chapter 1).

I've reserved 10 posts or so, as usual.

Here are the links to my previous books:

Story 1: The UEF Academy
Story 2: The Harmony Fighters.
Story 3: Phantom Sung
Story 4: Tessalis
Story 5: War Comes Home
____________
Story 7: Purge

And here is a spoiler:
2-2-2; 4-2; 3-3; 2-4; 2-2-2
Smart guy if you can figure it out. It's got something to do with the title (Post any answers in black please )

Chapter 1
Swui Four

Humanity had met her darkest time in history. Alien species obliterated one planet after another and since they had begun, they didn’t show mercy or remorse. Relentless as they were, they continued hunting down humans as fast as they could, easily murdering the millions that were abandoned in the UEF.

The Aeon community should’ve counted herself lucky, thought Leython, as he heard about the alliance from several loyalist pilots who made it to the coalition. He, like others, was sure it would be only a matter of time before the Seraphim would turn against the Order of the Illuminate as well.

The firepower the UEF knew in the Infinite War was incredible, or so had the colonels and generals thought. Brackman and his technical engineers were famous throughout the Cybran Nation if it were only for the superior stealth and cloak technology they maintained. The Aeon technological war machine met one achievement after another under the command of Avatar-of-War Marxon, so had Rhiza told.

But it was all nothing compared to the Seraphim arsenal. Experimental bombers dropped bombs almost as powerful as the UEF Mavor’s shells but harnessed a larger ground zero, their regenerative systems were ahead of all that either of the three factions knew and their experimental land weapon had greater firepower than the Aeon’s Galactic Colossus and the Cybran Monkeylord together, while the human’s experimental bots no match for a Seraphim ACU, their most powerful and terrifying weapon.

Leython knew that there was only one possible way to deal with the Aliens and that was by waiting, hoping for a counter against their arsenal to come one day and then trapping them as they were still confident that they had the upper hand. The only question was: when would they manage to get to the same technological level as their enemies?

Somehow, he had the feeling that it had to do something with the data chip he had in his hand right now, as he sat in his ACU’s cockpit, constantly checking his intelligence screen. He had gotten his hands on the chip after all Cybran decryption codes were unable to analyse the data. The UEF method was, as he expected, not any better.

He remembered both Eric and Josh questioning the use and importance of that chip. Eric would likely have thought about something like family holiday pictures that would be stored on it, even though the vast majority of the citizens didn’t use encryption tools for such data.

Jeff’s point about adult videos may have been more plausible, but Leython pointed out that the chip had no resemblance with the UEF at all. It was of Cybran design. He on the other hand, could not explain why no Cybran decryption algorithm could crack the codes, let alone why it turned up with a girl who lived on Earth.

What if this was a chip full with unimportant data? What if it didn’t have any useful technology that could help them win the war, or even help them survive? It was very plausible that that was the case yet Leython couldn’t help but to think about this and find out how he could access the information.

Eric had already asked Lucia about every name of every person she knew in her life before X-day. She had given them all, the names of her parents, her grandparents and the girls and boys she knew of kindergarten. Eric had personally overseen the attempts of all Cybran decryption algorithms again, submitting the names as passwords but even that didn’t give him a proper result.

Then, there was this other matter. For more than eighteen months, he had not heard anything about Marisa. Wondering what had happened, he sometimes got distracted from his daily duties. Like now.

____________
Marisa had been wondering the same about her fiancé. She had not seen him for so long and for exactly the same time span, she had heard nothing about the UEF or the Cybran nation, except that more and more planets were cleansed and under control of the Seraphim. She and Selene knew they had to escape but contrary to Marisa’s thoughts, escaping was almost impossible.

She could only be grateful for the fact that she hadn’t been forced to murder. Yet.
During the time she was stationed at one planet or another, she and Selene trained as much as they could but Marisa concluded that it was not a fair fight. For every tactic she taught Selene, she devised a counter by herself and tested it immediately. Most of the time, that worked excellent and she saw a frustrated student in her eyes every time she had beaten her.

Selene explained she tried to stay calm all the time but that it was hard to as her morale dropped during each battle. Marisa understood it and she wished she could do something about it but she had no means to do so.

“The only way to have you win a battle is by training with another Aeon pilot, someone who does not know about the strategies and tactics I am teaching you. Someone who will be surprised and cannot devise a counter. However, she would immediately turn us in, informing Kael of how good we have become and then she will lock us up even better than she already has.”

____________
One after another, the planets fell to the Seraphim war machine. Gialumeth was delighted to witness the destruction of the human race and the creation of a peaceful galaxy. However, he, like other Seraphim, saw how the humans hid from their superior enemy but still waged a fairly successful war against the Order of the Illuminate or QAI.

Everywhere where the Seraphim arrived, death followed, but the outcome of the battle was not so certain if only order commanders or drone ACUs were involved in the battle. Gialumeth and his warriors were still certain about the outcome of the war, but they also desired to have it ended quickly. Whilst it was still possible to drive the human race to extinction within a couple of years, the efficiency of the Seraphim’s arsenal had dwindled a bit.

It was frustrating to see that they were unable to kill the most important members of the Cybran Nation or the UEF, only because they couldn’t continuously pursue them. The more time the enemy had, the higher the odds for them to catch up with the Seraphim technology. The odds were very slim, but still...

____________
“The planet of Swui Four.” Said General Hall, as he was briefing Leython, Shilon, Eric, Josh and Jeff. “It houses a very hostile environment, making it unable for us to live there. The atmosphere comprises five per cent oxygen and that is the best news I could give to someone who attempts to build a settlement there. However, the planet is very rich of elements we require to build our ACUs and it is far away from any civilisation, which means it is far away from the Seraphim as well.”

“And our mission is?” Asked Leython. “Presumably going there and extracting as much of the resources we need for our ACUs?”
“Exactly. We’re not going to create a diversion for the Seraphim because we think that they’ll not go for you immediately. For as far as we know, they prioritize cleansing planets over dealing with five pilots. They’ll send Order commanders and QAI on the job. That should be enough, or so is their reasoning.”

“I’m sorry general, but the problem is that we don’t know so much about the Seraphim.” Interrupted Josh. “They could know about Swui Four and be ready in case QAI reports that five commanders have arrived there. If they come for us, we’ll stand no chance. To add to that, if they can stop us from building more ACUs and training more people to become pilots, then they’ll not have to worry about an army protecting the last hopes of humanity.”

“That is correct. However, we are certain that QAI and the Order will try this on their own first. That means you’ll just have to ensure the Seraphim won’t be asked to get involved in it. Do not go for the full offensive as soon as an enemy arrives, but allow them to build a base. They’ll call for help if they think they can't deal with their enemies on their own.”

“You have a point there, sir.” Said Leython. “I assume we’ve got to keep a low profile for as long as we’re still going to extract the resources from the planet?”
“Correct, that will be two days. After that, we will contact you and you will send the supplies, then we’ll recall you. In the event that things do go wrong, send an emergency message throughout the galaxy and you will be recalled immediately, hopefully not before you have to forfeit all of the profit.
Any other questions?”

“When do we go there?” Asked Jeff immediately.
“You gate in thirty. Dismissed.”

____________
“Templar Halley, report.”
“Yes, evaluator Kael?” Replied Halley immediately. She already suspected what was about to happen: another mission.
“You will go to the planet of Swui Four. Enemy commanders have arrived there, preparing to claim resources vital for ACU construction. You will attack and kill every commander on the planet. QAI is on-site and will assist.”

“I will go immediately.” Said Halley and she closed the transmission. She didn’t need more than the little information Kael gave, to know what to do. Halley immediately called for her knights.

“We will gate immediately. Prepare for battle. QAI has already arrived on Swui Four and we will have its full support to deal with our enemies. They hope to claim important resources for the construction of more Command Units but we will drive them to extinction.”

____________
During the past months of hiding for QAI, the Order of the Illuminate and the Seraphim, Leython had built base after base after base, equipped with the most advanced stealth technology, but only to see it being abandoned as soon as one enemy command unit appeared on radar.

Leython understood why. As soon as either one of QAI’s drones or one of the Order commanders would find out he, she or it stumbled on the civilians, protected by the best human commanders in the universe, then the Seraphim would be alarmed immediately.

Seraphim. The name sounded beautiful in Leython’s ears and if he had to believe his fiancée, Marisa, their culture and philosophy was just like that. However, what he had seen and heard so far, didn’t even remotely resemble that.

Every time the aliens were mentioned, Leython saw the fear in the refugees’ eyes. Every time they arrived, he knew that his hidden base was useless. He couldn’t make a stand.

This time though, he could. While he constructed his base, he thought about general Hall’s reasoning. The Seraphim wouldn’t mind a couple of commanders leaving for a mission on an inhospitable planet. They assumed the Order and QAI were up to the task. A small group of anonymous, inexperienced pilots were no threat to warn the so-called Alien masters for.

“There is one problem.” Said Leython suddenly, the others looked at their communication screens immediately.
“What is it, Leython?”
“We’re supposed to make the Order and QAI think that we’re not important. I think that QAI still has me on the ‘priority’ list, despite for its masters’ reservations.”
“What does that mean?”

“It means that I’m not supposed to show my kind of warfare, my strategies. I must not show my expertise in intelligence warfare.” Answered Leython to Eric.
“You mean that as soon as the enemies arrive here, we must fight like we’re someone else?”

“Yes, I think that QAI has got enough information about me to know who I am if it only analyses the flight patterns of my spy planes. I could be wrong if I perform very, very badly but that’s a tougher challenge than when I’m going to have to do my best.”

“Then you’ll just do what I do and I’ll do what you do.” Said Eric. “I’ll build lots of radar towers and spy planes but you’ll not tell me where to build them and how to send them through the air. If you do that, QAI might notice it through my movement orders.”

“That’s settled then.” Interrupted Josh as he saw that Leython was about to agree with Eric’s plan of action. “We’ve got another issue. My hydrocarbon plant has blown to pieces three times already. Does someone know what’s wrong with it?”

“Do you read anything else? Volcanic activity or some sort of underground explosion?” Asked Leython. “That could explain it, although Hall didn’t say anything about it.”
“The last viable entry was of more than hundred years ago. Something could have changed and considering that the planet had some volcanic activity, it’s not surprising.” Said Shilon.
“Increased volcanic activity isn’t a matter of centuries, it’s more like a millions of years.” Replied Jeff. “However, we may have gated near an active volcano. It can also be that we’re near an unstable gas field. Remember that the planet’s full of elements used for ACU construction. That means we’re facing some issues with this place as well.”

Eric wanted to ask Jeff where he got his information from but Jeff was ahead of him: “Yes, I have read some books and articles about planets, volcanoes and more of that stuff.”

____________
As soon as templar Halley arrived and began the mission, she felt something was wrong. The Seraphim, QAI and the Order were putting more and more effort in the cleansing of the UEF and the search for the Cybrans, but she was suddenly ordered to work here.

If this mission was so hard that Kael wanted an experienced team, then Halley assumed she’d face cunning commanders as her enemies, pilots that would not be impressed if only QAI made its appearance.

However, her expectations didn’t match the truth. The enemies she had to destroy didn’t show any form of experience. The only advantage preventing their death was formed by their numbers. Arriving late, she knew that the UEF and Cybran commanders outnumbered her but she found out it was easy to deflect every assault they came up with.

Advancing to tier three and experimental weaponry, Halley knew that she only had to gain superiority in numbers and then it would all be over. It was odd that she had to eliminate an inexperienced bunch of enemies. However, not a single unit she sent to the enemy, made it even close to the base.

UEF Fatboys, billy missiles, Cybran stealth bombers and even strategic missiles were all used to eliminate the advancement she and her knights made. It seemed that the inexperienced commanders did a wonderful job as soon as they had to defend.

“What is wrong with these pilots?” Said Halley, forgetting she still had several channels open to her subordinates and QAI.
The artificial intelligence answered immediately: “The result of my calculations points out that there is a ninety-three per cent chance that they are taunting us. They will stop us if we attack but they let any of their own attempts to finish the battle be wasted.”

“That means they can charge with a superior strike force at any time?”
“No, the chance that that happens is less than zero point five per cent. They have their own orders. Do their excavating job here and leave at a certain moment. They know that we would attack and they just want to hold us off.”

“If that is so...” Said Halley, thinking about a proper strategy “...then we will just build up a superior force of strategic missiles, air superiority fighters, bombers, experimental assault bots and experimental aircraft. We will strike when we can be certain about our own victory.”

“The chance that they will leave before we can build up such a powerful force is negligible.” Replied QAI. “My ACUs will start immediately. We will not attack before we are all ready.”
“I will inform my knights.” Said Halley. “We will end this.”

____________
The sun set over Swui Four’s horizon. Leython knew that the enemy would soon send units over that same horizon to meet him. It would not be long before the Order commanders and QAI realised that the Cybran and UEF pilots were merely playing with them.

Leython ordered his teammates to fake several assaults on the enemy and see their armies fail, hoping to deal some kind of damage, but in the meantime, they also did their very best to keep their own lines. It was a ruse that would not hold for long.

“It’s time to send a stream of spy planes.” Said Leython suddenly. “We’ve got to find out what we’re up to by now. Build air transports and be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. We’ll retreat to our secondary base. You can already guess that we’ll take all of our supplies with us, using the transports.”

“We’ll abandon our main bases?” Asked Jeff. “That seems to be a bad idea.”
“We’ll use our own engineers to reclaim it, the non-critical components first. We’ll leave the radar towers and missile silos standing. That’ll allow us to deal a powerful blow to their army, which they undoubtedly have.”

“Then why do you want the spy planes? Do you want to know how much time you still have?”
“Yes, but I also want to know what we’re up against.” Replied Leython to Eric. “We’ll have to get to work. The enemy’s been silent for far too long.”

“Got it, Leython. We’ll get to work then.”

Chapter 2
QAI’s persistence

Two hours later, Halley and her knights moved out with their armies. Dozens of experimental assault bots, supported by even more Asylum shield generators and mobile flak units, made their way towards the enemy. The enemy bases were close but the Cybran and UEF commanders’ activity there had reduced greatly.

Halley and her subordinates realised that they were hunting their foes, instead of fighting them head-on. Although a hunt was desirable because Halley knew that she would never be endangered but now, her life was never in danger, not with the overwhelming odds at her side. Not with the enemies whose mission was merely to hold out, not to kill the Order commanders or QAI’s drones.

Having to track them down only prolonged their mission. To add to the problems, the UEF and Cybran pilots would eventually be recalled. It meant that Halley’s team was on a hunt with a time limit. Tracking down an opposing army with superior numbers and a powerful intelligence network was easy in any normal situation, but this was different.

While Halley and QAI prepared for a full-scale assault, their enemies had left their primary bases and were out of reach for another thirty minutes, if they didn’t move away again. Yet, anyone could tell that that was something they would inevitably do.

“QAI, we are in need of a method to track them down. Or armies are too large to manage properly. We are unable to relocate within minutes while they can constantly be on the move.” Said Halley while the Aeon army moved in on the enemy bases.

____________
“Josh, be prepared to detonate at any moment now.” Said Leython while he watched the massive assault force decimate one base after another. They had already left nothing but their mass extractors and radar towers behind but the Order pilots had prepared as if they wanted to topple the fortress the UEF once had at Matar.

Seconds before one Galactic Colossus had reached Josh’s strategic missile launcher, which he deliberately left behind for this surprise, the UEF major let the warheads explode. Much of the energy was absorbed underground but a massive column of fire burst out of the missile silo, brighter than the explosion of only one nuke.

Before anyone had time to notice the huge pillar that Josh created, a more powerful explosion caused the earth to tremble. The surface cracked and ignited as the burning gas burst away, setting the remains of Josh’s base and a small surrounding zone ablaze. The tier two arsenal stood no chance and even the Colossi slowly succumbed to the violent firestorm.

“Wow.” It was the only word Eric could say. Jeff immediately filled him in. “That blaze might go on for hours. I’m a bit surprised by the explosion but not by the fire. Apparently, the missiles caused enough heat for a chain reaction with that magnitude. Now the oil and gasses are on fire, we’ve created a nice obstacle for the Order forces, but it won’t take them long to go around.”

“Now I think of it.” Said Josh, remembering why he was the one who was to try and cause a chain reaction in the oil field. “Wasn’t it dangerous? Couldn’t it have blown before?”
“No, I don’t think so. The oil and gas need oxygen and heat to react. It had oxygen underground but no heat. Your hydrocarbon plant exploded because it added the heat, but those structures are well-designed and the odds are slim that an explosion continues underground.”

“Let’s get out of here again.” Said Leython. “We have lost our primary bases completely now and our secondary ones are now at the front line, even though the enemy is still more than seventy kilometres away. We’ll retreat for another seventy. We’ve got several strategic missiles available here but now we’ve got to launch them. It requires some patience but it’s a lot easier to target them well now their flight trajectory is sub-orbital.”

____________
“QAI, we have lost twenty per cent of our force in one explosion. We are in need of more assistance. Why is your army not moving?”
“The army you and your subordinates have is sufficient to destroy the enemy bases that are ahead of us now. I will self-destruct and reclaim everything I have while my ACUs move ahead. We require a new position if we are to catch up with the enemy.”

“Send in more ACUs. We do not have the time it takes to surround them. They will find out and retaliate. With the advantage they have now, they can easily build enough strategic missiles and experimental artillery to decimate our entire army.” Replied Halley to QAI.

“I’m unable to comply. All ACUs are operating elsewhere. I have another method though. My ACUs will teleport behind the enemy lines. You have to use the bases I leave behind to self-destruct, reclaim the wreckage alongside my engineers and build as many strategic missiles as possible. My command units will build up a base and reveal the enemy. I will give you targets for the missiles. In the meanwhile, continue with your army. Build new bases as necessary, with additional missile silos.”

“I understand. I will inform my knights.”

____________
It was only half an hour later that Leython learned about QAI’s new strategy. As several spy planes revealed his base to his enemies, he immediately ordered a wide search for the quantum AI’s new locations.

“Anything can happen now. Build additional omni sensors where we still have a gap in our intel. We’ve got to prepare for many strategic missiles as well. They might have worked on that.”

Leython had barely said it or he was notified by his ACU that the enemy had launched multiple missiles.

“We’ve got to strike against QAI immediately.” Said Josh. “It could be surrounding us. If we can destroy one or two bases, we might be able to break through its blockade and then we’ll be safe for another moment.”

“I agree.” Replied Leython. “Let’s just continue down the path we’ve taken two times already. Are those spy planes flying?”
“They are but QAI could be a battlefield’s range away.” Said Eric. “If that is the case it’ll take us some minutes.”
“We haven’t expanded our area of control properly, Leython.” Said Jeff. “You thought we’d have some rest before they’d catch up with us. Now we don’t have a fourth base.”

“Yes, that’s a painful mistake. Everyone’s got his ACU upgraded with teleporters?” Asked Leython. “If we have to abandon the resources of the first six hours, so be it. That’s a minor setback compared to the loss of our lives.”

The others immediately nodded and Leython activated his teleporter. “I’m going to make a jump to the south-east. QAI will probably have two bases there but I’ll be away after I’ve built a radar tower. I’ll continue that path so I’ll no longer be able to control my base. I’m transferring everything to Shilon.”

“Got it.” Replied the Symbiont immediately. “I’ll get all of our mobile units in the transports and then we’ll retreat.”

Ten seconds later, Leython stood in the middle of enemy terrain and he immediately build a small shield generator. It wouldn’t be helpful if QAI turned up with a dozen strategic bombers, but it gave him enough time if only one would come for him.

Just some seconds later, a stealth generator stood next to it and Leython turned his attention to an omni sensor. While Eric’s spy planes discovered several enemy bases, Leython was surprised that nothing turned up on his own end.

“It’s either got stealth here or it’s made a mistake in his probability calculations. I’d love to see that happen but it probably isn’t the case. Get all of the planes here, Eric.”

“Right away. It’ll take three minutes.” Answered the UEF pilot. Some seconds later, Leython noticed how the enemy missiles arrived. Every single base received dozens and each pilot knew that their counter measures weren’t enough, a possibility they had already considered as soon as their ACU’s informed them with the dreaded audio warning.

While one missile after another was shot down, only to let some through, the ACUs had already left their bases, along with every air unit and filled-up transport. Josh, Eric and Shilon had already given their own missile silos some targets to destroy. Before any of the Order commanders’ nukes had detonated in one of their bases, a dozen of their own flew to two of QAI’s bases to the east.

Certain about their imminent destruction, Jeff waited for Leython to reveal another base, or two. The UEF commander noticed how his own base was spared and told his friends about it: “My location is safe. Perhaps we should all get here and take our time to plan a strategy.”
“No, it’ll only give us five more minutes. We’ll have to pierce through their lines and be gone, then QAI has to find us again, which will probably give us more than five.”
“But we’ve got to forfeit our supplies then.” Retorted Eric.

“Not if we can break away from his radars, which shouldn’t be too hard given the fact QAI’s ACUs have been here for only thirty minutes.” Said Leython just before he teleported into Jeff’s base. “Eric, your spy planes have revealed one base. We’ll take it down with all of the missiles we’ve got.”

____________
Half an hour later, Leython and his team members were building their new bases. Leython thought about how they managed to break through QAI’s lines and concluded that they were lucky. Now, while building yet another radar tower, Leython told the others to pay attention to everything.

“QAI won’t let us get away with this. No one would and that computer has probably programmed itself to find an effective method to destroy us. We’ll need strategic missiles, bombers and experimental weapons so we can break through again if we have to. We can’t afford to think it’s easy, like we did last time.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll take that big pile of chips some time to find us and we’re back on track again.” Answered Eric. “With a bit of luck, our worst problem will soon be how we should get our supplies back to base.”

“Like I said, don’t think like that.” Answered Leython sharply. “We have to work on this like it’s our worst case scenario.”

However, for the next three hours, nothing seemed to happen. Eric, Josh and Jeff had each constructed three Mavor artillery with the resources they didn’t exclusively need for the key components of their ACUs. Leython and Shilon sent spy planes patrolling all over the field, while they supported them with refuelling stations.

“Jeff, Eric, the two of you should try to catch some sleep now. I know it’s still early but while we can afford it, we should seize the opportunity.”

The two UEF commanders answered with a quick nod and then shut down every channel they had with the others, still allowing their ACUs to create a new connection in case of an emergency. They ordered their factories to build more of the same, so that nothing in their base would be idle for the time they were allowed to sleep.

Leython, Josh and Shilon continued in silence, while they watched how the two UEF ACUs stood perfectly still.
“We’re gaining a fair amount of supplies.” Said Josh. “I just hope that we can also get them back to base.”

“I’m certain that that will work out. That’ll not take long. We just have to establish a connection and then we’re gone and QAI can’t find us anymore.”

____________
Ten minutes later, QAI and the Seraphim War-Leader were in a conversation about the enemies encountered at Swui Four. The Quantum AI had recognized one of the commanders as ‘dangerous’.
“It is Leython Dygonn, War-Leader. He leads the human team and they are successful in claiming all of the important resources for ACU construction.”

“How important is it that they die? How significant will their failure be when they fail and the resources go to waste?”
“They will not be able to build many ACUs, if even more than one. The destruction of their ACUs will be a bigger loss. If Dygonn dies, a strategist important to the coalition is lost.”

“A very good point indeed, but our technological level still outmatches theirs by far. They cannot intimidate us by powerful tactics if they still work with outdated materials, QAI. Our commanders will do a better job if we leave them at their current duty: cleansing UEF planets.”

“Warrior Usii-Lateh is successfully finishing his current campaign.” Said QAI, as if it immediately forgot about the battle at Swui Four. Seth-Iavow knew better though. The Quantum AI mentioned but didn’t patch the Seraphim pilot through. “Calculations indicate a ninety-nine per cent chance that the human pilots will die within some hours if warrior Usii-Lateh joins our ranks and we trap our enemies at Roanoke.”

“Very well.” Replied the war leader, realising that the trap could allow him to kill more than just five Cybran and UEF commanders. “Trapping the enemy there allows us to trap more than just the five you are fighting at the moment.”

“I am preparing a method immediately. With Swui Four’s location in the quantum network, the enemy has seven planets to flee to as soon as they leave the planet. I will require six more Seraphim commanders then.”

“We can temporarily send Gialumeth’s team on another mission. If you send every commander to another planet with the support of several Order commanders or your own ACUs, then you can force the enemy to Roanoke. My scientists have, also thanks to a concept in the time of Avatar Marxon’s warfare, constructed a powerful weapon that counters the enemy ability to recall. Usii-Lateh will construct it, activate it and Gialumeth’s men can then go back to their old duties.”

Seth-Iavow’s new weapon would prove to be incredibly useful. QAI and the Seraphim army only had to spend a portion of their forces on the enemy for a moment. That wasn’t all though. “My database expands rapidly. By the time the trap springs, the Seraphim arsenal will have a powerful update that will further hamper the enemy’s ability to fight. The technology seems old but is extremely sophisticated.”

“Is this a direct weapon?” Asked the Seraphim war leader. QAI responded immediately: “Negative, its effects are indirect but not to underestimate.”

____________
“I’m picking something up. A powerful wake.” Said Shilon. “This could be very bad.”

“Analyse it, if it’s Seraphim, we’ve got to get out of here immediately!” Answered Leython, fearing the worst. He hadn’t seen any enemy for hours now and although he expected a new assault to come eventually, he thought that it was better any time but now. Jeff and Eric were just asleep...

“That’s it, we’ve got to make a run for it.” Said Shilon, confirming Leython’s fears. “I’ll wake them up.”
“Wait a minute.” Said Josh. “Can’t we just charge at them? We’ve got a lot of weapons. Nukes, bombers, Mavors. You name it, we have it.”
“The enemy is so far away that we barely spotted it. By the time the nukes have arrived, that commander has calmly walked away. By the time we have arrived with our air support, that commander can wipe us out with his. We are catching up slightly if it comes down to technology, but we are still no match for our enemy if we’ve got to do a head-on battle.”

“But if it takes so long, we have got some time to plan ahead, right?” Asked Shilon.
“That’s true,” said Jeff, who had just set up a channel with everyone else again. “But we’re going to need that if we want to contact Coalition HQ. We need their assistance to plan our evacuation.”

“Can’t we just recall?”
“We can, but the supplies can’t, so we’ve got to send those through the gates and then we’re going to have to get away by the recall system.” Said Leython. “I’ll send a distress signal but it can take some time before they respond. Prepare everything for an evacuation to a new base on this planet. If it takes too long, we’ve got to buy ourselves more time.”

It took more than ten minutes before Leython got any response but they had for so long, the Seraphim commander could not nearly be ready to attack.

“We’ve encountered a Seraphim commander. He’s far away for now but we’d better break off the mission immediately and be happy with what we’ve got.” Said Leython to general Hall. “We’ve got no choice but to retreat.”

“Do you still have the time to send the supplies through?” Asked the general, one of the last at the current coalition HQ. The people had already been evacuated before Hall responded to Leython’s call.
“Plenty.” Sounded the simple answer. It was true, they did have enough time to deliver the treasure to the Coalition.

“I’ll forward my coordinates. I can give you no more than fifteen minutes to send the supplies. We will be too much at risk otherwise.”
“We can do it in less than two.” Replied Leython as he turned to his other screens. “Let’s send it through immediately. Then we can be recalled.”

Josh, Jeff, Eric and Shilon didn’t speak but they immediately executed Leython’s orders. Even though it was slightly disappointing that they had to break off the mission so soon, they were glad it was over.

Unfortunately for them, their plans were thwarted.

____________
Usii-Lateh gated had gated in far away from his enemies but his ACU was immediately picked up by a transport and that flew at its top speed to get the Seraphim warrior closer to the UEF an Cybran commanders. It was all done to fool the enemy, making them think they were safe but couldn’t unleash their own arsenal they had built up in the last three hours.

They were still behind in terms of technology but the raw power of several strategic missiles could damage the ACU or even incapacitate it. Now, Usii-Lateh was safe but he still had to rush to the enemy bases so he could prevent them from recalling. The new weapon he had been given by Seth-Iavow was the key to that.

“The humans will not be recalled within five minutes.” Said QAI. “They need more time because the Coalition has to prepare HQ for a second jump, immediately after their recall would be successful. Their first jump was seconds after the distress call. This time is just what we need, but we cannot afford any mistakes.”
“They will secure the resources first.” Answered Usii-Lateh. “That gives us extra time.”

“Negative. The odds that resources are already in hands of a small group of commanders who stayed behind at the old HQ’s location, are ninety-eight per cent. We will not be able to catch up with those commanders though. They will be away too soon.”

QAI’s transport dropped the Seraphim ACU flawlessly, in a secret base just outside the human commanders’ active fields. The base was filled with more than fifty tier three Ion reactors, all prepared to provide power for the one thing QAI and the Seraphim needed to trap Dygonn.

Dozens of engineers and two Cybran ACUs assisted the Seraph’s command unit and seconds later, it was equipped with a tier three engineering system. Usii-Lateh continued immediately and built a disruption tower. The Seraphim’s scientists had just completed it. A weapon developed to keep an enemy on planet.

It’s design was simple, some even called it crude, but it was effective. In a radius of twenty miles, no ACU would be able to leave Swui Four through a quantum gate. The human recall systems were rendered useless up to fifty kilometres away. That was not enough though. He’d need five disruption towers in total, because it was one hundred and three kilometres to the UEF and Cybran commanders.

Luckily, QAI’s unit management was flawless and within a minute, the tower was ready. It activated immediately and leeched the power of ten Ion reactors. Usii-Lateh didn’t even think about that because the Quantum AI had told him that its Cybran drones had dealt with the power issues.

Four minutes after the Seraphim commander was dropped in the Cybran base, the humans couldn’t flee by their desired method. Not from their current location.

____________
“Your signature is too weak, we can’t get a clear lock on you.” Said one of the technicians who tried to recall Leython and his team back to HQ, after which they’d all immediately leave again, to another remote and hidden planet.

“What do we have to do now?” Asked Eric immediately. “We can’t just keep trying. If it doesn’t work soon, that Seraphim bastard will be upon us.”
“Should we try it from another location?” Asked Leython.
“Another planet, I think. It might be the activity in the quantum network near you, that is the problem.”

“What activity? That Seraphim? He gated far away from us. That should be no problem. The supplies have left via a gate complex, so we should still be able to make it.” Said Jeff.
“The simple thing is that you can’t. And there’s more. You have read only one Seraphim gating on planet but we have noticed a lot of activity in the whole sector. So much that we can read it, yes.” Added the technician quickly as he saw Leython’s confused face.

“It seems that the only planet that’s still free and directly available, is Roanoke.” Said Dostya, looking at the situation as well. “Whatever is causing the recall system to malfunction, is not important now. We have to get you out of there before the Seraphim commander catches on. Roanoke is still available so you will use the conventional gate technology to make a jump towards there and then we can recall you.”

Chapter 3
Roanoke

550 days after X-day...

Roanoke. A planet that would have been forgotten if it weren’t for its mystery. Somewhere in the ocean, colonists of the Earth Empire found a group of islands. Nothing special in particular, except for their formation. All of the islands formed concentric rings and the valuable mass fields were perfectly located beneath them. In the centre, the colonists found a vast sinkhole, which made the miracle complete.

It was too perfect to be natural and many humans had thought to find the first aliens at Roanoke, but none were ever seen. Eventually, the Seraphim were found and Roanoke was thought to be forgotten, but during the Infinite War, all factions searched the planet, hoping to find any evidence of alien technology that could be used.

Even though nothing was found in the past centuries, many commanders fought and died at Roanoke Abyss.

As soon as Leython appeared at the northern island in the central circle, HQ told him that he couldn’t be recalled. Order commanders had arrived at Roanoke Abyss only two seconds earlier and controlled its southern part.
“We can’t recall you, but we can send in additional support. We have nine active commanders who will arrive within a minute.”

“We’ve got to build our bases and prepare for battle.” Said Leython to his four comrades. He saw Eric to his south east, also in the central ring, while Shilon was one island to Eric’s north, one circle outward. To Shilon’s east, one island further, Josh built his first structures and another island further, economy expert Jeff planned his base.

____________
Most of the Roanoke battles involved the inner circle of islands, providing enough space for six commanders in total. Three commanders versus three, relatively small teams that attempted to secure the planet for a science team that was not much larger.

Within the last century of the Infinite War, the interest in the Roanoke Abyss was lost and it was barely visited again. Today, Halley thought, one of the largest battles ever would be fought. The second ring of larger islands, as well as the third, provided room for twelve commanders. All together, thirty pilots could wage a dangerous and bloody war.

She arrived with her team of six knights. Enough to fill the inner ring, but she was the only one to take position there. The island to the south-west was hers. To her west, one ring further away from the centre, her first lieutenant Ledia already built her first structures. Taelia took position in the same ring as Ledia, but south to Halley.

The southern isle in the inner circle was left empty, but Halley had been informed that a commander would soon take point. To the south-east and south-west of that left island, Aldesse and Diona wasted no time on their own work.

Knight Cera, the last one under Halley’s direct command, took position in the third ring.

“We will not waste any time on them.” Said Halley. “I will see to it that everyone builds up an army of Aurora tanks so we can overwhelm the enemy immediately.”

“Additional reinforcements have arrived on the coalition’s side, commander.” Said lieutenant Ledia.
“We will have our reinforcements soon, do not worry.”

____________
“This is our chance.” Said Marisa as soon as she had opened a secured channel to Selene. Both had arrived at Roanoke, with the other two knights of their team, Jelea and Tomin. Selene took point at the eastern island in the central ring, while Marisa worked on her base one island to the east, a ring further away from the centre. Tomin and Jelea were south of them.

“Yes, but how are we going to do this?”Asked Selene. “If we join the coalition now, we may have every Order commander upon us. Despite of the fact that the odds are at our side, it will be dangerous.”
“We will wait. We are more experienced than knights Jelea and Tomin, so we can get away, especially if we build our base first, with a large fleet. That will slow the enemy down as we join the coalition moments before they leave.”

“I understand. Then this trickery will finally be over.”
“They have made a mistake by demanding us to join the battle.” Said Marisa harshly. “Do not underestimate our challenge though, it can lead to our own doom.”

Marisa and Selene closed their channel with each other as soon as they noticed that templar Halley prompted them to report. Marisa talked immediately, hoping she could be less suspicious than when she tried to fool the Avatar-of-War.

“We are ready, commander.” She said and Halley nodded in approval. “Knight Gawain, you will construct land and naval factories with knights Jelea and Tomin. Knight Elenes will raise a force of Aurora tanks first. When we have established a clear front, she will also concentrate on a fleet of Destroyers and Cruisers.”

“I will inform the other commanders.” Replied Marisa, showing no emotion whatsoever.
“We will cleanse them for the glory of the Seraphim.” Said Halley before she closed the channel.

____________
The battle was ten minutes old as ten Aeon pilots clashed with the combined force of the Coalition’s Cybran and UEF arsenal. Aurora tanks were sent at their enemies, their numbers into the hundreds. Numbers meant nothing though, as the UEF commanders and the Cybran pilots used tier one bombers to decimate one wave after another.

The Zeus’ cluster bombs took nine out in one run and the Federation’s scorcher’s napalm strikes were good enough to deal with six of the hover tanks in a single pass. It was not until the Aeon commanders on the eastern side sent in anti-air support in the form of Shard jet boats. The fastest naval vessel humans had ever seen in the Infinite War had two anti-air guns that were able to shoot the enemy bombers out of the sky in a matter of seconds.

Before any of those could be deployed successfully, they met UEF Tigershark class subs. The submarines’ torpedoes proved to be a devastating counter to the small Aeon boats and the Coalition’s forces were still able to keep the enemy at bay while two members of the thirteen-man squad were using their time to reach the third level in their arsenal and expand their economy.

“Only eight minutes left.” Said Leython. “Then we can be recalled. We should see if we can take down some of those order commanders.”
“I can send in some air transports to claim the southern island in the centre. It’s still left empty.” Replied Josh, but before he was able to take any of his air transports in the sky, one more commander arrived, directly filling the gap in the Order’s brigade.

____________
“Our final reinforcement has arrived.” Said Halley after she opened a channel to every other commander. “The Coalition forces understand that it is a Seraphim ACU, we can already see that they are falling back so their forces are within their own intelligence field. It will lower the stress on ourselves so we should seize the opportunity to reach tier three and build the most powerful weapons of our arsenal.”

Marisa and Selene merely nodded. They both knew that the odds were now against the Coalition and the chance that they could break away from Halley’s grasp was slim. Even though the Coalition and Rhiza’s Loyalist movement had managed to catch up with parts of the Seraphim arsenal, most of the alien technology still outmatched the humans with ease. The Seraphim’s tier three air units were still more than twice as strong but were just as expensive as the UEF, Cybran or Aeon variants.

Her channels were closed again and Marisa immediately reopened her secured channel with Selene. “We have to wait until the last minute. Then, we have to build quantum gates and make our way out of here with the UEF and the Cybran ACUs.”

“Why can we not be recalled, like we can by the Order’s headquarters?” Asked Selene. “Does it have to do with the security, or with the protocols?”
“It simply has to do with the fact that they do not know we can be recalled, just like them. Then, we also do not know the codes of our beacons and they can probably not locate it. Definitely not within the last minute.”

“I have another question. Why is templar Halley constructing so many power generators? Alongside with her knights?”

____________
“Send all of the submarines towards the Seraphim commander.” Said Leython so fast that the others could barely understand him. “We can’t allow him to construct a fleet.”
“How is that going to help us? We’ve got to worry about their air force.” Asked colonel Stirling, who had returned to the direct battlefield again and now he had his position in the second circle, to Josh’s south east.

Leython was surprised to see him piloting an ACU, one year ago, but had told him over the years that Leython missed because he was either with the Cybrans or on Tessalis with Marisa.

“They have a powerful high-tech submarine. If we can keep them out of the water for some time, we won’t face naval superiority. That is more important than air superiority, especially because we can use cruiser to aid our own fighters.” Answered Leython.

Stirling immediately nodded. He was a colonel but let all of the strategic decisions to Leython for now. He already found out that commander Dygonn and his five friends had great potential and he had also heard about Leython’s assault on the Matar fortress. He thought that he still had more experience but allowing he first one to assume command over a group that had to be organized to go on, would usually be the best choice.

“Everyone should upgrade to tier three as soon as possible. Not doing it will kill us.” Said Leython and he immediately saw the others respond. No one said anything but everyone got to work.

____________
Ten minutes later...

“It’s strange, we can’t recall you. We don’t know why there’s still an enormous interference on the network. It seems to come directly from Roanoke.” Said the technician at the Coalition headquarters.
“This is bad. That Seraphim commander is already working on his army and it’s coming this way, alongside with the Aeon.” Replied Leython. “We’ve got to get out now!”

“You can’t. I don’t know how this is possible.”
Leython ignored everything else the technician said and he turned his attention to the other commanders on the field: “We’ve got to make a stand, we’ve got to attack the Seraphim commander head-on and keep him busy while HQ tries to find out what’s going wrong.”
“How do we get that Seraphim commander down?” Asked Eric. “He’s catching up with us. We’re losing one fleet after another. It’ll not take long and he will be attacking us.”

“I’ll make some air drops. Someone has to assist me with air support.” Said Josh and he started building air transports and additional land factories that would help him construct the artillery he needed.”

“I’ll get some fighters,” said Eric, “I can put this air field to use now.”
Several minutes later, a small but deadly force arrived at the Seraphim commander’s island. The alien ACU responded immediately and destroyed one transport with an overcharge bolt while the other four landed. More than thirty Lobo artillery fired and their shells dealt damage everywhere on the isle, if it weren’t for the shield generators that protected the Seraphim base.

Before the mobile artillery could fire again, the commander fired another overcharge bolt as dozens of his own mobile, hovering artillery, returned fire. Josh frantically tried to dodge all of the energetic shots but a large portion of the volley hit its target and within seconds, the UEF army was reduced to ash.

In response, the Seraphim Commander ordered his own artillery to move out.
No one knew how the alien invaders named their weapons but the tier one hovering artillery had been given one by the Coalition commanders who had to flee for them: Fobo.

At first, Leython thought it was because the artillery fired its weapon like the UEF Lobo gun and did so while it floated. The real reason was because of the fear induced on the enemy. The weapons were superior to the UEF counterpart because they didn’t need air transports to move over water, although that didn’t make a difference with the Seraphim’s superior air technology. They also fired more frequently, which allowed them to deal with groups and smaller groups of land units than the Lobo could destroy. All of it could be done without any compromise to the effectiveness of destroying enemy buildings. Thanks to technology, one Fobo’s shot still dealt as much damage as a UEF fragmentation shell.

“Eric, they’re going for you!” Yelled Leython while Josh ordered every bomber he still had to take off and move towards the enemy hovering army. Shilon did the same and they both hoped to take out as many Fobos as possible.

The two dozen Zeus and Schorcher type bombers met the artillery before the hover units were halfway and their first pass destroyed several with success and, more importantly, without any interference of Aeon Shard boats. As they turned around for the second pass however, the anti-air units arrived and shot part of the air force down before they could bomb again.

Leython and Eric sent in their submarines as the Cybran commander to Eric’s west, Schleck followed with some tier one frigates, saying he would use a slow but steady approach to damage the forces by taking some of the artillery at the edges out.

All of it was too late for the bombers as they were shot down by the Shard boats already. Still, they did an adequate job by taking more than twenty Fobos out of commission. Thirty others were still left.

“The Aeon are sending in frigates. Can anyone else deal with them so I can concentrate on those artillery again?” Asked Schleck. Leython wanted to redirect all submarines because they wouldn’t make a difference by taking out the Shards now. Eric had his answer ready though.

“Deal with those by yourself, I’ve got several tier two point defences ready and those will be able to shoot the artillery. I can give it an overcharge shot with my ACU as well.”
“If you’re sure about it Eric, go for it.” Answered Leython, leaving the UEF captain the freedom to deal with his targets the way he liked.

The Fobo artillery moved closer while the UEF and Cybran submarines, together with the frigates, dealt with the inferior Aeon fleet. As the Seraphim units moved in, they were suddenly greeted with the periodic pounding of the UEF Triad Guns. Before the Seraphim commander could react, five artillery had been destroyed already.

“The last improvements have worked.” Said Eric. “Now we’re able to take them out with one shot again.”
He was right. The artillery were so strong that it took the UEF more than a year to catch up with their tier two point defence turrets but the result proved to be significant. The final upgrades were so good that the Seraphim Fobos were suddenly destroyed twice as fast.

The last few arrived at Eric’s island and met his ACU. One overcharge shot destroyed three at the same time and set the ground ablaze. It was not all that Roanoke’s soil would have to suffer: the Triad guns had turned around and together, they fired three dozen shells in the ground, directly in front of the three artillery that were still moving, they exploded instantly, leaving large chunks of metal behind.

“I’ve got tier three air up!” Said Leython and moments later, a Spook spy plane made its way towards the Seraphim base and caused a shock through the ranks of the Coalition. The Seraphim commander was being assisted by Aeon engineers. It had a fully armed base up and running in less than half the time it took normally. Josh’s artillery should have prevented a base from being constructed in the first place but it while it took them to find out how the alien pilot managed to build more than forty Fobo artillery and tier two shield generators in such a short time span, the Seraphim base had hit tier three and built a powerful economy.

The spy plane turned around for another pass while Jeff constructed his first tier three power generator and Leython sent in another Spook. Seconds later, the first one passed the Seraphim base again, breaking through the sound barrier while it accelerated. This time, Leython noticed an unusual building in the middle of the base.

“What is that thing?” Asked Leython while he opened a channel with Coalition HQ. “HQ, I’m sending data I acquired from my spy plane. Can you analyse it. We’ve got an unidentified structure in the middle of the Seraphim base.”

The officer at the headquarters wanted to answer, but Josh was ahead of him: “We’ve got another wave coming in. Seraphim Air transports, we’ve got to get all of our anti-air firepower to the west!”

But they had little to no interceptors yet. Only Iden, who sat north east of Schleck, had a decent group ready. Schleck and the commander directly to his east, Sineh tried to establish a blockade with the few frigates they now had.

“Concentrate all fire at the first transport. We’ve got to take it down.” Said Schleck. “Sineh, Iden, one of us will be under attack by those units. Use your overcharge bolts well.”
While the three Symbionts were occupied at the western front, the four commanders at the east made a bit of progress. To Leython’s south-east, UEF lieutenant Jack Fisher has his base up and running.

Directly to Fisher’s west, in the second circle, Neven Yale had built up a respectable fleet in little time. In the third circle, to Yales north-west, the last UEF commander named Ian Alex provided a powerful economy to back the others up. One island south, the Symbiont Griol took point.

Together, they had a powerful fleet, proper base protection and a fair amount of UEF Riptide hover tanks and Cybran Wagner amphibious tanks. Yale and Fisher had air transports ready to load up the land force and speed their assault up. Before attacking, they informed Leython about their plan.

“We’re going to attack the Aeon at our front. The first two have constructed some well-fortified bases, so we’re going to circumvent them and attack the two pilots south of them.” Said Fisher.

Leython took a quick glance at the eastern front and found something that disturbed him: “Don’t, whatever you do, attack the two directly at your front. Their fleet is powerful enough to delay us, if not stop us. They seem to know it because they’ve got their fleet in a strong formation, but they’re not attacking.”

“What do you mean, sir?” Asked Yale. “Do you think they don’t want to attack us? Or did the Seraphim tell them not to?”
“Either of those, but since the Seraphim want all of us dead as soon as possible, we can forget about that. There’s something odd about the two at the front. I’m going to take a look at that.”

Before Yale could close the channel, he heard Sineh’s voice through another one. He was panicking: “I’m suffering heavy losses. I’ve been able to deal with seventy per cent of the Seraphim units but they’ve got backup from Aurora tanks and frigates!”

Schleck was unable to do anything because he needed all of his own frigates at his own base, dealing with the Seraphim tanks and artillery that stuck too close to the shore. A couple of overcharge bolts helped him, but it was not nearly enough.

Josh and Eric sent in all of the bombers and Stinger gunships they had and Shilon helped with a couple of Renegades. Advancing on all fronts in terms of technology and raw firepower, the tier one and tier two air units were able to destroy the Seraphim weapons sooner than any time before, but they were still much stronger than any of the humans’ counterparts.

The bombers arrived and dropped their payload while the gunships moved in and armed their weapons. Several Seraphim units collapsed under the heavy napalm bombs while the Cybran bombers decimated the ranks of the weaker Aeon tanks. The gunships joined the battle and took out what was left of the Seraphim forces and Josh was finally confident that they could stop a Seraphim force that would be nothing but a cakewalk if the weapons were coming from Aeon, Cybran or UEF ACUs.

They were nothing closer to forcing the Seraphim backwards though, a point proven as two armadas of tier one bombers suddenly arrived above Shleck’s and Sineh’s island. Moments later, plasma orbs crashed in on both heavily damaged ACUs. Neither could stand the furious storm and both instantly exploded.

All bombers were gone in the nuclear blast but every Coalition commander knew how soon a new wave would be ready.

Chapter 4
Counter-Attack

Two commanders lost in a battle with tier one and a few tier two units. It showed once again how the Seraphim weapons, especially their bombers, were still outmatching the UEF and Cybran arsenal.

The battle was still fought with the low-tech segment of any ACU’s capabilities, but every occupied island had at least one tier three power generator by now. The first high-tech air units were also flying across the field, but those were merely spy planes. Leython wondered how it was possible that even the Seraphim commander stuck with the less advanced and, clearly, less powerful weapons.

No one had managed to profile any alien pilot, so he couldn’t just open a database and find out more about the enemy’s weakness, if he even had one. The only thing the coalition knew about their enemies, was that they wanted to spread death and destruction across the universe in the most efficient way possible.

Efficiency. It reminded him of many commanders, all in a different way. Everyone sought for the most efficient way to deal with the enemy but everyone had found a different method as an answer.

Eric wanted to overpower the opposing force with a large army as quickly as possible, which gave him a reason to use a tier one arsenal. Josh found his solution in the UEF Lobo artillery. Five could take out a tier two mass extractor in a second. Being small, many could be carried in just a couple of transports and that was a good reason for him to stick to tier one weapons as well, even for much longer than Eric.

Leython couldn’t think of any reason for the Seraphim though. Strategic bombers were almost as easy for him to access as their tier one brothers, while they were ten times as strong. Why did the alien not use them while he had a shielded base and more than enough energy to support tech three air factories? Regardless of the answer, Leython had a small advantage he didn’t want to waste.

“We’re going to attack every Aeon commander at the west with our strongest weapons. Take down their economy, their factories, anything we see. If you’re sure you can kill the commander, do it. Assemble your armies so we can strike.”

Eric, Josh, Shilon and the commander named Iden immediately formed up and plotted a course around the Aeon fleet that made its way to the islands of the two who just died. While they did so, the four commanders on the east almost made it around their own front and on the islands behind.

Leython had ordered not to directly attack the front or to make any attempt to kill the two forwarded commanders, because he knew something was going on. He just didn’t have the time to find out what, let alone contact the two knights.

And on his orders, the Wagner amphibious units and the Riptide hover tanks were dropped behind enemy lines and attacked the third and fourth commander at the east. No sooner they arrived or all hell broke loose. Within seconds, they turned the few buildings at the beach to scrap, sending metal debris everywhere.

The small tier one Point Defence guns that were quickly erected turned around and fired endlessly if it weren’t for the joint forces that took them down in moments. The two Aeon armies had trouble evading the continuous stream of bullets fired by the Riptides, only to be destroyed in a single, more powerful shot from a Wagner tank. Those recharged their guns and their combined firepower decimated a factory a few seconds later.

As the tanks continued, they caught up with the two commanders, who responded with an overcharged bolt while they fled for the water’s safety.

____________
“Ellessar, Elenes!” Shot Halley as soon as she had established her channel again. She still didn’t know who she was actually speaking to, she still didn’t realise it was Marisa Gawain instead of her subordinate Petrene Ellessar, who died on Earth.

“Turn that fleet around and help your two fellow knights! We cannot afford to lose terrain against a minor army. I will not allow it!”

“We understand, Templar.” Replied Selene calmly. If Halley had trained herself to be more perceptive, she had easily seen that Selene lied. That was the first thing Marisa said as soon as they were alone again.

“But she did not and that is our advantage now.” She continued. “We must see to it that they join our cause, so that we have more support and two extra commanders when we join the coalition. If we do that, we can effectively destroy the army that is punishing them now.”

However, Jelea and Tomin had a bigger problem than their side in this new war. In less than a few minutes, they lost their entire base and the Aeon fleet wasn’t nearly fast enough to protect them in time.

Shortly before Tomin made it into the water, away from the Wagner’s lethal plasma bolts, a squad of tier one bombers appeared and all Scorcher units dropped their napalm bombs. Within three seconds, the ACU exploded, taking all bombers with it in its blast.

Jelea was a bit faster and stood already with her ACU’s legs in the water, moving at top speed. A new squad of bombers appeared and they too dropped their payload. Dozens of torpedoes plunged themselves in the water and immediately turned to their target. Seconds later, the Second Order commander died.

____________
“Their fleet is attacking our land brigade.” Said Yale, after he saw the second nuclear explosion disappear. “What should we do sir?”
“Continue your attack southwards. The more of the enemy we can destroy, the better. Take their reserves on the southern islands. You’ll meet no commander but that might be better.” Replied Leython at the moment HQ established a new channel with him. “What is it?”

“We know more about the structure you saw in the Seraphim base. It’s sustaining the quantum wake and that prevents you from getting out. An additional structure would widen the area but since it’s all water around you, that would be unnecessary. Destroy it and the wake should vanish.”

“But the Seraphim commander can reconstruct it. That’ll be done in minutes.”
“Correct, we suspect that building that thing was the first he did when he arrived, with the assistance of the Aeon commanders.”
“So to get out of here, we must not only destroy that device, we must also stop the Seraphim commander from building another one. The best way to take it out then, is by killing the Seraph.” Interrupted colonel Stirling. “We’d better mount up an assault then.”

Leython thought of another way though. The Aeon commanders had built an extreme number of power generators, something completely useless unless...

“I’m going to get some spy planes in the air again. Target is the Seraphim base. I want to know how much energy that thing drains. We might be able to shut it down by destroying all of their power plants, which gives us another advantage. Their shields will collapse.”

“Leython, hold on for a moment.” Objected the old pilot. “Before you enforce a power shortage on their end, we’ve got to break through their shields. You’re thinking of an advantage that you’ll get anyway.”

“Partially true, but if we can stop their energy flow for only a few seconds, they’ll be busy making a compromise somewhere, which takes the attention away from the battlefield for a brief but decisive moment.”

Spy planes crossed the Seraphim commander’s island while the UEF and Cybran amphibious army made it to the first of the southern islands.
“We’ve got twenty five thousand units of energy per second! That’s insane.” Said Leython. “But we’ve got a problem. That commander is constructing a strategic missile silo. It looks like he’s digging in with shield generators while the Order pilots hold the front.”

“We’ll use that to our advantage, Leython.” Said Stirling. “We’ll concentrate all firepower on the enemies at the east. When we’ve got them down, their islands are ours and we can outnumber them on the west.”

“Sorry colonel, but we mustn’t attack the two at the east. They’re not doing anything. They’ll be helping us now. We’ve got to strike at our western front.”
While Leython and Stirling plotted their course for the battle and found themselves to disagree, Yale’s army, together with Alex’, Griol’s and Fisher’s tanks, was lost. A powerful fleet from the two southern Order pilots had trapped and destroyed it.

____________
“Knights Ellessar and Elenes, you will fortify the islands of your lost comrades, but do not attack. We will strike at our enemy and when we do, they will answer to the threat by taking the reserves they have at the north east. When that happens, the time has come for you to begin your assault.”
“We understand, templar Halley.” Said Marisa. She showed no trace of relief, though she was more than thankful for the fact that she did not have to begin the assault. She was to strike when the battle was halfway and that was the moment she would turn her back on her false allies.

After the channel with templar Halley closed again, the two friends took their time to freely talk.
“We have the islands to our south and that gives us enough resources to equal about three of the order commanders. We will use that to our best and fortify our bases while we expand our fleet. That is all that matters.” Said Marisa to Selene.

“I am glad we can finally end this nightmare of lies. Our current fleet is larger than the one that knights Aldesse and Diona have, we should use that to press on and target the Seraphim fleet.”
“If we are successful in destroying the Alien fleet, we will be one step closer to victory but the odds that we will be successful are very slim. We should concentrate on destroying the Order bases instead. That will give us only a minor advantage but we can be sure that we will succeed.”

____________
For fifteen minutes, the battle seemed to have stalled. No one dared to attack their enemies head-on but Leython forced small, surgical strikes on the enemy’s power supply. Every time, some tier three power plants exploded and took a shield generator or a mass fabricator with it. Not only the order commanders suffered such casualties, but two well-aimed and expensive strikes caused a drawback for the Seraphim pilot as well.

He was forced to temporarily stop the production of strategic missiles while he reconstructed parts of his base. All of the energy he still had, was diverted to keep the wake generator online.

While they were attacking, Leython managed to build up an even larger air force, while Jeff and colonel Stirling constantly upgraded their fleets. Everyone played his role perfectly and they’d even say it would be an easy battle, if it weren’t for the Seraph.

Once again, that commander would show how troublesome these battles could get. By the looks of the speed of the gray dots on Leython’s radar, he appeared with dozens of spy planes without any warning, closely followed by strategic bombers.

“Multiple Strategic launches detected.” Leython had already sent all of his air superiority fighters to aid commanders Yale, Fisher, Alex and Griol at the west when he heard the automated voice. The bombers headed for them and it was clear what they were on about.

They proved to be strong, something Leython already knew but he also knew that his fighters dominated the scene, outnumbering the Seraphim weapons by at least four to one. Most of the bombers were destroyed after they had made their first pass but the Seraphim pilot didn’t mind. He had reached his target and destroyed any missile defence building on all of the four islands.

The UEF commanders and the Symbiont moved away from the island, hoping to reach the water in time but Eric feared the worst as he talked: “That alien launched twenty missiles in total, get away from there ASAP!”

Josh tried to help by sending in some transports but it would take too long. The first eight missiles arrived and detonated above the islands. Yale, having experienced such a strike before, turned around immediately and walked back to the beach. If he could just make it to the centre of his decimated base, the missiles that were heading for the water couldn’t damage him.

And he was right. Four more missiles flew past the islands and turned to the sea. Each targeted one commander’s possible escape route. Griol murmured his last words as he saw that he was now in the middle of ground zero. Just before impact, Shilon noticed how he gained control of what was left of Griol’s base and fleet. He immediately ordered the units to fall back to what he thought would be a safe position.

Seconds later, the fourth batch of missiles arrived and Jack Fisher found out that he was next to join the list of casualties at Roanoke. Ian Alex had no luck either. Both commanders transferred whatever they still had, hoping that their final contribution would allow the others to escape.

“The last missiles will miss their target.” Said Yale, with fury clearly audible in his voice. “I’ll attempt to rebuild my base and take control over some of the other islands but I need your help.”

Before Leython could answer, he saw that the Seraphim bombers that weren’t destroyed yet, had turned around for a bombing run directly on Neven Yale’s ACU. Stirling noticed it too and he spoke immediately: “Evasive manoeuvres, lieutenant!”

The UEF pilot tried to move away from ground zero but the bombers adapted and adjusted their flight path. They dropped their payloads which didn’t directly hit the ACU, but their blast was big enough to blow the backside armour apart. The command unit’s core ruptured and exploded in an instant and seconds later, Yale’s units self-destructed.

The nuclear blast destroyed the damaged strategic bombers that were left, as well as some of Leython’s Air superiority fighters. Josh filled his transports with engineers and sent them away to the islands that were now empty. The Seraphim pilot had made his move and would probably take another fifteen minutes before he would attack again.

Fifteen minutes to rebuild some bases and fortify the UEF and Cybran defences. It wasn’t impossible, but they would be hard pressed.
“Attention commanders, we’ve got ships from the south-west.” Said Leython and everyone realised that they would get no rest while the Seraphim commander planned his next assault. “Send all of our ships to the west, we’re going to need them there. When we have thwarted their assault, we will begin one on our own.”

“Leython, what about those two at the east. You can say they’re not harmful but I don’t believe a word of it.” Retorted Stirling. “We should keep some of our units at my front.”
“I’m sorry colonel, but leave your front relatively undefended. We’re moving out to the west.”

____________
Three minutes after Halley ordered her own squad to attack the coalition commanders, she contacted Selene and Marisa, thinking they were Selene and Petrine.
“Knights, now is the time to attack, I see you have managed your fleet well. Move out while the enemy front is undefended. With our combined assault, we will end their lives and bring glory to the Seraphim.”

For the past eighteen months, Marisa and Selene had lived a lie in the Order community, pretending to be something else. People who listened to the words of a false leader. Servants who did exactly as ordered at their master’s bidding. Now, hopefully at exactly the right moment, that would all end.

“We will not, Order commander Halley.” Said Marisa, stressing the word ‘Order’ with as much hatred and defiance as possible. Halley seemed shocked at first but managed to hide every trace of surprise immediately. “I have given you an order, knight Ellessar. You will do as I have told you or I will order you to be recalled.”

“We cannot be recalled, you know that as well as I do. The quantum wake generator of the Seraphim blocks any traffic from or to Roanoke if it is more than a conversation. You cannot even gate a pilot’s foot in here, let alone her armoured command unit.” Replied Marisa, her voice growing darker with each word. “And allow me to add this to it: knight Ellessar perished on Earth while I, Marisa Gawain, still live. When I informed you of what I said to be my death, I claimed to be Petrine, to ensure I could walk away safely.”

“You lied to us!” Said Halley in a scream of denial. “You lied to us and you deceived the Order of the Illuminate. I do not have to tell you how grave that crime is. I do not have to explain it will cost you dearly.”

“Yes, I lied and not a day went by without regret. However, you live a lie as well. Kael lies to the public, you know that and you accept it. You know what the Seraphim are doing. You know they do not contribute to peace while princess Burke ended the war already, yet still you permit the Order to support the alien aggressors. Not only that, you also support in their dirty war, their search to remove the whole of humanity from the universe!”

“You dare...” Started Halley when Marisa took a deep breath. The Aeon pilot who almost became princess of the Aeon Illuminate didn’t let her continue though: “Yes, I dare! You have been deceived by evaluator Kael, who is lesser than Abigail Toth, lesser than princess Burke! I will not be so selfish to claim that I am better than Kael, but at least I do not fight for the downfall of humanity, I fight for her hope.”

It became apparent to Halley why Marisa could have been the Aeon’s princess but it was also clear why Toth didn’t choose for her. Marisa Gawain was as violent as any UEF or Cybran commander.
“What right do you have, to say that while you sit in an ACU?” Demanded Halley while she took a quick glance at her radar. Marisa’s and Selene’s fleet, completely under control of Selene moved in at her own commanders at the south.

It steered clear from the Seraphim commander but it was obviously planning to attack her own squad.
“You turn your back on us, you attack us and then still you claim to fight for humanities hope and glory? You are no different from the UEF or the Symbiont abominations. You are no different from any violent commander that murdered us in the past. The Seraphim will end all of that with the end of both the Federation and Brackman’s foul creations. You, as candidate for the princess’ throne more than a decade ago, are blind for the truth!”

“Blind am I, when I notice that the Seraphim are as violent as we all, UEF, Cybran nation and Aeon Illuminate alike, have been in the twelve centuries that have passed?” Asked Marisa, still with the same furious tone in her voice, perfectly matching her facial expressions.

“Blind am I, when I see how we refused to listen for that long and only committed murder to them, while most of us lived at relative peace? Blind am I, when I refused to join Avatar Marxon’s campaign for genocide? Blind am I, when I see the alternative route to peace, a path with minimal fighting, one where a weapon is only used for one’s own defence, while others use theirs in the hope to eradicate the enemy completely?”

Halley involuntarily pulled her ACU back under an extra layer of shields, as if Marisa had suddenly attacked her with three Galactic Colossi. She felt that she had sank deeper in her chair. Never had she heard such an apocalyptical fury of words. Everything of Marisa’s face told she was certain of herself and that she had the right to demand answers from the Order templar in such a ferocious tone.

Halley knew better though and as soon as she had taken a deep breath, she paid Marisa back in kind. The same tone, the same expression: “The only way to get to peace, is by destroying one faction’s enemies completely. Only then can humanity finally rest. You seem to forget that the Infinite War rages on for longer than just the past millennium, it exists since two or more human civilisations exist, since the dawn of human life! Only by ending that, can we prevent casualties in the future. The Avatar-of-War was not fighting for genocide. He was fighting for the only society that could live at peace. The Illuminate!”

But whatever she said, it didn’t have any effect on Marisa. Only by looking, Halley’s words seemed to lose significance. As if they were blunt knifes trying to cut through a gate of solid steel.

“If you truly believe what you said, templar Riune Halley, then there is no hope for you to ever understand how we can be at peace with our former enemies. I am in love with the one who I have once fought. So I know it is not impossible but actually every easy. If you do not understand me, then this is where we will be enemies. I do not wish to fight you, but I will do everything I must to destroy the Seraphim commander and if that means that you have to die as well, so be it.”

On those words, Marisa closed her channel and turned to Selene. She seemed shocked by how Marisa turned out to be. Still, she dared to talk: “In all honesty, how could you be the Aeon Illuminte’s princess if you speak up like that.”

“Selene.” Answered Marisa, and the Aeon pilot noticed how her friend’s harshness had suddenly disappeared completely. “Evaluator Toth asked me exactly the same question, the day before she chose of Rhianne Burke as our new princess.”

While Selene gave Marisa control over her part of the fleet back and they split up to attack the first island, with Diona’s base, Selene asked her what she had answered.

“I told her that I could not. I told her not to choose for me. She did not speak with me ever again because the next day, I joined the army. She feared that she had lost me but I know she would be glad if she ever heard that I turned my back on the Avatar-of-War.”

“Why did you join the Aeon military force?”
“I wished to be Marxon’s successor. Perhaps I could then join forces with the princess, which would prove to be extra convenient if Rhianne was still the Aeon leader. I knew that the chance that I would ever be able to become the new Avatar-of-War was slim, but nonetheless worth trying.”

____________
“Marisa, I am establishing a channel for you and Selene which will allow you to talk with all of us. I see you have broken your alliance.”
“Dygonn,” said Stirling angrily, as if Leython caused some trouble in the academy, “how long did you know of this?”

“I knew that since I analysed her base, Marisa Gawain was on the eastern island in the second ring. The other pilot who joined us at the cost of the Order is named Selene Elenes. I managed to establish a secret channel a few seconds after the Aeon fleet moved in for an attack.”

“Good to have some of you at our side, I think it’s best to attack the Aeon commanders who back up the Seraphim.” Said the UEF colonel, forgetting that Leython had controlled the coalition’s strategy for the entire battle.

“That is exactly what we are doing now, colonel Stirling.” Answered Selene. “We will destroy their bases and then turn our attention to the southern isles in the outer ring. All Order commanders have some power generators and mass extractors there. We estimate that cutting those islands off will drop their supportive income by about thirty per cent. We will also be able to tell you more about the Seraphim’s naval fleet and, if necessary, draw his attention so that you have some breathing space.”

“That’s a great idea, Selene.” Said Leython. “Let’s focus on the Aeon fleet at our western front first. They’re turning around. This is a good time to strike back with a devastating counter-attack. Return fifty per cent of the cruisers back to our bases, in case the Seraphim pilot tries another air assault. The rest backs the destroyers and submarines up. We should be able to take one or two of those order pilots down.”

“Leython, why are they retreating?” Asked commander Iden, Eric already gave him the answer before Leython could even speak. “Stay up with the news, two Aeon pilots have broken their alliance and now they need to rescue their own order friends who are in big trouble. Instead of forcing us in a double-front naval war, with their own fleet, and Marisa’s and Selene’s one, they now face a two-front battle on their own.”

“Where are the ally-recognition codes?” Asked Josh. “I want to be able to see what the ladies can see.” The UEF major had barely spoken or he received several lines of code and returned his own back to their respective senders. In an instant, the UEF and Cybran forces noticed how much wiser they were with the Aeon as an ally.

“Incoming experimental bomber. Take it down!” Said Marisa, identifying the unit’s speed and size immediately.

The unit crossed the water at an amazing speed and before Leython’s Gemini fighters were moving away from their base, the bomber had already passed Selene’s base.
“They’re not really interested in us.” Said Selene while she ordered her destroyers to move on. Diona’s base was almost completely destroyed but the pilot herself had evacuated to safety. “They must think they can take us down in another way.”

“It’s on me. I need additional air support!” Said Stirling. At the academy, the old colonel had told dozens of stories about the battles he fought, how he barely survived at several occasions and how he could feel he had cheated death by seconds. This would be one of those moments, if he survived it.

Air superiority fighters blew holes in the experimental weapon while the air unit moved on. The holes disappeared as suddenly as they were created but more and more fighters caught up and fired their missiles away. Leython knew how the Gemini could fly directly behind the huge bomber and how they could fire continuously.

If the Seraphim were so advanced with their technology, how could they build a weapon that was so vulnerable? Of all high-tech equipment, the experimental bomber was the most devastating, but also the easiest target.

The bomber closed in on Stirling’s island and prepared an energy bomb to be dropped. The UEF colonel’s SAM sites turned and Stirling ordered them to fire and reload the three times the normal speed. This would certainly overload the towers’ firing mechanism, causing it to blow up but it was worth it if the bomber could be destroyed.

Hundreds of missiles, accompanied by flak explosions proved to be a bit too much for the bomber’s regeneration system and the damage became significant. However, it was not nearly destroyed. After it turned for a second pass, the first bomb’s explosion showed its effect as its wake disappeared. Most of Stirling’s shields were off and the ACU was left out in the open. Before Stirling could make it under a new shield, the Seraphim’s weapon prepared the second payload.

“After all battles I have fought, I would never have thought I’d meet my destiny in an ACU!” Said the UEF colonel while he watched his doom approach even though he tried to cheat death for one last time.
“Commanders, you can take this enemy on. Destroy him and avenge all deaths that have been caused by the Seraphim. This will not be the coalition’s first victory over those aliens, but it will be the first time one of their traps backfires! Take him out!”

At Stirling’s last words, the bomb detonated and the ACU exploded instantly. Even though the UEF weapon was the most sturdy of all, even though it was equipped with a tier three engineering suite, the armoured command unit couldn’t take the bomb.

Leython’s air superiority fighters fell like leafs due to the explosion, if they didn’t instantly vaporize, and even the bomber itself took some damage, but it was not nearly enough to take it down. Several tier three power plants exploded as well but what was left of Stirling’s base was still very useable. It was all transferred to Jeff who immediately started to restore it into the fortress it was.

Leython was struck with silence. They had never been able to fully come to terms about what happened in the past few years. Leython’s turn to the Cybrans and his assault on Matar...
It showed how brutal the war was. They could work well together, but still, not all air had been cleared between them...

Leyton knew that there was only one way to do so even if it was too late and it would all begin with the bomber. The few air superiority fighters that had survived the nuclear blast had been shot down by the bomber’s anti-air guns and the weapon itself turned its attention to Leython’s ACU. However, Leython had no intention of fleeing in the water while he still could. He would not retreat while death itself came his way. He had seen the effects though, once again.

Two bombs from the weapon that surged through the air towards him at full speed and it would all be over.

Chapter 5
Phantoms of the Past

Josh sent the few air superiority fighters he had on to the experimental bomber. It would not nearly be enough but Leython had ordered him to do so anyway. After the UEF major obeyed, Leython sent his spy planes in the air, as well as some transports. The bombers anti-air guns targeted every fighter Josh had and it was clear that they didn’t stand a change while the experimental weapon closed in on Leython’s ACU rapidly.

Again, it prepared its payload while it shot the last tier three fighter. Leython ordered his air units to move under the bomber’s ring and they arrived at the exact moment the weapon dropped its bomb. The bomb hit several spy planes and two tier two transports, causing it to tear itself apart and explode. Instantly, all spy planes crashed to the ground but the Seraphim bomber itself took some extensive damage as well. The rear engine looked like it could explode right away and the regenerative systems seemed to have slowed down.

At the same moment he ordered his planes to fly under the bomber, Leython aimed his ACU’s gun in the air and fired an overcharged shot moments later. That shot hit the bomber in its heart. A gigantic flash surged through the entire vessel and caused a chain reaction of explosions everywhere.

The Seraphim commander decided to call his unit back to his base but as it turned, it met the majority of the UEF and Cybran cruisers Leython ordered to be recalled. The cruisers used their SAM sites to the maximum and missile after missile hit the bomber where it was badly damaged already.

The sudden storm proved to be too much for it and it crashed on Eric’s island. The UEF commander moved several engineers in right away and ordered it to be reclaimed...

____________
“Knight Diona, the enemy fleet has left your primary island but is now converging to the very location you have taken your refuge. You will be forced to flee again.” Said Aldesse, Diona’s closest ally. Aldesse had frantically tried to destroy the enemy fleet with hers but even inhuman experience in micro management couldn’t help such a small group of ships. Within a minute, Marisa’s and Selene’s fleets had decimated hers and afterwards, they both went their own way.

Selene’s ships went to the south-easternmost island of the Roanoke archipelago while Marisa paid attention to the southernmost one. Both commanders used all of their submarines to stop the seraphim hunter ships.

It proved to be of no use. The Seraph sent his own submarines straight through the lines of his enemies, moving on to the bulk of their navy. While the high-tech weapons ploughed forward, they continuously fired their guns, sending torpedoes and torpedo decoys everywhere.

The Aeon Sylph subs were potent weapons and they were very capable of destroying any tier one fleet, while they could keep up with a group of tier two vessels in large numbers. However, it was obvious that they were no match for the Seraphim weapon that was designed to destroy them.

The Seraphim torpedoes easily penetrated the Sylph’s armour and exploded moments ago, leaving ruptured metal behind to sink to the bottom of the abyss. Still, the hunter ships were too late. Aeon Destroyers decimated the southernmost and the south-easternmost islands with ease while knight Diona took off in a transport.

Unknown to all, the Symbiont pilot Iden had navigated several Gemini fighters through and around the web of omni sensors that the Order commanders and the Seraphim pilot had. They were hidden from all sensors until they suddenly appeared directly behind the transport Diona used to escape.

The air superiority fighters fired once and their missiles hit the transport immediately. The tail armour was torn apart while the engines exploded. Missing its tail, the craft fell in a cyclonal drop and crashed in the water three seconds later.

Knight Diona tried to stabilize her ACU and keep it with its feet down, hoping to be able to walk away after she had hit the ground. It turned out to be idle hope, as her ACU did everything but standing straight up while it sank deeper and deeper in the water. Diona noticed that she’d exceed the maximum pressure the ACU could withstand if it would take longer, but the weak thuds told her that she had hit the ocean floor, which was the only thing she could see from her cockpit.

“I am all right, for the moment.” She said through her channels. I do not think I will be back on the field soon though. I am still able to command my army but it takes a long time before my ACU is back on its feet and even longer before I am able to walk on the islands again.”

Until she looked on her tactical screens, she didn’t notice the harmonic depth charges that were dropped in the water and slowly made their way towards her ACU. “I have depth charges incoming for me! Those things are everywhere!”

Knight Taelia tried to help by sending in her air superiority fighters but shortly after they took off, they were intercepted by a group of Gemini that supposedly escaped after they shot Diona’s air transport. Taelia ignored them but the Cybran fighters tailed her Corona class planes, shooting one after another. When they finally arrived to deal with the enemy Aeon torpedo bombers, the group had lost half of its firepower.

While they destroyed the torpedo bombers, it seemed that Diona was safe from danger because all of the units she had left were still operational, but somehow, her cockpit transmission had ended.

Only the pilot herself and the Choir members could directly access information from her ACU’s statistics. It took some time before Halley’s contact on Seraphim Two responded. Her eyes were full of shock as she spoke: “Her cockpit armour has been breached. It could withstand the high pressure but as soon as the traitor Gawain sent her torpedo bombers’ depth charges loose, the armour gave in. It destroyed the cockpit and water surged in. She did not stand a chance. I am sorry.”

____________
The battle seemed to go better again, shortly after the deaths of Stirling and the four commanders holding the eastern front. One of the Order commanders was dead but her ACU had not exploded. Only the cockpit was destroyed. She was unable to give her units any orders and so they were easily targeted by anything that outranged them. Her mass extractors and power generators automatically transferred their excess resources to the other Order pilots but it reduced those structures’ efficiency because they were also sending resources to their own factories and because they couldn’t be upgraded.

Major Funky was about to think that they could actually defeat the Seraphim commander without losing another man, but at that moment came captain Temera with alarming news: “I’m losing resources without any reason! Mass and energy are being drained. Both are down by fifty per cent!”

“How can this –” Started Josh Funky but Shilon already had an answer: “The Phantom device! Leython and I have been at Sung Island and found out that warlord Sung had developed a weapon that can drain resources from the enemy and transfer it to himself. Basically, it’s a sort of virus.”

“How could that even get to us?” Asked Jeff Lancet, fearing that if it was a virus, it could easily duplicate itself and infect the other commanders.

“Eric, you reclaimed that experimental bomber, didn’t you?” Asked Leython. “That’s how the virus must’ve spread.”
“Leython, are you saying that they haven’t been able to spread it via the smaller units? Sung managed to do that.”
“I don’t care what the Seraphim aren’t capable of while Sung could do it. I only care about how we’re going to get out of this mess. We need to solve the problem!” Said Eric before Leython could respond.

“This is Dygonn to HQ.” Said Leython after he heard Eric’s words. “Commander Temera is infected by the quantum leeching device, designed by warlord Sung. I bet QAI managed to analyze and reproduce it. You have to find a way to eliminate the effects we’re suffering now.”

“Can you give additional information about this quantum leeching device, commander Dygonn?”
“Ask doctor Brackman! We’re kind of busy in here!” Answered Leython. “Just get to it, set every available technician on it and get a team to Sung Island or Betrayal Ocean!”

“Understood sir.” Answered the officer at coalition HQ. A few seconds later, he relayed Leython’s orders to the generals of the UEF and the father of the Cybran Nation.

____________
Brackman’s brief and quickly told story stunned Clarke more than anything else that had happened in the past few years. “So this device actually does exist?”

“Yes, it does. You did not send three men to their doom for nothing, general.” Answered the doctor. “That doesn’t make any difference. We would never have found out how to reproduce it and turn the war in our favour. That was my only goal back then and it was idle hope to expect them to succeed. I still am responsible for their deaths, how childish and obnoxious they may have been when they failed.” Said Clarke harshly.

“I will not make that same mistake again. I’ll go in person, but I need two more commanders to assist me. Preferably one who is known with the strange Cybran technology.”

“We will send a technical team with you. We will send them immediately so they can start right away, then you will only have to worry about their safety. Sending them later will only increase the risk of anyone of us getting caught by QAI.” Said Brackman.

Clarke wanted to go immediately, but they were interrupted by a Cybran guard. “Doctor, generals. I’ve got a man and a girl who want to speak with you. They said it had to do with a certain Phantom device.”

“Let them in.” Answered Clarke immediately and she spoke again while Harm Dygonn and a little girl entered the room. “Harm Dygonn? Tell me what you’ve got.”
“General, this is Lucia.” Said Harm and he pointed at the girl. “When my son and commander Temera rescued her while they retreated from Earth, they found out she had a data chip. Her mother had given it to her. That was all she remembered. Until today, when she heard the term “phantom” through the channels.”

“What does it have to do with the chip?” Asked Clarke impatiently. Every moment wasted here was one closer to the deaths of the coalition commanders at Roanoke Abyss.
This time, it was Lucia who answered. “The only thing my mother said was that it had to do with the phantom device. That I had to remember that very well. I’m sorry I forgot.”

“Don’t be, my girl, don’t be.” Answered doctor Brackman in a reassuring tone. He had seen more atrocities in the war than anyone else and he wasn’t surprised that the only thing the six year old girl remembered about the data chip was that it was the last thing her mother gave to her.

“I’ll take the chip with me and see if it is of any use.” Said Clarke and she left the room.
“Dygonn.” whispered general Hall so that even Brackman’s audio sensors barely picked his voice up. “How is it possible that a six year old can eavesdrop on our channels and follow what we are doing?”

“She didn’t.” Answered Harm calmly. “I heard it while I was in the control room. I knew more about the quantum leeching device because Leython told me about it so I rushed to see you here. She was waiting in an alley that isn’t restricted and heard several officers mentioning the words ‘phantom’ and ‘Sung’. At that moment she remembered what she had to do.”

____________
Two dozen spy planes crossed the Seraphim pilot’s island, their commander hoped to find a weakness in its defences and he was lucky. “There are four strategic missile silos standing adjacent to each other. They form a perfect square. Destroying one of them will lay waste to that part of the base and cause several shields to collapse.” Said Leython. “When that happens, we bring in as many units as we’ve got and try to take any other shield generator and missile defence structure.”

“Should I build strategic missile silos?” Asked Jeff. He didn’t even wait for Leython to nod but started building two right away.

“We will draw the alien commander’s attention to the seas.” Said Marisa. Our Asylum shield units will provide some extra defence for our ships. If he is occupied with that, you should be able to plan a surprise attack.”
“Thanks, Marisa.” Replied Leython. “We’ll concentrate on the Order front in the meantime.”

____________
Samantha Clarke gazed down upon Sung Island. It was the first time in her life to be in this sector. At the moment she saw it, she knew it was a desolate place, despite for the fact that the island had a small town in its crater. It was Bidard Sung’s first settlement, from where he had hoped to rule over a powerful and infamous Cybran node. Apart from that, Brackman was telling her that the scientific genius used his own inventions in order to succeed and that his own greed and children that made him fail.

“Since then, general, the so-called Phantom Node was left deserted. Powerful technology and algorithms have turned this place into a self-preserving island. Today, the engineers our Cybran commanders use live here to keep the place under control. Leython and Shilon have found out that the node has mainframes and factories deep underground, so that even if you obliterate everything on the surface with nuclear bombs, the node will survive and rebuild itself.”

“Doctor, is there any chance of the node attacking us?” Asked Clarke as soon as she heard that the node could restore any damage automatically.
“No, it will not. It will allow you here, it allows you to enter and it even allows you to wage war on its island, although its automated defences will be activated then.”

“Understood, but I’ll send some tanks and artillery in first, to be sure about those defences. Then I’ll send the team in. We will continue our bases and turn this place into a giant fortress in the meantime.”

Five minutes later, the assembled team, lead by William Doyle, stood in the central building’s main hall. He couldn’t get access at first, but the doors had opened after a Cybran stood in front of them.

“Djinn, Tinsen, access those two consoles right away. I’ll see if I can plug that chip in somewhere.” He said and less than a minute later, he found himself with a gigantic amount of information.
“General Clarke, this is Doyle. I plugged the chip in and it activated some sort of procedure. It compiled different sources of code, changed them and it’s putting them all together in one program. It’s ready to download data but it needs more space. It’s requesting to write it to an ACU’s core as a new program or protocol.”

The Symbiont called Djinn ran towards William Doyle and took a look at it. Seeing his puzzled face, Doyle was sure he wouldn’t be getting an answer soon if no one else had a good idea. The tech expert had one though, and he typed two words on the console’s keyboard: document, help.

The console responded with a series of instructions and Doyle told the UEF general what it was about. “It’s a program to reverse the quantum leeching device’s effect. Turning our problem into an advantage. This single program is all we need, but it might be a bit old.”

“Is it going to work on Temera’s ACU?” Asked Clarke immediately. She was sure that the program would work against Sung’s virus. QAI had probably adjusted it for Seraphim ACUs but if it hadn’t found out about the program that would kill the virus, then QAI wouldn’t be able to stop it.

“I don’t know.” Answered Doyle and Djinn typed a new question. “I just asked it if it is UEF ACU compatible and it answered it with ‘negative’. However, I’ve seen that it stated this program destroys the virus in our own troops and structures, then it plants the virus in the enemy units and structures, which will then be leeched. I also see that the program has been adjusted to successfully destroy QAI’s upgraded virus.”

“That means we’ll leave with more questions than we’ve started with.” Said Clarke, wondering how the node here could know about QAI’s new version of the virus and how it compiled a solution for it in just a matter of seconds. “But I need only one question to be answered. Can it reverse the effect in just a matter of seconds. It won’t help us if it takes hours.”

“I’m typing the question...” Started Djinn and in an instant, the console responded. “Five point three seconds are required to turn the effects around.”
“Good, pack up and get back here.” Said Clarke. “I‘ve got the quantum gate ready, but we’ll have to wait for at least thirteen minutes from now, before the wake effects are over and we can get back. Then we’ll have to put the program in our own mainframes and contact Dygonn. He’s got to get his own forces infected.”

“Negative, general.” Replied Djinn immediately. “We need to upload the program to a Cybran ACU now. That’s our only method of getting it away from this island. The data chip isn’t big enough and the data pads we’ve brought won’t help. We can’t connect with any data port in this node.”

“But the old program will work with our new software? I’ll not bother myself about how contradicting all of this is. Order it to upload to The tip of the Spear’s ACU.”

____________
In ten minutes, a battle’s tide could be turned completely, or a strike force could be decimated. The latter seemed bound to happen. Marisa and Selene kept the Seraphim commander’s fleet busy, but his air force grew stronger by every second. As if it weren’t enough, the Order pilots had recovered from the naval attack their ‘traitors’ employed.

They spent a new fleet on it, but they sunk almost every Cybran and UEF ship in on the sea and left their enemies open for any new assault on the water.

Eric Temera and the Symbiont called Iden were slowly recovering and rebuilding their naval power when the Seraphim pilot tried another attack. From the south, eight air transports arrived and they dropped their units in the water while they stayed out of the range of the Cybran and UEF flak cannons. None of the commanders responsible for air power was able to do anything about it, the Seraphim transports were protected by fighters and they were still incredibly strong. Now the units were dropped, they all found themselves short on torpedo bombers.

Still, Iden wasn’t worried at all. “I’ve got a microwave laser upgrade. That’ll help.” Half a minute later, sixteen high-tech Seraphim tanks arrived on the beach and the three that were packed together instantly exploded, thanks to an overcharged shot. With a range upgrade attached to his ACU’s main gun, Iden kept himself just outside the siege tanks’ range while he retreated deeper in his base.

The air seemed to be torn apart as soon as the heavy laser fired and within seconds, it fried one tank after another and as soon as the units were destroyed, Iden spoke again. “I built the upgrades as soon as I found out how much energy we were wasting together. I also had some additional Aeon ships near my island I could reclaim. Turns out it’s all very useful now.”

As soon as he could, he reclaimed the siege tanks he destroyed, just before Leython could tell him not to. Three seconds later, his resources were drained and another three seconds later, his shield generators turned off due to a power shortage.

“HQ! This is Dygonn, we’ve got a situation here. Another one is infected by the quantum leeching device! Have you been to Sung Island already?”
Almost instantly, Leython got a connection with general Clarke. “Dygonn, we’ve got a program in a Cybran ACU that we will send to you in a few seconds. This will --” Clarke was cut off by commander Iden, who was panicking.

“Aeon experimental battleship! It’s surfaced and charging its gun now!” The Symbiont tried to escape from the battleship’s grasp but the experimental unit slowly turned its gun, perfectly following the Cybran ACU. The unit fired and its shot exploded a few metres behind the commander, sending it with its cockpit’s face down to the ground. Just before the impact, Iden transferred his complete arsenal to Leython, including the virus.

It duplicated and uploaded itself to all of the units and structures that weren’t affected yet and Leython saw his resources being drained in an instant. Quickly, before all of his shields collapsed under the power shortage, he shut down every secondary process in his base.

“I can’t produce any units anymore without losing power and I’m also losing fifty per cent of my mass income. I’ve kept most of my radar towers online, but I can’t sustain any losses.”
Iden was left unconscious and the experimental battleship fired again. For him, there were no means to escape and the inevitable became true only moments later. Iden’s ACU exploded.

A moment later, a second nuclear explosion filled the sky. Because Leython turned his attention to the quantum leeching device and Iden, Eric decided to call for help from Josh and Jeff as soon as he saw several Seraphim strategic bombers appear. Before the Aeon ship even fired, those bombers had dealt with Eric’s shield generators and left his ACU heavily damaged. Josh sent his air force to deal with the bombers and he was successful, but the Seraphim pilot unleashed his own fighters to decimate any aerial opposition he still faced.

Then, some more strategic bombers appeared and Eric prepared to say his final words through the channels, but he couldn’t. Instead, he just looked in his camera.

As soon as Leython noticed they had not lost one but two commanders in fifteen seconds, he alarmed Clarke. “We can’t hold out much longer general. We need to kill the virus right now!”

Josh added some information to it: “Temera has transferred his arsenal to me and now I’m infected too. Does the program also work for my ACU or is it just for Cybrans?”
“We’re uploading to Leython now.” Answered Clarke. “We can’t directly help you but the virus killing program will turn the effect of the quantum leeching device around. You’ll not be suffering, but the Seraphim will.”

“Than that’s the best moment to strike and kill him.” Said Josh quickly. “Leython. This leeching device, is it an actual structure or just an infrastructure like our usual resource transport throughout the base?”
“Well, it’s a virus that hacks into other structures and their blueprints and then adjusts them. The phantom device, an actual building, will then drain our resources and provides the enemy with intel. Our ACUs remain unaffected though.” Answered Leython while he watched his latest group of spy planes cross the Seraphim island and saw that the fighters had taken off too late to prevent the Cybran units to provide him with valuable information. He saw that the commander made one mistake and was about to show it would be fatal.

“We’re going to need teleport upgrades, Josh. I’ve got an idea and I need your help. You’re the only one crazy enough to do this with me.”

“We’ll need energy from everyone then.”
“And a distraction. That experimental battleship is still there and the alien will probably attack soon.”

“I’m with you.” Said Josh and he ordered his ACU to construct the teleportation device on the back of his ACU. Leython ejected his stealth upgrade and then did the same. In the meanwhile, the others transferred all required resources for the monstrously expensive upgrades, so that neither of the two commanders suffered more from Sung’s Phantom device.

Thanks to the advanced construction enhancements on their ACU and the aid from their allies, Leython and Dygonn had their upgrade finished in less than forty seconds. The program that was supposed to reverse the leeching device’s effect had successfully been uploaded and was ready to be activated. He immediately typed the single line of code to do so but didn’t order it to be prompted yet.

“Josh, I’ve got coordinates for you. That’s where you’ll go. I’ll be right next to you, we’ve got to appear there at the same time. We haven’t got any time to distract that guy or to synch our ACUs so that they teleport at the same time.”

“Ok, activating in three?” Asked Josh simply.
“Two...” Responded Leython while activated the phantom device’s reversing program.
“One...”
“Now!” Said both at the moment it would only take three more seconds before program had fulfilled its purpose.

“Good.” Said Leython as he saw that the teleport action itself would work. “Be prepared to cancel the teleporting action if we have to.” All of a sudden, he saw his energy income and mass income return to normal and beyond that level. Marisa, Selene, Shilon and Jeff could stop contributing their own power for the two teleporting commanders since they had plenty now. He found out they didn’t have to cancel anything at all, because the intel every Seraphim building provided him with, showed that the alien commander hadn’t corrected his own mistake yet.

____________
Usii-Lateh had seen a sudden drop in his income and immediately checked his economy farms, noticing something disturbing he couldn’t do anything about. He was infected with the virus and judging by the fact he lost intel of his enemies, they weren’t infected anymore.

Shield generators fell due to the power shortage and he couldn’t continue production of his Ythota assault bot and second Ahwassa bomber. It would be of no matter though, he could easily destroy the leeching device and then overpower the enemy with the assistance of the Order pets, his own superior air force and the new strategic missiles he had just built.

Moments later, he noticed how two commanders suddenly appeared behind him. Within seconds, he would have turned around and fired an overcharged shot into the UEF command unit, heavily damaging it or even destroying it. The Cybran version was even easier to destroy. The air shrieked as it charged its microwave laser. He would only have to wait to hit his own ACU, to be returned to the Cybran unit, destroying it in moments. Two more commanders were about to be killed, only four would be left after that.

Chapter 6
Birth of the New Six

The air shrieked as the microwave laser on Leython’s ACU fired. The Seraphim command unit turned around and charged its main gun to kill Josh at the moment a bright crimson coloured beam hit its target. Leython knew all too well that the continuous pulse could be reflected by the Seraphim ACU, instantly killing him. Therefore he aimed it at one of the four strategic missile launchers that surrounded him.

In just one second, the fragile but highly volatile building exploded and took the three others with it in its blast. The alien ACU stood in the middle of the four explosions that merged in one sudden outburst.

Instantly, the ACU’s legs were blown apart and its torso came crashing to the ground. The Seraphim weapon was powerful and had an incredible regenerative system but that didn’t mean it was invulnerable.

“With all of those advanced systems, you’d expect them to think of a safety mechanism for when those missile silos blow up.” Said Josh while he started building a tier two shield generator at the exact spot where one of the silos first stood. The blast was big enough to tear the whole building apart and not leave any wreckage behind.

The alien command unit was nearly unrecognizable. It had not only lost its legs but most of the armour was blown away as well. All of its upgrades were gone but the core was still unscarred.
“I bet that I’ll still get that laser back if I target it.” Said Leython while he planted an overcharge bolt between the two siege tanks that came rushing to help their master.

“He’s still conscious as well, he’s actively sending units to help himself.” Replied Josh while he constructed another shield generator. “I bet you’ve got a way to kill him?”
“Jeff, launch. We’re going back to base before those destroyers and that battleship tear us down.”

While Josh activated his teleportation module again, he looked at his radar and searched for the Seraphim battleship amongst the destroyers that were already there, until Leython showed him how the slow but devastating Aeon experimental moved towards the Seraphim island.

Leython waited for the alien shield generators to collapse because of the power shortage, then fired the microwave laser once again before he ordered his commander to leave too.
In the meanwhile, Jeff’s strategic missile was airborne and while the Seraphim frantically tried to get its legs back through his basic regenerative systems, Josh left and a few seconds later, Leython followed him.

“The Seraphim commander is the only one with air superiority fighters. Shilon, you’re going to build torpedo bombers, Jeff, you keep concentrating on nuclear missiles and add tier three fighters to your list. Marisa, Selene, continue building your fleet, go south and attack from there. Josh, do the usual, transports with land units. I’ll build strategic bombers.”

By the time Leython had explained everything, Jeff’s strategic missile arrived directly above the Seraphim ACU and turned around. Three seconds later, it exploded and took the commander with it in its blast. The golden flames of the UEF missile met the blue bedazzling arcs Leython recognized as the Seraphim core that exploded. He had seen it at the moment the first UEF , enlightening the whole of Roanoke Abyss.

“HQ, this is Leython Dygonn, Seraphim commander destroyed, we will concentrate on the Order forces now.”
“Commander Dygonn, what will you do if another Seraphim arrives?” asked the HQ officer immediately.

“He won’t.” Answered Leython simply. “That wake generator will have a pretty bad effect for the oncoming ten or twenty minutes, even though it is destroyed. What’s keeping us in here, will keep them out.”

____________
A second strategic missile exploded and filled the sky. It was targeted at Halley’s fleet but she was smart enough to disperse the ships and thanks to her speed, the missile didn’t destroy anything. Moments later, some air superiority fighters arrived and three were shot down immediately by the shard boats and tier two cruisers that had responded at the first sight.

Out of nowhere, five strategic bombers appeared, Halley immediately recognized that they were protected by their own stealth generators. They dropped their payload before the ships could fire again and each bomb sunk one cruiser.

The air units immediately moved on to a second group of ships, this time without decoy. Halley ordered each cruiser to target one and they succeeded, taking them all out, but only shortly after they dropped a new bomb. Halley’s second squad was left with only the shard boats as anti-air support.

She immediately tried to pack all ships together again, before her third and last group could be destroyed, but she was too late.
The traitors had protected their islands carefully and didn’t lose so much in the last assault. As a result, they arrived with a fleet larger than Halley’s and that one wasn’t split up in three parts. The ships charged without even stopping to use range as an advantage. Eight oblivion cannons struck at the same time, instantly sinking a destroyer.

After twenty seconds, the ships were so close that they targeted each other with torpedoes. The enemy destroyers used their decoys well and Halley saw all of her own ships’ torpedoes missing. What she didn’t expect was that her decoys were potent enough to attract the enemy weapons, but then she saw why they changed course. The naval battle took place directly above Diona’s ACU. The stream struck her command unit and the core ruptured immediately.

Due to the pressure at such depth, the explosion didn’t seem to ripple the water surface, leaving all ships completely unharmed. However, that was the least for Halley to worry about.
Out of nowhere, several torpedo bombers appeared and struck at the two groups that were relatively safe from the traitors’ fleet. Without any defence, they were matchless.

Since the torpedo bombers came as a surprise, Halley knew they had lost all intel near the naval battle. A new group of Cybran strategic bombers was probably the cause, she thought.

“Templar!” The sudden cry from knight Ledia made Halley realise that it was going the wrong way even faster than she’d thought at the moment the Seraphim pilot perished. “My island’s defences are compromised. I am being overrun!”

Halley reacted immediately despite of her own problems. “Knight Cera, support with all of your gunships. I will be sending the few ships I have left. We have ten minutes left to hold out, then we are back on Seraphim Two.”

Cera sent the air units she had while the tier one UEF artillery on Ledia’s island systematically took out all of the anti-air towers in range. They completed their task just before the gunships arrived. The few tanks in the group found an omni sensor and destroyed it with a couple of shots, blinding the Order forces at Ledia’s base.

____________
Jeff’s tier three fighters had no stealth generators in their design but since Josh had destroyed the enemy radar, the UEF captain didn’t have to worry about being detected. At the moment the first few Aeon gunships fired, they were intercepted by a dozen Wasp air superiority fighters. The sudden attack didn’t overwhelm the Aeon Spectres but the enemy didn’t have any means of defence and the fighters were left unopposed.

While the squad of gunships quickly lost its firepower, the Lobo artilleries simply destroyed every shield generator on the island and continued on the mass extractors. Within a couple of minutes, Ledia’s base was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Leython sent his new strategic bombers to circumvent the Order frontline that was still relatively intact and ended up at Cera’s island. The bombers found the only two strategic missile defences on the island and dropped their payload. The shields succumbed to the first bombs and let a few through. In an instant, the defence silos were destroyed.

Jeff immediately launched three strategic missiles and as a response, Cera moved away from her base. She left the safety of the shield generators that didn’t collapse and her ACU stepped in the water. At the moment she thought the distance was enough to survive the nukes, a vast number of fresh torpedo bombers appeared and dropped an evenly vast group of torpedoes.

The explosion from Cera’s ACU was nothing compared to the blast from Jeff’s three nukes, that had exploited the weak points on Aldesse’s island. The weapons left a few structures and the command unit intact. The Order commander tried to rebuild her base but was forced to retreat.

Marisa Gawain and Selene Elenes had surrounded her with their fleets. Destroyers charged their guns, fired and Aldesse tried to evade the shots. Plasma bolts exploded everywhere around her and damaged her ACU, but caused no major problem, but then she ran out of luck when several shots hit the command unit directly, causing critical damage to her core. A few more ruptured it and caused it to explode. The third order commander was dead.

In the meanwhile, Ledia had barely escaped the myriad of Josh’s artillery fire and now stood in the water, only to meet the torpedo bombers that had killed Cera. She walked back on the shore again and immediately faced a squad of tier two heavy tanks. She fired an overcharged shot that was blocked by the only shield generator in the middle of her execution squad. A group of tier one bombers only quickened her death. Halley and Taelia were the only ones left.

Taelia tried to make it to safety by retreating to her second base in the outer circle. A moment after she arrived, a Cybran ACU stood behind her. Neither the Order commander nor Leython Dygonn wasted any moment and commenced the one-to-one battle. Taelia had a few tier two point defences that struck the Cybran ACU but it was nothing to the crimson coloured beam that hit hers. She retreated towards her closest shield for a few seconds extra time. Without a personal shield generator though, she had no chance of making it and Leython closed his eyes so he wouldn’t be blinded by the explosion.

Halley was hidden under her own experimental battleship, hoping that the torpedo bombers would target that for the last minute she had to wait before she could leave Roanoke Abyss by the Order’s recall system. Her enemies were too fast though. Strategic bombers were ordered to target the water above the submerged ship and a group of fifteen brought it down in moments.

The battleship sunk slowly and allowed Halley to make a run for it, which was of no use. Another group of torpedo bombers, built by every member of the coalition forces, arrived and destroyed her ACU without any remorse.

____________
As soon as Leython entered the hangar, he heard the cheering and celebrating technicians and officers through the audio channel of his ACU. He wasn’t in the mood for any celebration though. They had lost nine commanders. Nine people fighting for the future of the human race. Nine men, all with their own story. They had lost talented commanders who were recruited only a year ago, but also some experienced pilots and one of the best officers from the UEF Academy of all time.

They emerged victorious and killed nine commanders, just as many as they had lost. One death was the reason for cheering at the six that had made it back: a Seraphim commander was killed. Without even knowing what he did, or noticing the all the people who congratulated with their success, Leython made his way to the generals’ office, closely followed by the three members of the five-man team he left with and the two Illuminate pilots.

Generals Clarke, Hall, brigadier Fletcher, elite-commander Dostya and doctor Brackman expected them there for a debriefing. Leython was sure that they would think of the price of their victory: a dangerous blow to their own coalition.

However, it was not the victory, nor the casualties that Hall spoke of when they had all entered the room: “The mission was to extract the important and rare resources for the cores of our ACUs. You were successful for as long as you were on Swui Four. What normally would take a few weeks for the UEF or a dozen of days for the Cybran Nation, is done much faster by you. The resources are enough to construct two new cores. The common materials such as carbon, iron and aluminium will be used for the ACU’s hull.”

Leython didn’t think about that success at all though and by a glance to his left and right, he saw that no one cared. “We lost nine commanders, sir.” Said Josh, with his eyes cast down. “We have destroyed a Seraphim pilot and eight Order commanders but we lost too much of our own men.”

“Correct, major Funky.” Answered general Clarke. “The losses are high, but the victory is still ours. You destroyed another Seraphim commander. You showed that the first victory we had, twenty-four days ago, isn’t pure luck. This increases our morale, it gives us more hope.”

“General Clarke, our mission may be a success, but we lost more commanders and ACUs than we gained.” Retorted Leython. “In pure numbers, it’s going the wrong way.”

“Leython, my boy.” Interrupted doctor Brackman. “Of course you are right, but who here expected anyone to survive such a trap? We have lost some men, but thwarted their progress. We have seen about a secret weapon at the first day they field tested it. Remember how it took the UEF and the Aeon months, even years to learn about the Monkeylord? To add to it, we thwarted their progress in warfare. We rendered the phantom device useless only moments after they introduced it to the battle. In raw ACU numbers, we lost, but in the total picture, we won.”

“Before we move on.” Said Clarke before anyone could respond. “We have two things to do. We need a new fifth member for Dygonn’s team.”

“Do I have a team all of a sudden?” Asked Leython. He knew that whenever he was on the field, he assumed command and told everyone what they had to do and he was appointed as squad leader on several occasions, but he had never actually been appointed as the commander of his own strike force.

“And we’re going to find a group of commanders you can work with. I assume that you want to meet the loyalist movement first?”

“Actually, general.” Said Leython. “The two problems can solve each other. I know Marisa... quite well. She already told me she worked with Selene a lot and knows her strengths. If I could have them in ‘my’ team, I think we could become a well-organized and powerful squad.”

“A team of six is a good idea.” Answered the general. “Colonel Stirling told me, just when you had left the Academy, that your team was the best he ever trained, Dygonn. He called you ‘his best six’ and thought everyone would make it through a life of battle at the front.”

“He was mistaken.” Said Leython. “Simon Beck is dead. Michelle Aiko died at the final battle of the Infinite War and Eric Temera was killed just an hour ago.”
“Three of you are still alive. In the last decade of the war, at three or four out of the six commanders from the Academy died within two years. You six were really the best we had. Three of you are still left and you work very well with your fourth man. Since you know the two Aeon pilots already, I won’t be surprised if you can not only restore the best six to its former glory, but surpass its qualities. We mustn’t forget the price of victory, you are right about that, but we also mustn’t forget the prize of victory. We lost nine men, but we gained a team.”

“Leython, the general is right.” Said Selene suddenly. “As soon as the Seraphim commander perished, Halley’s team fell faster than anyone could possibly imagine. That is only possible if everyone works in perfect harmony. We did exactly as you ordered, while making the right decisions on our own, and the result of that is a force to be reckoned with.”

“Yes, you’re right.” Answered Leython immediately. He sighed. “I am thinking too much of the men we lost today. It felt like I was getting weak. Some years ago, back in the UEF, I didn’t even think about pilots we lost. I only continued, fighting on more determined than before.”

“You are becoming more human.” Replied Marisa. “And you might not have thought about what you would do after the battle.”
“That must be it. I have been busy lately. Like everyone else.”
“But we don’t have any time to rest,” interrupted general Clarke, “so you’d better get to introduce yourself to each other. Go to the medical centre first, we would’ve gotten you there first if this battle wasn’t so important. Then, you can really form your new team of six.”

As they left the room, major Josh Funky was the first one to regain his confidence and sense of humour, as he briefly forgot about the price they paid for their victory. “You’re going to be our commander now Leython, with your own team. That means that you’d be a major or colonel by the UEF ranking standards.”

Finally, Leython had some words that really cheered him up and made him think of what they had gained by this battle. “Good to see you agree with me being your superior. My first order is to get me some tea as soon as we’re done with this medical check-up.”

“Excuse me.” interrupted Selene and Leython heard a trace of fear in her voice. “Are you two usually like this?”
“Oh yeah.” Said the four men at the same time. “All four of us actually.”
“You’ll love it.” Continued Josh happily. “Welcome to Stirling’s new team of Six.

Chapter 7
Secret of The Way

“I must say, despite our victory, that I really don’t want to see that happen again.” Said Clarke. She, general Hall and doctor Brackman were the only ones left in Brackman’s room. “Technically, they were right about the loss. We have to ensure this never happens again. We cannot allow that.”

“I agree, general Clarke.” Answered the doctor. “We must work on our recall technology and we should not send our commanders into a position from which they cannot retreat. If the battle would be occurring at a vast continent, they’d have a bigger chance of survival. Now, with the islands in the middle of an ocean, they had no choice but to fight.”

“Our intel has to be improved.” Said Hall immediately. “Since we have been travelling from one planet to another, we can’t get a single word about the rest of the galaxy. It makes it all the easier for the enemy to lure us into a trap.”

“That’s correct, but how can we do that if we have no firepower to withstand the Seraphim for longer than a couple of hours, if we’re lucky?” Asked Clarke. “Or how can we do that if we don’t have the manpower to create a covert network of spies?”

____________
“QAI, you will analyze the battle at Roanoke Abyss and tell me how the battle ends like this.” Spoke Seth-Iavow furiously. He hadn’t seen a single moment of the battle, he only heard how Usii-Lateh spoke his final words. “Your calculations of ninety-nine per cent odds that the enemy perishes at Roanoke, are incorrect. They still live but warrior Usii-Lateh no longer does. Our disappointment in you is... Unnerving.” War Leader Seth-Iavow spoke with his harshest tone possible to clarify how serious the artificial intelligence’s failure was.

“Affirmative.” Responded QAI. When it mentioned the odds that Leython Dygonn died, QAI explicitly said the words ‘Ninety-nine per cent’. Although the final part of the hundred would be an excuse to the Seraphim War-Leader as to why he had lost one of his commandoes, QAI didn’t mention it. Unknown parameters had told that the enemy could escape, but not that they actually make a stand and even kill the Seraphim pilot.

Every calculation contradicted the outcome of the battle completely. QAI therefore searched for parameters in the battle itself, that weren’t included in its expansive work on Dygonn and the men who fought with him. One particular event sparked QAI’s interest: how was it possible that Usii-Lateh’s shields suddenly lacked the energy to function properly?

Within three milliseconds, QAI analyzed the few minutes of fighting before the Seraphim shield generators collapsed. It searched carefully in the myriad of data, something that would never be done in a normal battle, since normal battles didn’t include unexplainable events. The artificial intelligence searched for the reason of the sudden loss of power and had found it.

“At a certain moment, the enemy reverses the quantum leeching device’s effects.” Said QAI while it showed the video feed for Seth-Iavow, not a second after it complied to the War-Leader’s orders.

“This restores the enemy’s income, while it disrupts commando Usii-Latheh’s mass extractors and power generators. It allows Cybran commander Leython Dygonn and UEF major Josh Funky to teleport to his base and strike at their best moment. Here is Usii-Lateh, he stands in the middle of his strategic missile production facility. His four missile silos are directly next to him, one in each direction. Dygonn uses this to his advantage, destroys the silos and incapacitates Usii-Lateh while major Josh Funky covers for him.

Now, Dygonn takes the closest defence silo out of commission and then they both leave. A nuclear missile from Jeff Lancet can no longer be stopped and that will kill Usii-Lateh.” QAI concluded and it closed the video file, leaving the War-Leader’s screen blank.

“Is that all?”
“Affirmative. Dygonn is known for his teleportation actions. He uses it to deal with strategic missile silos, defence silos, experimental weapons that are still under construction. Anything of such significance that he can destroy before his ACU gives in to his enemy’s fire. Analysis shows that Usii-Lateh’s strategic silos and therefore his ACU are completely safe from harm, until the coalition forces suddenly reverse the quantum leeching device’s effects, which completely shuts down the shield generators.”

“Your information about Dygonn’s teleportation activities is not incorrect. Your reports accumulate up to twelve ACUs that are destroyed, ACUs of you or the Order. Other commanders do the same. We will need protection against that.”
“Your scientists have carefully developed the wake tower that prevents anyone within the vicinity from using a quantum gate. I suggest to upgrade it to teleportation level.” Said QAI.

“We will work on that. QAI, your databases and our technology are both necessary for that. Inform the scientists of the new requirement for the wake generator and assist them.”
“Complying.” The single word sounded from the metallic voice that came from Seraphim ACU’s sound systems.
“I have another task for you.”
“Yes?”
“Find out how the coalition forces can reverse the quantum leeching device’s effects. You said there was no defence against it, as soon as it strikes. That is where your calculations fail this time and that is where you need to improve or we have to abandon this useful and powerful weapon.”

______________
At the Coalition’s HQ, the quantum device’s latest performance raised interested but also disturbed questions about its origin and about what Sung still had to offer, even after more than eight hundred years.

“The device’s protocols have adapted as soon as QAI downloaded it into its database. A program has been added that reverses the effects.” Said the Symbiont named Djinn while he looked closely at several details in the vast virus’ software. “QAI could analyze the battle data and compile such a program on its own, but that would only work on the data it has now.”

“On its own data, you mean?” Asked Marisa. “That would make sense. The Quantum AI has got no information about a possible alternate version of this virus and cannot anticipate on that. It has nothing on the reversing program, only that it exists and therefore it has to find a solution stop it. It simply cannot do that.”

“Well, technically, it can.” Answered Djinn. “But since this is a quantum virus, with its own powerful encryption, QAI will have a hard time cracking it. Right now, I’m only talking about getting a reversing program from only the original virus. But it can be done differently. Just wait until the program strikes again or gather the data from the last moments of that Seraphim unit, analyze everything and then create its own answer. Of course, it has to crack some encryption. It’ll be hard for QAI, but it can be done.”

“So, you claim that QAI can compile a resolving program to eliminate the virus’ effects that come against it on the battlefield, even if it lacks fifty per cent of the data?”

“Exactly. The words artificial intelligence are well-put for QAI. It is very close to a human being in the way it ‘thinks’. It’ll be a philosophical question to answer if we could really say it thinks, but from a practical point of view we can say that it does. It cracks codes at an amazing speed. That can’t be done with the brute-force method like normal computers do. The problem is, QAI needs a lot of data from the battlefield. Data it might not be able to access right now. That’s why I said it may require the program to strike again.”

“The harder the code is, the longer the artificial intelligence will take to resolve it.” Said Marisa. Djinn nodded and she went on with her thoughts. “Based on the data it has, it will try to overcome the reversing program and compile a better one by itself. If that happens, we are back to the issues we had before general Clarke went to Sung Island.”

“Yes, that’s our hypothetical situation. If it does happen, we’re going to have to do the same, which is impossible. We’re better than QAI if it comes down to thinking and reasoning, but we don’t have its enormous databases and massive processing arrays. What that computer can do in a few seconds, is something a person needs thousands of years for. Now don’t even think about what it takes to do something QAI might need days for, something as sophisticated and extensive as these viruses.”

“Well, as long as the virus can only multiply itself in our systems by reclamation, we don’t have very much to worry about.” Said officer Jason Tinsen while he stood up from his own chair and looked at Djinn and Marisa. “Just don’t reclaim and you’ll be fine.”

“It does put us in a disadvantage though.” Said Jeff, who just joined the others. “If we can’t reclaim their destroyed tanks, but they can reclaim ours, we’re lacking resources compared to them.”

“It all depends on who has access to the final reversing program. That faction will be able to control the phantom device at the end. Those commanders control the resource flow on the field.” Concluded Marisa.

“We should get back to Sung Island.” Said Djinn after a few seconds of silence. “How can the old node compile a process of reversing the device’s effects even though QAI has improved the basic virus? Should we think this is luck?”

“Impossible.” Said Tinsen while and he turned to the Symbiont. “You told about what you saw on his screen. The console there stated that the program was successfully upgraded to stop QAI.”

“That would mean that the Quantum AI indeed has improved it, otherwise the node’s mainframe did not have to upgrade the reversing program. It also means that mainframe is more than just a mainframe. This could be an artificial intelligence as well.” Said Marisa.

“Yes, how else could it upgrade our program to successfully stop QAI?” Asked Djinn. “Even if you program a computer very well and let it check the upgraded virus, you still face one to a trillion odds that it doesn’t work against the updates QAI has made. There are just too many options. To many possibilities to upgrade that virus.

We’ve got its efficiency, its speed, its ability to propagate and the one thing that’s QAI will most probably take a look at now: its security. But there’s another thing. QAI might need several days to reproduce the reversing program, simply because it lacks an extensive amount of data. How long would Sung’s mainframe have taken to do the same?”

“I’ve got an even more intriguing question.” Said William Doyle and all heads turned in his direction. “How is it possible that the program immediately showed up as soon as we plugged this data chip in?” He asked and he showed the chip Lucia took with her from earth. Her mother had given it to her and that was all they knew about it.

“If that thing was the key to all this, something we can be certain about...” Started Marisa... “This is complicated, even by the standards Leython and I hold. Mister Doyle, you said that plugging the chip in started a procedure that compiled several files together into the reversing program. It means that this chip held the key to creating it. Perhaps its parts were not ready at the moment the chip was made, but this means that the key can be eight hundred years old.”

Doyle made a sceptical noise but Marisa already knew that her theory was far-fetched. However, she also knew that there were a couple of far-fetched facts to the story. Facts that could not be denied.

“Perhaps the Sung node provided shelter to people even after its founders left it, we have to find that out, but we have to admit that this chip has made it to Earth before the Seraphim invaded. How can it be that someone saw this coming, at least one and a half year in advance, made this and created a reversing program, only to put it in such a risk? If commander Temera could not save the girl, what would have happened? What is the answer? Did anyone, human or artificial intelligence, anticipate on this and if so, did that one know Lucia would survive with the chip? What else could it be? Asked Marisa as she looked at the disturbed faces.

They already admitted it could not be luck but when did QAI download and upgrade the original virus? When was the reversing program built? How can a chip with a sole purpose be sent to earth even though it takes time before its purpose was known. Marisa heard that Lucia’s mother told it was important. It meant that she, or anyone before her had to know what it was for. The longer Marisa would think about it, the less plausible her ideas were.

“It’s impossible to answer that at this moment, we’ll have to take a look at it.” Said Tinsen and Marisa suddenly realised she was still in a room with others. “Unfortunately, we can be sure that the Quantum AI will have Sung Island in observation now. It has possibly sent five armoured command units there, so we don’t have a chance of going back.”

“Perhaps not.” Replied the Aeon pilot immediately. “But we do have another location where we could take a look: Betrayal Ocean.”

____________
“Edward? Get here right now!” Sephia had told her son to come with her for dinner some minutes ago and still he didn’t show up. She knew how much he hated the Cybran ‘food’. However, he always showed up when his mother told him to. He always hoped that some commanders would have brought some food from Aeon territories during a raid on the Order.

“Edward!” Anger turned into fear because she knew Edward would come right away if she raised her voice. It could only mean that he wasn’t in his room and a quick look confirmed her thoughts. Sephia didn’t hesitate for a moment and stood outside before she knew what she was doing.

Then she realized that she would be searching for a needle in a haystack and if she was to find her son in the community of more than two hundred thousand people. Only if she was lucky, but she didn’t expect to be, she’d run into Edward by walking down the alley.

Sephia wanted to go back in her apartment but suddenly knew where her son would be, even though they hadn’t seen each other today yet.

Three minutes later, she was welcomed by Harm Dygonn.
“Of course he’s here.” Whispered Harm before Sephia could even ask her. “I already told Lucia that commander Temera didn’t make it and she didn’t take the news well. Edward showed up only moments after I told her. He heard we won the battle, but with losses. He said he checked the list and ran downstairs as soon as he could.”

Sephia saw her eight year old son and his friend playing a game before she looked directly at Harm and whispered back: “Should I get some food for all of us? I wanted to go to the mess hall with him but it might be better for them not to hear the name of commander Temera, which they will undoubtedly do if we go there.”

“Harm, it’s your turn.” Interrupted Edward suddenly.
Harm already turned around before he answered Sephia. “Yeah, you could get some food, we’ll be busy for the next hour.” He said evasively, the children could hear him very well.

“I hope we’ve got some more than the usual.” Said Lucia quickly. “Could you please look for something from home?”

____________
Even before Sephia made it to the mess hall, she heard people mentioning the names of the fallen. However, judging by the tone of the conversations, no one in the hallways and alleys had suffered a personal loss. They were only worried about the protection they still had. Would that be enough?

It wasn’t until she actually made it to one of the lower levels that she heard someone speaking of commander Temera in a personal way.

“Eric saved a little girl on Earth. He risked his life by staying there for just a minute longer and because of that, this girl still lives. Because of that, we were able to eventually stop the quantum device and leave. That means Eric had not only saved a girl, but he saved us as well.”

Sephia moved on without realizing that the one who was speaking was major Josh Funky. He and Selene Elenes were going the other way. The two commanders were off duty, as well as the others who survived the battle, but they actually used their time to get to know each other better.

“So how was it inside Order territory?” Asked Josh suddenly. Caught off guard by the sudden change of subject, Selene spent a minute thinking of how she should explain it.
“It was... bad. To say the least. I wish I could tell you.” She eventually said. Her tone shocked Josh.

“Is it that horrific? That you actually got a trauma from it?” Before he finished his question, Selene already shook her head.
“No, it is not bad in that way. It is complicated to explain. That might also be the reason as to why it is easy for the UEF and the Cybran Nation to form an alliance, but issues arouse when the Loyalists join. The cultures differ too much.”

“Many just don’t trust Aeon pilots simply because we all know that the Order supports the Seraphim. You could do the same.”
“Then we would not be here. If it were to be that, we would have stayed away from coalition HQ. Even worse, if all Loyalists would support the order instead of fighting it, they would have served Avatar-of-War Marxon and helped him win the war.” Said Selene calmly.

“Yes, I understand.” Replied Josh quickly. “That’s not the problem and I don’t think it would be, although several people do. The biggest problem I see is the history.”
“That is indeed the issue for the coalition. Aeon commanders have executed nothing but cleansing operations in the past. It has always to do with the so-called superiority of The Way. Our civilians have never seen so much activity from the Cybrans or the UEF in our territory, but the Aeon military has always searched to cleanse as many souls as possible. With Marxon as Avatar-of-War, that made it to a whole new and terrifying level. It is why the Aeon are feared and deserve to be hated.”

“How do you know so much about it? If it were like that, why did you still work for Marxon such a long time.”
“Because of our society. As children, we are already taught about The Way. Our teachers are specialized and we frequently saw priests. Aside from that, everything in the community is based on harmony, truth, trust and peace.” Selene said and she took a pause.

“That doesn’t sound really bad to begin with. I’d even want to live there if it weren’t for the association with oppression, cleansing and... How did you call it? Superiority of The Way?”

“That is the exact problem. We learn so much from our teachers, priests and family, that we soon think they have an answer for everything. Through the years, the answers always came, but it always referred to The Way.”
“I don’t see that as a big deal to begin with. I mean, it may be a bit narrow-minded but that completely depends on your philosophy of The Way to begin with. Does that make the people narrow-minded or not?” Asked Josh, hoping Selene wouldn’t become angry because he accidentally called The Way narrow-minded.

“It doesn’t.” Answered Selene in the most serene tone possible. “But it does make us naive and easy to manipulate.”
“How so?”
“We both already mentioned it: Superiority. Because the priests, teachers and parents can explain anything to you, you believe them right away when they tell you to live as The Way tells you to. Not a problem on its own, but anything you can explain just by mentioning those two words will be believed right away. Especially by children.

“You can indoctrinate them. Propaganda would work.” Said Josh, remembering the way little boys were mesmerized when they walked in the ACUs hangars in an introduction program.
“Exactly, but that is still no real problem when you are young. By the time that you finish your education, you have seen so many priests and evaluators speaking the truth. Everything they say will turn out to be correct. When you find that out, you will no longer question them. That is when it goes wrong because that is the exact moment joining the Aeon military is an option. If we were not allowed to follow a piloting program before we were twenty-three years old, we might have had so many different experiences that we no longer take anything a superior claims.

But as eighteen-year olds, who have just left the perfectly safe and secure environment, the words of Avatar-of-War Marxon sounded perfect. Sacrificing the lives of every UEF citizen and every abomination, as he always said when he referred to the Symbionts, was the only way to end the Infinite War. Otherwise, the war would go on endlessly and eventually kill more and more Aeon lives.”

“I think that what I’m about to say has been said many times before.” Josh said as he finally understood what Selene was trying to explain. “That technically, he is correct. Sacrificing a hundred people so you are able to save two hundred, perhaps even ten years later, seems to be the best thing to do.”

“Absolutely. But as you mouthed the word ‘seems’, you have already shown that you look further, you are smarter than many of us who when we just joined the Aeon military training. You ask questions.”

“Then I’ve got another one. How can it be that Marxon, who undoubtedly has no superiors in his own army, has not asked these questions by himself?”
“I do not know. I do not know enough about the Avatar-of-War to tell you. However, it is not important. What we do know is how much power he managed to gain. I dare to say that he had more influence than princess Rhianne Burke at the end of the Infinite War. Because he had a voice that is trained in The Way and because he was the best commander in history.”

“Hard to believe that such enlightenment, which it very well may be, can lead to such ignorance.”
“I prefer not to say that word.” Said Selene and for the first time she seemed a little bit irritated. “But it is true. We are enlightened but we forget one thing. No, two actually. The first is that we must never forget to ask questions and the second is that enlightenment does not guarantee you that you are better than anyone else.”

“With the Avatar dead.” Josh said, moving on to the invasion of the Seraphim. “The princess told what we wanted to hear. Peace for the UEF. Freedom for the Cybran Nation. Why has no one picked that up in the Aeon community? I can understand that, after the marks that Marxon left behind on the people, not many citizens will understand the words of the princess immediately. Most will be shocked at first but surely some will understand?”

“I had hoped that the words of the princess would come to the hearts of the best evaluators and that did happen in some occasions. Yet again, it is only the most powerful one who can seize control and Kael was more at the hand of Avatar Marxon than any other evaluator. She ignored it and immediately joined forces with the Seraphim as they arrived.” Said Selene, with her eyes cast down.

“To make matters worse, the princess disappeared. It is said that she perished, rumours that are apparently contradicted by the Loyalists. Marisa Gawain, who could also have become the princess of the Illuminate, could not ascent because Kael was too fast. So you see that the only reasonable voices with influence are unable to do anything, while the founders of The Way have just returned. Given our history, it is absolutely not surprising that it ended like this.”

Chapter 8
Witchcraft

Selene’s explanation left Josh with many questions, most of them were about the situation itself, or how to solve the problems. The first question he asked was a different one though: “How do you know all of this if you didn’t get to do more than an administrative job on the defences of your home planet?”

“Marisa has taught me well as soon as she had the chance to do so. The first time we talked about this matter, was when Leython and Marisa infiltrated on Seraphim Two. I still do not understand why the Avatar-of-War allowed them to make it there, but it is not of any importance to our current situation.” Answered Marisa.

“Before we spoke, I was like any other who now fights for Kael’s ideals – Yes, of course she has ideals. They are wrong, but it are her ideals.” She said when Josh opened his mouth in shock. “Marisa saved me from those ideals just in time though. When Kael assumed power, we both refused to fight at first, but eventually joined the military again because it was the only way we could make it out and reach crusader Rhiza’s Loyalists. Before we were sent to the Roanoke Abyss, we did not have any contact with the outside world because Kael was very cautious. While we were kept at work, Marisa told me as much as she knew, both on the battlefield as well as in The Way.”

“How can this be changed?” Asked Josh, thinking that if this would go on, the Aeon community could never find peace with the UEF and Cybran Nation.
“I am not sure. The problems lie within the heart of our society. If you try to change that too quickly, you will only tear the communities apart. If you are too slow, each generation will continue to resist against the few changes you try.” Selene said and Josh saw her determination fade.

“Unfortunately, that is the least of our problems. This is a war we have to win before we can even think about that.”
“I’m glad you made it here.” Said Josh and he didn’t really know why he was trying to cheer her up.
Josh had known the Aeon as his enemies for his entire life, but that changed with the end of the Infinite War. The Loyalists had become their allies and he even fought alongside some of them, but it never came down to a conversation like this.

“Thank you, but our ordeal is hardly over. We cannot permit ourselves to calm down and think we have made it through the war. We must concentrate on the tasks we have ahead of us, instead of think about each other.”

“Yeah, we must be concentrated, that’s true, but who says we can’t have something to distract ourselves from the hectic battlefield for some moments?”
“But you must not lose yourself in another one, major Funky. Friendship and love are not bad, absolutely not, but if you dwell in your feelings for another, you should be careful, to say the least.”

Selene explained him before his own mind did. He wondered what he showed, how she noticed he felt attracted to her even though he wasn’t sure he was. A short pause and a glance didn’t tell Josh much more about Selene or about his thoughts or feelings about her. He was confused a bit but the fact that he knew he was confused didn’t help him at all.

While Josh thought, Selene suddenly realized what she said. Worried that she had gone too far, she wanted to apologize to Josh for implying he felt attracted to her. She thought he was, at first, but wasn’t so sure anymore. Marisa explained how she’d usually be able to read a UEF citizen’s or a Symbiont’s true intentions from their tone or the way they looked, but Selene had just found out it was a lot harder than she originally thought.

“Anyway, this is the Loyalist’s hangar.” Said Josh and Selene woke up from her thoughts. Before she could say anything about the awkward situation, she stood in front of a couple of refugees who had just arrived. The robes of one of them showed Selene that there was a priest amongst them.

“A priestess!” Said Selene suddenly, seemingly filling the whole hangar with enthusiasm.
“Sorry?” Asked Josh immediately, but then he looked and noticed the difference in behaviour and clothing between the civilians and the woman Selene had been looking at. She made a more solemn appearance than the others, who had been very calm and decent by UEF standards alone.

“Oh, a priestess, I don’t know what the fuss about it is. We’ve got more Aeon priests here, so if you need to speak to someone, you’ll always be able to.” Said Josh.
“I should go back to Marisa.” Said Selene immediately. Before Josh could react, she already set a few steps.
“Are you sure you’ll find the way back?” He asked. Selene looked over her shoulder and told Josh not to worry. She left him in confusion.

____________
The pristine island could have been a beach resort for the many wealthy citizens of the Earth Empire in its golden age. A perfect place to be, the symmetrical isle with its endless white beach, filled with palm trees inland. This miracle of nature was spared the worst natural disasters universe harboured, meteorites or comets were extremely rare, like earthquakes or the strongest hurricanes and the volcano that created the island was asleep for centuries by now.

Humans had made up for the lack of such disasters though. After the first had settled here, it had been a theatre of war for many moments in history. Short but violent battles showed how humanity’s only wish was to fight.

The war was the only reason to wage war on Sung Island. An appropriate name for an island unnamed by the Seraphim because it was the Symbiont called Sung who turned out to be the Seraphim’s rival though, since it had stopped QAI.

It was this quantum AI that had five ACUs moving across the island, each supported by exactly one thousand units and buildings, ready to stop any human commander to gate in at Sung Island. All engineers were slowly being replaced by support commander drones, as it turned out to take longer and longer before QAI would even find a hint of information on Sung Island.

The artificial intelligence noted the lack of Cybran structures on the location within a couple of minutes after its ACUs arrived and it was alarmed immediately. Not only had the phantom virus been stopped by a reversing program but as soon as that happened, the structures had disappeared.

QAI was alarmed by this piece of cunningness, work done by an unknown hand. It had been bested twice. Whatever had left its mark here, it was a step ahead of the quantum AI. Engineers dug deeper in the crater’s centre but found nothing. QAI continuously analyzed Leython Dygonn’s and Shilon’s files. They reported a massive bunker underneath the Sung node, supposedly filled with mainframes.

The sudden disappearance of the node itself was explainable. Cybran drones were able to reclaim the structures in a matter of minutes, but only at the loss of a huge amount of data. Not an issue for the node, since it had reached its goal: passing on the reversing program to see the virus being thwarted as soon as it left Nethirsanaii.

QAI didn’t have enough data to compile a solution for the reversing program at the moment, allowing the coalition’s protection to hold. The Phantom virus was useless and could not be used until the Sung node gave its secrets prize again and after hours, it would finally happen.

All earth above the bunker had been reclaimed and QAI noted the weak efficiency in the process of doing so. The same mass in experimental war machines could be drained ten times faster. However, before the Quantum AI could order its engineers to take the top away, the volcano suddenly seemed to erupt after more than two millennia of utter silence. The explosion instantly decimated the entire automated work force.

____________
“Where did she just go to?” Said Josh out loud. As soon as he noticed the priestess stood next to him and had opened her mouth, the UEF major spoke again. “Please don’t answer that.”
“Do not worry sir, I expect she will be fine. She was confident.”

“Her answer was reassuring, that’s for sure, but I’d like to know what’s going on.” Josh expected the priestess to say not to worry but she understood his tone perfectly: “You are curious, sir.”

She said the blunt statement as politely as she could and it had its effect. Josh didn’t look offended at all. “I cannot deny that. This is part of being a commander.”
“I believe your curiosity comes from more than just being a commander.” The priestess said and the nearby Illuminate refugees immediately noticed the subtle change in his tone. It took Josh half a second to realize it as well but then he spoke again, pretending otherwise.

“What do you mean?” He asked, hoping to maintain a casual tone, but he either failed miserably or the priestess had heard him talk to Selene before she left.
“Your tone betrays that you have feelings for her. You may not think so by yourself, just that she is nice, so to say. But you might find out you feel more for her in the coming days.”

“Does the way I speak really make it that obvious?” Asked Josh, simply stunned by her explanation.
“This is one of my fields of expertise as I have trained myself, forgive me my arrogance, very well. That tends to give me an edge, not only to UEF citizens or Symbionts, who have never even heard about The Way, but to Aeon citizens as well. I... Can find out how commanders lie as well, even when they do everything to hide it.” Josh didn’t notice the brief pause and so he didn’t know that the priestess almost mentioned commander Elenes.

“She’s told me that things are pretty bad in the Illuminate.” He said. “Have you faced the same problems?”
“Whatever she has described, it is worse. No one has seen the horrors evaluator Kael brings down upon us, but the fact that we barely know what is happening tells us enough. Everyone is forced to follow her lead or to disappear. We both know what that means in these times. The disappearance of me and the other refugees is the best that can happen to anyone who opposes her. At least ninety-five per cent of the people who stand up against her dies.”

“How did you get away?”
“By opposing her from the beginning. It is an insecure path but eventually, you get an opportunity to leave. An opportunity you should seize immediately.”
“You’ve opposed Kael since X-day? Why didn’t they catch you?” Asked Josh, once again stunned by the priestess.

“I will not be found if I hide. No one ever managed to do that. No one ever will. I return in public when I see fit to do so, not otherwise.”

“That sounds an awful lot like Leython.” Josh said and the priestess politely mentioned she had to go but she didn’t ask who Leython was.

____________
QAI had lost contact with Sung Island for a brief moment and it knew the nuclear explosion was an attempt to scramble all communications with its ACU drones. However, the vast AI had prepared for such an action years ago and a new channel was established in a fraction of a second.

The island was completely filled in smoke and it could take hours for all the dust to settle. The massive bomb had taken out the complete workforce and factories were already building one new engineer after another, ready to be sent to the heart of the crater to assess the result.

Dozens of mainframes were computing the possible results and the most likely one was that the bunker had been the bomb itself. The last piece of the Phantom node was probably gone, as well as the last chance to turn its virus in the Seraphim’s favour again.

Without any additional information, all mainframes were assigned a new task: to stop the quantum leeching device’s effects altogether as soon as the reversing program struck.

Two seconds later, the new quantum leeching device’s programs were computed and QAI’s solution was much simpler than the one it had sought to find before. Each device had been given a unique signature, much alike the ACU’s serial codes. As soon as one device had been hacked by the reversing program, it would self destruct, without giving it any chance to channel resources and information to the enemy. The Seraphim commander could then build a new one and the whole process would repeat itself as soon as the enemy reclaimed another unit.

The five ACU drones left Sung Island through their quantum gates, ready to serve a new purpose.

____________
“So, what was all the fuss about a priestess being here, Selene?” Asked Josh. They were sitting in one of the mess halls in the headquarters and enjoyed the food they managed to steal from the Order in a raid.

Selene looked to her left for a brief moment and saw Leython and Marisa eating in silence, ten metres away, as if they had an argument. “Perhaps you do not know, but Leython and Marisa have been meaning to get married for a long time. Either by the Aeon standards or with the blessing of a UEF priest, they do not mind. There is little difference between the two cultures if you talk about that particular thing.”

“I see, this is the first time they get the chance?”
“They have actually raided the princess’ palace on Seraphim Two, so that she could marry them.” Selene said, keeping her voice low even thought she didn’t really have to in the noisy hall.

“She didn’t do that?” Asked Josh.
“No, I do not know if it was sheer luck that actually allowed them to talk with Rhianne Burke that night and allowed them to escape Marxon’s grasp less than an hour later, but they left the planet without marrying. Alive, but not married.”

“Don’t they want to marry by the princess’ blessing anymore?”
“One of the reasons for them to do that was to see to it that at least one person either Leython or Marisa knew would be with them at the time. Now Leython’s father is here and a couple of friends can attend the wedding as well. It is not going to be as much of a celebration as the marriages we know, but it is better than nothing.”

“You’ve told them, right?”
“Of course I have,” Selene said politely and she looked at Marisa and Leython again, who still hadn’t said a single word yet, “but I am not sure what they are going to do now. I have said we have more priests here, like you told me. However, like I said, Marisa’s reaction was not very clear.”

“They’ll not let us suffer from this minor problem, they’d never allow that to happen.” Said Josh simply and he looked at Selene. “We shouldn’t worry about them.”
“If we should not worry, why did you ask?”
“I’m curious. I wonder about anything that happens. Leython’s even worse in that though.”

“I see. In the Aeon community we learned not to ask too many questions.”
“You can’t ask too many questions. You just can’t. The more questions you ask, the more intelligent you are.”
“Even if it are questions with obvious answers?” Selene asked.
“Absolutely. There’s no such thing as asking too many questions. The only phrase related to that is ‘too much information’.”

“How so? If one cannot ask too many questions, how can one give too much information?” Selene asked but a disturbing thought already formed in her head.
“The look on your face already tells enough. Everyone is entitled to privacy.” Josh answered, knowing he could tell her an even more disturbing explanation, but he thought it’d be better to wait until Selene had grown a bit accustomed to the UEF.

Selene and Leython stood up and didn’t talk until they had left the mess hall.

“How are we going to find this priestess and why are you so sure it has to be her to marry us?” Marisa asked and Leython suppressed the urge to sigh. She had asked him ten times already and wasn’t going to let it go until he had given a proper explanation.

“I know I should say more, but I would rather not. And I really rather not say any other word about it, not here.”
“I should just follow you blindly?”
“Yes, but keep your eyes open.”

“Are you saying a simple priest is as mysterious as everything that has to do with Sung’s Phantom virus?”
“Oh yes, absolutely. In fact, I am surprised that finding her is as easy as finding the answer to our questions about the virus and its reversing program.”

“You do know what this means, Leython?”
“Yeah, this is witchcraft. A puzzle of logic and knowledge at its best.”
“Witchcraft?” Asked Marisa, clearly confused by Leython’s odd reasoning.
“That’s what we used to name it at school, the logic puzzles we made for each other. One harder than the other. Ours were so incredibly childish compared to what Sung has managed to do.”

“Yes, it is horrible to say, but his quantum leeching device became so famous that it is feared and has killed hundreds. He did manage to accomplish something with it.” Marisa said with a sinister tone.
“Yes, and Lyn’s disappearance has made it on the quantum network. Quite a lot people searched, but no one found her.”

“You too have no idea where she went, do you?”
“Absolutely not.” Leython said and Marisa heard pride in his tone. Not the pride of a teacher who thought about what his best student managed to do, but the pride of a young man who knew he had had the best teacher in the universe.

“You are not going to find her.” Marisa said after a brief moment of silence.
“No, I am not. I wouldn’t even dare to.”

Chapter 9
Wedding Crashers

Djinn and Tinsen had barely slept in the past few days. They had been ordered to oversee the Phantom project: everything that had to do with the quantum leeching device was under their authority. The reports they had seen about the few battles the coalition forces fought showed that QAI had found its own crude countermeasure on the reversing program.

As soon as the program reverted the leeching device’s effects, the device would blow itself up, only to be replaced by another. Since QAI had turned them into unique structures, the reversing program had to repeat itself every time and because neither the artificial intelligence nor Djinn and Tinsen had any idea to improve the masterpiece of software and engineering, both parties were stuck at an endless cycle of reclaiming, draining, reversing and self-destructing.

It all made no difference in the coalition’s morale. The fact that they had thwarted part of the Seraphim’s progress in battle didn’t cheer anyone up. The same as the case on the enemy’s side. The War-Leader felt frustration at the thought that the humans were still able to put up a fight and were adapting to the Seraphim’s superior technology.

QAI had reported that the virus from Nethirstanaii had been stopped, but nothing more than that, and Seth-Iavow wondered how a human from more than eight hundred years ago was potent enough to create a weapon that was effective even today. At this rate, he expected that the ACUs they had at this moment would be completely obsolete in a mere decade.

The command units had continuously evolved to the next level, but the so-called ‘Phantom program’ had not done so in eight centuries, which meant that it was ahead of its time by at least that much.

“QAI, report.” Seth-Iavow said after he pondered on his thoughts for a while. “I will speak to Gialumeth immediately.”
Without a word, the Seraphim commander appeared and he greeted the War-Leader. “What will you ask of me?”

“You will go to Nethirstanaii as soon as possible. You will search the whole planet with QAI, for any trace of Human and Seraphim technology.”
“We are not ready yet. The planet here still houses humans.”
“QAI will take over with two of my lieutenants. Wait for them and give them the most valuable parts of your forces and then leave for Nethirstanaii as soon as possible. I wish to know more about the Cybran man named Phantom Sung.”

“We understand, War-Leader. We will await the arrival of your lieutenants.”

____________
A group of technicians stood at the feet of an almost forty metres tall command unit. The Cybran weapon didn’t look damaged at all but the tech team prepared to clean all dust from its armour while updating its software. The pilot had spent six hours with it in the desert heat, patrolling with an abundance of radar towers and spy planes.

The members of the team seemed impatient. They were waiting for one final man, who happened to be the most important one. John Miller arrived after half a minute later and he quickly apologized for being late before he said what he expected everyone to do.

“Ok, you all know what we’re up to. Just the regular work with a software update. This is Dygonn’s ACU so don’t expect the pilot to be around all the time. He’s not good at maintenance of stuff this size, unlike some of the other pilots, but he’s excellent at pointing out what we forgot.”

The other men immediately stepped in and started to work, but one woman didn’t. She walked to Miller and explained herself. “I’m new here, but I’ve worked with the software of equipment like this before. Just tell me what to do.”

John thought the woman was about thirty five years old, even though she looked incredibly attractive. Her face betrayed she was from Asian descent and her clothing, which made her look like an army lieutenant from old war movies, told she lived in UEF territory.

“You can get into the cockpit with me, the software update gets done much faster with two people. What’s your name by the way?”
“Jessica Simpsons, I’ll follow you right away.”
“John Miller.”

The two went to the upper level of the hangar and John entered the cockpit. Jessica followed him and found herself in a cramped room. She was used to standing so close to people before but not with a man she only met a few minutes ago.

“Don’t worry about the cramped space. You’ll get used to it. Activate those relays while I get to work. Watch closely, so you can take over any time in the future.” Said John without looking at her. Had he done that, then he would have seen that Jessica wasn’t daunted by the small room.

“Yes sir.” Jessica said simply and she pressed three buttons while she carefully looked around. The room was perfectly maintained and lacked junk. The perfect example of a well-organized and efficient commander.

“Who is this Leython Dygonn anyway? I’ve heard of him, that he’s a good commander, but I’ve never found information about him.”
“He’s a good commander. He was from the UEF but turned to the Cybrans eventually. He’s been pretty successful but wasn’t widely known amongst the UEF members of the coalition until a few days ago. He lead the battle, which resulted in the death of a Seraphim commander. You’ve seen all of it happen, right?”
“No, I arrived here yesterday and news was very hard to come by.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that anyone from the UEF got here yesterday. It were all Aeon citizens.”
“That’s true.” Said an all too familiar voice suddenly.
“Commander Dygonn, we already started.”
“I’ve been captured by the Aeon a couple of weeks ago.” Said Jessica in a tone Leython recognized as perfectly honest, but he knew better.
“Didn’t they kill you as soon as you were at their mercy?” Asked John Miller, who was as suspicious about Jessica’s history as Leython.

“They found out I had a good deal of information about the UEF military and technology. Information that was mostly false. I managed to escape thanks to the excellent work of an Aeon priestess.”

Under the watchful eye of the former UEF commander, Jessica and John continued their work and finished half a minute later.
“Right, that should do it, I take it you run some diagnostics while we’re here?” Asked John and Leython nodded. “You’re going to have to get out of the cockpit so I can do that.”

The two technicians obliged and John realized that Jessica didn’t have to do anything he couldn’t do by himself in the same time.
With a couple of buttons, Leython saw that the whole update was a success and, without even looking, he told John he could go on with the next ACU.

“Hey, did you see where Simpsons went?” Asked John, with a sudden trace of panic in his voice.
“No, I was looking at my screens so she could leave unnoticed.” Answered Leython impassively.
“You know it’s no good to have situations like that. You don’t want to think of what happens to you if one of your commanders runs out on you and flees.”
“Your assistant leaving you now is like a stupid trainee letting me down on the field. She’s not important.”

“What do you mean with that?” Shot John at him. “She was good, didn’t do much but at least she knew what she was talking about.”
“Oh yes.” Leython said and he finally turned around. “She knew perfectly what she was talking about. She knew that she knew nothing about it and that she was useless in this.”
“But how... How did you see that?”
“She’s not a UEF citizen. She’s the Aeon priestess she mentioned.”

“I thought they couldn’t lie? All about their own culture, this ‘don’t lie policy’ might actually be the only good thing from it.” Said John harshly.
“There are more good things from it, but I’ll put that discussion aside for now. She’s not an Aeon priestess either. Not at this moment. She infiltrated in the society and doesn’t particularly show any disrespect to The Way, but she has rather left that behind her for some time.”

“I don’t get it, why would she do that?”
“It’s impossible to explain if you don’t understand it’s a challenge.” Said Leython and he was sure it wouldn’t help John in any way.
“Never mind then.” Said John in disappointment before he left. Out of sight of everyone, Leython opened a small storage box and took an ancient weapon out of it.

____________
The night always drew solitude. The most people awake at this moment were the ones charged with the HQ’s security. Apart from them, few walked in the corridors or streets of the massive complex.

One of them was a woman. Still wearing the same clothes that represented her as today’s most popular first person shooter’s female sniper, she would’ve drawn the attention of many teenage boys, if it weren’t for the late hour.

Jessica Simpsons seemed to know what she was doing, as she walked along with a determined pace. She quickly climbed the ladders in the hangar that would take her forty metres higher and while she did so, she carefully looked around for the few bystanders in the hangar, as if she was about to steal the ACU she was planning to enter.

The bystanders didn’t even notice her though, unable to hear the steps that were softer than a predator’s crawl to his pray. Despite of her success to be sneaky, she knew that she couldn’t even hope to make it into the ACU. Surely it would be tightly locked, keeping outsiders like her where they belonged.

Jessica wasn’t surprised at all to find out that she could open the cockpit’s top hatch and peek inside and even if she was, what she saw made it any surprise go away. “I still know you well, Leython.” She said in an inaudible whisper. “Leaving a supply box open is the only sign you gave me to tell you know about my presence here.”

Jessica closed the top hatch as quietly as she could and she grabbed an extended hand and stood directly front of the man who helped her get up.
“Then why did you anxiously look around just a minute ago, hoping to find if I was looking for you?” Asked Leython.

“You know the answer to that already.” Said Lyndis with a serene smile on her face.
“Yes, I do.” Said Leython simply. “I bet you were looking for this?” He asked and he showed his former mentor the ancient sword. “Trying to best me again?”

“I would rather phrase it as... Finding out if you are still as good as you once were. The answer to would be no, since you have improved well.”
“You are a priestess now, are you not?”
“Yes, I am. The philosophy I have been taught on Earth helped me very well. Along with our other skills, The Way is easily understood, but I am not sure if anyone will understand it being abused at every opportunity. Not as long as it preaches harmony.” Said Lyndis.

“Idle phrases said by hypocrites. You were not like that. Our harmony with battle was not concealed behind a curtain of lies.” Said Leython bitterly. “It is the one thing Marisa hates about the Aeon community, a society that claims to live on truth like that is downright hypocritical.”

“I have found out how easily they are deluded by the so-called enlightened priests and evaluators. I see no problem with The Way as it is, but they refuse to embrace the truth that is directly in front of them.”

“What did you do in the past year?” Asked Leython. “Josh Funky told me you caused some issues in the Order?”

“Yes, but it is nothing that makes a mark. I hacked in an ACU or destroyed an Evaluator’s complete archive. Things like that.” Said Lyndis with a casual tone. She could have mentioned her daily life as a priestess. It cost Leython all of his concentration to look natural, because this was one of the most surprising things he heard in his whole life.

“Every little bit helps. The Seraphim are the ones with the extreme power and technological advantage, but it is QAI and the Order that are looking for us. The more they are hindered, the less probable it is that the Seraphim will ever attack us.”

“Either way, if I am to contribute more to the coalition, I could better work with the technology we now have. I took my time to understand software of command units and command centres. That is also how I learned to exploit the flaws in the Aeon’s security system.”

“Why did you return? Why did you allow me to find you?”
“I have heard rumours. Rumours about Marisa Gawain. Shortly after I arrived in the Aeon community, I heard about who she was. If you still remember the moment I left Earth, then you should also know that I somehow found a connection between you and Gawain.”

“There is a connection, yes. We battled on Sinivar Island and met again on Tessalis, more than a year before the Seraphim invasion. We planned to marry but it hasn’t come to that point yet. The war has prevented that.” Said Leython. “Now you are here, that may be different.”

“More priests have left the Order and joined the coalition. Why have you not approached them yet?”
“Marisa had the plan to be married by the princess’ blessing. She urged us to leave as soon as we approached her, for our own safety. Marisa has now let go of the wish to be married by Rhianne Burke but she still wants some relatives or friends at her side at this moment. She has long ago accepted the fact that the wedding is not going to be the best day of her life, not if she has to do this in secret. To add to it, she has no family left. Only some friends and Burke was her best one.”

“I understand. Her life has not been so very nice. To compare, it was worse than yours.”
“In a way. The death of my mother, no matter how dreadful it was, is nothing compared to what she has been through. She was in training of Abigail Toth, who has been accepted as the best evaluator of all time by many, so she learnt to carry the burden well but that does not change anything about the way her youth has been messed up.” Said Leython and Lyndis noticed the bitterness in his voice.

“You have told her about me?” She asked.
“Of course I have. That is why I have the feeling she already suspects your true identity when I avoided her question as to why it had to be you to marry us.” Answered Leython and he looked directly at his former master. She understood his statement as a request immediately but she didn’t answer it directly.

“As well-taught as us, of course she is. How else would she notice your enigmatic behaviour of the past few days?”
“She knows more about interpreting other people’s expressions and noticing their true meanings of a conversation than either of us. Still, I think I have managed to keep her puzzled, which is something we both like. We enjoy much of our time together like that.”

“So she suspects, but cannot tell for sure? I bet she will be able to after I tell you I would be delighted to arrange a marriage. Gather all of your friends, I think we will need them to cheer this place up for a moment.”

“I will do so, Wayu Lyndis.” Said Leython and he bowed slightly. “I will meet you tomorrow and give a date.” Then walked away without even turning around to look at each other for the last time that night. Lyndis slipped out as easily as she came in, as did Leython. Before they left, his ACU had locked itself tightly without either of them noticing

____________
With eleven in total, the attendance to the wedding was at a minimum. Wayu Lyndis knew of the reason: the history of both Marisa and Leython seemed too dreadful to bear. Neither of them had much of a choice to live a perfect life but both had chosen the worst possible option.

“You know Shilon, I have seen more cheerful marriages. I bet that’s because those were on Earth, with no one worried about the War.” Said Jeff Lancet.
“That’s also because the families were a lot bigger, I think. These two don’t have any friends or relatives apart from us.” Answered Shilon. “I mean, they are on good terms with the superiors, but they’re too busy managing everything. It’s also a miracle we have had this moment for all of us at the same time.”

“Now we’re talking about that, I’ve got to go back to guard again in an hour. I’d better go already.” Josh had suddenly appeared behind them. “I’m going to tell Selene, we’re supposed to work together.” He said cheerfully.
“You’ve spent some time with her already, haven’t you?” Asked Jeff but Josh had already turned around and ignored him. A few moments later, he and Selene left the bright but undecorated room.

“I still remember our first day on Tessalis.” Said Marisa, looking directly in her husband’s eyes. She finally had the time to do so, since the last time they stood on the planet she just mentioned. “I must say I had not expected that our marriage would ever be attended by so many people.”

“You accepted the fact that you would only have two people attending, at most. One of them would be your friend, it is unfortunate that you have to miss her.”
“The members of your team make up for that. Your father too, as well as the others we have met.”

Without any warning, red lights started flashing and one of the security officers stated the worst fear of all members of the coalition: “Enemy commanders detected. Evacuate immediately.”

“Great.” Said Leython with irritation in his voice. “The Seraphim don’t like to see us married.”
“Our marriage can be very helpful for the Coalition. They can obviously not accept that.” Replied Marisa simply while they quickly walked away. “If it goes on like this, we will have to postpone our honeymoon.”

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Nice start for a new book. I'm glad to see you continuing the saga.

Keep up the good work,

Marc

I have uploaded chapter 2, QAI's persistence.

Enjoy!

Good one. Keep on writing.

Marc

And chapter 3 is up. Enjoy. I hope that I can go back to weekly updates after I finish this year of college.

Given the damned heat, I don't know how long I can stand sitting at my computer typing text, so hope that it gets better soon...

Good action. Keep it going.

Marc

how goes it?
your stuff is good and getting better with each story

I'm working on chapter 4 now. Should be up by Sunday evening (GMT, CET timezones).

Edit: Probably postponed to Monday evening.

Chapter 4, Counter-Attack, is up.

Enjoy

and that was worth the wait, great chapter!

Another action packed episode. Good work.

Marc

I'm working on chapter five but I met some issues. It involves this spoiler: I forgot information in one of the other books.

I don't know how extensive it is and how much I have to edit, but all of it will probably be too much for today and tomorrow (I'm not going to get to work on it tomorrow morning and afternoon). So I think that it'll take up to Tuesday.

Chapter 5, phantoms of the past, is up now. Enjoy!

Looks like we're coming down to the wire. Good chapter.

Marc

my money says that leython still has a few tricks up his sleeve

Chapter 6, birth of the new six is up.



Right there, you were stating the obvious