CHAPTER TWO : THE BEGINNING OF THE RAID

TWO HOURS BEFORE THE RAID

residential block s02, bakura district, antilia

Leo Stenbuck stared at the ceiling of his bedroom and watched a fly crawl across it. It was rare to see flies in Antilia. It was rare to see any type of insect, really. Especially in Residential S02.

There was a knock on the door. Leo knew it was his father―John Stenbuck―telling him that he was leaving for the night. That was all he ever came to say. "Leo, I'm heading out for now." or, "Leo, order some food for yourself, I'm going somewhere across the river." Never, "Son, do you want to come along?" or, "Say, Leo, how about some father-son time?"

John Stenbuck hated his son.

And Leo Stenbuck hated his father. And his mother.

In fact, there were very few people Leo liked, nowadays.

In school, he was teased and hated for being a Terran on a Martian-built colony. He was ridiculed for being a loner, and mocked because everyone knew that his father hated him.

Only one person even gave him the time of day: Celvice Klein. She was a ray of sunshine on the dark side of the moon. Not only did Celvice talk to him, she actually carried on conversations with him. Asked him his opinion. Complimented him.

He only wished others would do half as much.

The door opened and Leo's father entered the room. "I'm going to a company dinner in New London, son. I probably won't be back tonight."

Leo barely tilted his head toward his father. "Why does a company dinner take all night?"

"I'll be returning to the factory afterwards. Some big league Earth general is here, wanting to inspect some of the equipment."

John Stenbuck seemed to linger for a moment, as if waiting for permission from Leo before leaving. After a moment passed, he just shut the door and left.

Leo fought back the urge to cry.

TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE THE RAID

factory block f14, alpha district, antilia

Leo walked around the factory area and saw an entrance. It was unguarded―which was odd―and simply left open. That was unusual in and of itself, as all the doors in the factory area―and pretty much everywhere else on the colony for that matter―were automatic, and closed when a person was not in close proximity. Since there were no weather abnormalities on the colony, it wasn't like any kinds of adverse effects could occur if two people were standing in the doorway and talking, thus eliminating the only real fault in the automatic system.

Leo took a step closer to the door and looked inside. No one was in the hallway. He entered and walked along the short hallway, eventually coming to another auto-door that was stuck open. This one led into a small room with a bunch of control stations. There was something wrong with the room, however.

There was a mass of corpses lying around the room.

He took a few steps into the room. One of the dead men was slung over the nearest console. His blood was pooling around his feet and down over the other side of the console, dripping from his hands. Leo did his best to side step the man, but he ended up slipping in the man's blood by accident.

A gunshot rang out. Leo looked around and saw a large window along one wall. He'd been far too transfixed on the corpses to notice it before, but now it was clear as day and a strange blue light was coming from the worklights in the other room.

Leo looked out the window and saw three men on a catwalk. Two were on one side of a large grouping of crates, the third was on another. The third man was sticking close to the crates, his back was to the crates, and he was facing away from other two. Occasionally, he'd come out a little from behind the crates and fire his gun at the other two, but he didn't hit anything. Leo could see now that he had a bullet wound in his arm, the same one that had the gun in his hand.

"Who the fuck's that?" one of the first two shouted, loud enough that Leo could hear him. It took a few moments to register that they were talking about him. Suddenly, a bullet popped through the window and then hit the wall behind him. Leo ducked behind a console―which was covered in another man's blood―and grabbed his arms, keeping his legs tucked up against himself.

Three gunshots later, and the wall that had been turned into target practice was no longer being peppered with rounds. Leo looked out around the side of the console and saw that the wounded man was the only one left standing. "Hey, kid!" he called, through the now shattered window. "C'mere!"

Leo nodded, then got up and walked through the only other door in the room. The new hallway led to the catwalk which the wounded man was standing on. As he got closer, Leo could see a patch on the man's left shoulder. It had the insignia of the United Nations Space Force―UNSF―along with a smaller insignia that had only one word printed―Atlantis.

"Are you hurt?" the wounded man asked. "Is that your blood?"

Leo looked himself over and didn't see any blood, until he looked at the sleeves of his jacket. There was wet blood all over him. He took the jacket off and saw that the entire back was soaking wet with blood. "No," Leo answered, "it must have come from when I was tucked up against that control console while those guys were shooting."

"Good."

Good? This was my favorite jacket! Leo resisted the urge to shout. "What's going on?" he asked instead.

"BAHRAM is attacking the colony." Leo read the nametag on the man's uniform. FRAKES. "We saw a large OF force coming in on the radar. By the time I got here, these guys were trying to steal this Frame." He waved his hand to his left, where Leo could finally see what the man had really been ducking behind―the cockpit of a weird kind of LEV. He'd never seen one like it before. "My name is Lieutenant Alan Frakes, what's your name, kid?"

"Leo Stenbuck."

Lieutenant Frakes' face registered some kind of recognition at the name Stenbuck, but he said nothing about it. "Well, Leo, you need to get out of here. Get outside and see if you can find a UNSF officer out there, name is Egubon. Tell him to get in here, and I'll brief him on what's going on, got that?"

"But, how do I know he'll listen to me?"

"Just tell him Lieutenant Frakes is in here. Go!"

Leo nodded, then ran.

Maintenance bay 14, nereidum factory, antilia

Alan watched as the kid ran back the way he came. He looked down and noticed that the kid's jacket was lying on the catwalk. Must have dropped it.

He turned back to Jehuty's cockpit and pressed down on the Force Tiles which made up the cockpit glass. Within seconds, they had dissolved away and the cockpit was open. He was about to get in when he heard footsteps. He turned and looked, but saw nothing. Then―there! A shadow had moved. He raised his handgun and squeezed the trigger, hitting the wall next to the other outside entrance and frightening the shadow-man. Shadow-man drew his own weapon up and fired just as Alan let out a volley of rounds.

His rounds hit Shadow-man in the chest and sent him over the railing and down to his death.

Shadow-man's round hit him just below his Adam's apple. He didn't even feel it as he fell backwards and partially into Jehuty's cockpit.

factory block f14, alpha district, antilia

Leo made it back outside but heard more gunshots. Lieutenant Frakes? For a moment he wondered if he should go back in there, until two men grabbed him from behind. He was dragged to a parking lot next to the factory and shoved against a light pole. The two men were UNSF Security. A shorter man, with an outragous haircut walked into the light toward him. The nametag on his uniform read EGUBON.

"Sir!" Leo shouted. "Lieutenant Frakes is inside, and asked me to―" Leo was cut off by a wad of tissue paper being stuffed in his mouth.

"Shut up! Fucking Ender! I don't have to listen to a damn thing you say!" Egubon spoke with an accent, but Leo couldn't quite make it out. "You're just tresspassing on UNSF territory, like these pitiful excuses for humans!" Egubon pointed to another light pole to Leo's right. Tied to it were three of Leo's schoolmates―Hakashi, Togu and a girl named Elise.

Hakashi sounded surprised. "Leo? What the hell are you doing here?"

Egubon walked over to him and smacked him across the face with his pistol. "Who told you to speak, you waste! I tell you when your mouth is needed, and right now it isn't!" Egubon pointed his handgun at Hakashi's forehead. "You're lucky I don't blow your fucking brains out all over the road!"

Elise squealed, then wormed her way out of the ropes that had her tied to the pole. She started running, then shouted, "It was their fault!"

Egubon turned his gun toward her and fired.

Leo's eyes widened in horror. Egubon was a racist of the worst degree.

Elise tried to stand up again, but couldn't. She just laid there and cried. Leo couldn't do anything. His mouth was full of tissue paper and his hands were being tied to the pole by the other two UNSF guys. He managed to spit the tissue paper out. "Stop this! She didn't do anything!" he shouted.

Egubon walked over to him and put the barrel of his gun underneath Leo's chin. "All of you piles of shit do is nothing. All you're good for is making sure Earth continues on into the next generation."

"Lieutenant Frakes was being shot at! He's in there right now! I heard more gunshots when I came out here!"

"Lieutenant Frakes knows to call in if there is a problem. If someone is shooting at him, he knows to be a good soldier and die. He, too, is an Ender, after all."

Leo couldn't take any more of this. He kicked Egubon away and wormed his way out his own ropes. After that, he jumped onto the shocked Egubon and knocked his handgun out of his hands.

Something took hold of him. Leo couldn't think anymore. After a few minutes, he couldn't feel his fists slamming into Egubon's face any longer. His breathing had become very shallow. He looked around and saw a shocked look on Hakashi and Togu's faces.

He looked down and saw that Egubon no longer had a face.

The two UNSF soldiers who had been there had run away. Elise was now sitting up, but still wasn't moving. Leo himself stood up and walked over to Hakashi and Togu. Both looked frightened. He undid the ropes tying them to the pole. "What did I just do?" he asked them.

Neither answered. He looked them over, saw that both were shivering like crazy. Togu had wet himself. "Never mind," Leo said after a moment. "Just get her to a... a hospital, or something..." Both nodded and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. For Hakashi, this was no easy task, as he weighed close to three hundred pounds.

Leo walked over to Egubon's body and sat down in front of hit. Something felt wrong, now. He felt cold, like he'd just been stuffed in a freezer. It was obviously a much higher temperature than that, however. He heard light footsteps coming toward him.

He looked up and saw Elise, barely able to stand. "Thank you," she said. "You saved our lives."

Leo stood up and steadied her. "I... I don't know what I did. I don't know how it happened."

"I don't care about that. I'm just happy that you did. He was crazy." She kissed him on the cheek. His face felt warm again. Togu and Hakashi helped steady her, then Togu just decided to pick her up and carry her.

"Don't feel bad about what you did," Hakashi said. "He deserved it."

As they turned and walked away, Leo fell to his knees. But what do I deserve, now? I've killed someone.

The ground began to shake. Leo stood up and looked around. There was an explosion near the edge of the factory zone. Suddenly, a small, slightly more streamlined LEV was standing up, firing a cannon from its right arm.

It was between red and pink, color-wise. The head was a very odd shape with a kind of V-shape. The body shape was very feminine, with two breasts attached to the chest as if it were a real woman. A strange disc-like object was attached to the back, and the shoulders flared out to sharp tips.

It was like no LEV Leo had ever seen before, except―

The one Alan was fighting in front of

―except he didn't care. He could see now that whoever was piloting that thing was affiliated with the BAHRAM invasion Lieutenant Frakes had mentioned.

The cannon underneath the right arm turned toward the parking lot Leo and the others were still in. It took him a moment to realize what was happening, then he shouted to the others, "Run! Get outta here!"

It was no use, however, they had frozen up. Hakashi and Togu weren't moving at all, and Elise was a sitting duck in Togu's arms. She looked back at Leo, and he could clearly see her face. Her expression conveyed a great deal of sadness.

A proton blast landed on the exact spot where the three had been, and Leo watched in horror as it virtually vaporized them and the surrounding area, four feet out in every direction. The force of the explosion, however, didn't let him watch for long. It was almost like an invisible hand pushed him back, he landed on his back, and heard something crack.

When he could stand once more, he took a look at the crater that had once been his three schoolmates. Only tattered remains of clothing, a little blood, and what Leo could only describe as a femur were left. The rest was gone.

Leo watched as the red LEV pointed its cannon at him, now, only to be moved seconds later. And he knew why. He had felt the ground shake as UNSF LEVs arrived. Suddenly, machine gun fire erupted around the area, and pelted the red LEV. Leo took the opportunity and made a run for it, back to the factory. He could tell Lieutenant Frakes what was happening, maybe he'd protect him.

As he entered the factory, he gave one last look outside, and saw that the red LEV was barely affected by the massive amount of machine guns firing at it.

Instead, its gaze was transfixed on him.

factory block f14, alpha district, antilia

Viola almost laughed as the three children died before her. They had been fools to stand there and just watch. She aimed the cannon at the fourth child and was about the fire when bullets started to hit Neith's body. She looked up and saw a full platoon of UNSF LEVs doing the shooting.

"Stupid fools!" She raised the cannon, leaving the boy alone for now, and fired a shot at the nearest LEV. It's pilot probably didn't expect anything other than a cockpit shot, but she surprised him by taking off its head. It stumbled around for a few moments, then started firing again. The shots still landed on Neith, until Viola moved it and prepared for one-on-one combat with the LEVs.

She gave one look back at the boy who had evaded her. He had entered the hangar that Target Bravo was stashed in. Good, she thought, he can die along with it. She smiled once again.

She hit the boosters and proppelled the Neith towards the headless Phantoma, then, using the underarm blade, sliced it in half. The poor pilot had only seconds to realize he was dead, as the the ArkJet engine carried within enough power to level a building within seconds.

The second LEV had stopped firing, so Neith grabbed the machine gun from its right hand and turned it on itself, spraying fire all over it. The third LEV was still shooting away, but it fell victim to the cockpit being ripped off and thrown at the fourth LEV. Only three more LEVs were left, and each one was taken out as swiftly and destructively as the first four, with Neith taking only minimal damage from their barrage.

A good team of LEVs could destroy an Orbital Frame.

This group couldn't even dent one.

Viola smiled once more, then began laughing. "C'mon out, Target Bravo! Give me a fight!"

Maintenance bay 14, nereidum factory, antilia

Leo ran along the catwalk and tripped on his own discarded jacket. He hit the metal of the catwalk hard, but didn't feel it. He was somewhere else right now. Killing Egubon and watching Hakashi, Togu and Elise die were too much for him.

He didn't see Lieutenant Frakes anywhere. He stood up, slowly, and walked past the two bodies from before and stopped at the cockpit to the weird, blue LEV.

Lieutenant Frakes' dead body was slumped backwards over the edge of the cockpit. Blood pooling in the seat.

Leo fell to his knees. Now there was nothing. Now, he should just wait for the red LEV to destroy the factory, and him along with it. To send him straight to Hell for killing Egubon. Of course, Egubon would have ended up there, as well.

He stood up and grabbed Lieutenant Frakes' body and pulled it out of the cockpit and set it on the catwalk. He sat down on the edge of the cockpit and just watched the body. His eyes were still open, staring out at the ceiling. Leo almost chuckled―that was exactly how his night had started.

An explosion rang out close by. Maybe that red LEV was getting to work destroying the factory. He could only wish.

The building began to shake, causing Leo to lose his balance. He grabbed hold of the rim of the cockpit, trying to stay upright. More shaking. Suddenly the tremors were turning violent. Maybe the red LEV really was about to destroy the factory.

As the shaking turned from violent to worse, Leo could barely hold onto the rim of the LEV's cockpit. He decided to jump inside, maybe that would be safer. He acted on his plan and hopped into the cockpit, hopefully away from the tremors.

The console inside the LEV sprung to life as his ass hit the seat. He rushed quickly to turn it off, but it was no use―he couldn't understand any of the controls. The cockpit sealed―what his father had called Force Tiles, it seemed―and he was stuck inside the odd vehicle.

Things began to flash by on the screen.

ADA SYSTEM

ACTIVATED

SYSTEM―0%

SYSTEM―100%

"Good morning," the device said in a strange metallic, female voice, "ready for combat operations?"

"Combat?!" Leo shouted. "I didn't turn you on! What the hell is this?!"

"This is detatched backup battle unit ADA, the advanced battle computer of this Jehuty. I ask again, ready for combat operations?"

"But... But..."

"My sensors detect a Type-C Orbital Frame outside this facility. My data logs have determined this Type-C is the Orbital Frame Neith. Pilot registered as Viola Gyune, second lieutenant, BAHRAM."

"That red monster is an Orbital Frame?!"

"So is Jehuty."

"What the hell is a Jehuty?!"

"This Orbital Frame. What I am part of. What you are sitting in the cockpit of. Where is the registered frame runner, Lieutenant Alan Frakes?"

"He's... He's dead."

"Then you have, for the time being, aquired his responsibilities. Per United Nations Space Force guidelines: A civilian can be placed in a military position if there is insufficient time to replace a military officer. As the Neith is attacking this facility and no other UNSF officers are around, you are now my frame runner."

"But, I've never piloted an Orbital Frame!"

"I will give you instructions until Jehuty can be reaquired by a UNSF officer. To manipulate the Frame, touch the control orbs. These devices will control all aspects of Jehuty's movement."

"Oh... okay... I still don't think I can do this. So, just move, like this?"

Leo started rolling the orbs around, and Jehuty moved forward, ripping apart the catwalk that had been ahead of it. Damn it! He continued to hold onto the orbs, until he stopped at the wall in front of him. It was much easier than he'd imagined.

"Use a Shot to open a hole in the ceiling. This will allow us entrance into the colony."

Leo nodded, then used the orbs to raise Jehuty's right hand. He pointed up and fired. A blue ball of energy shot from Jehuty's hand and hit the ceiling, sending debris flying in all directions. Falling concrete and metal bounced off of Jehuty's shell, but did no damage.

Orbital Frames are tough... Leo thought. That explains why those LEVs weren't doing any damage to the red―to the Neith.

He didn't dwell on it for long. Instead, he used the orbs to thrust Jehuty up and out of the factory.