Chapter 3: Day One: Midday

Master Cyclonia watched The War Horse make its arrival at her largest dock. Of the five hundred plus men she'd sent out this morning, only fifty soldiers got off.

Snipe and Dark Ace were last, both of them looking grim.

"What's happened?" she demanded of Dark Ace immediately. "Storm Hawks?" It wasn't rare that after another humiliating defeat at the hands of Sky Knights, an enraged Dark Ace would leave almost all his talons behind in spiteful revenge of their lack of skills.

"No Master. Something else. A new threat. I had to place Captains and the remaining soldiers at different southern terras to ready them for evacuation."

"Evacuation?! And where exactly are these evacuees to go?"

"Here, Master…"

Master Cyclonis felt rage and fear bubbling inside her, "are you stupid?" she hissed. It was annoying how her once most trusted and competent Commander was now letting her down on a daily basis. "There isn't enough food. There isn't enough space. Thanks to the Sky Knights and your failure, we haven't been able attain more terra or resources in months! The population is out of control, my god Dark Ace!"

"I wouldn't have done it unless necessary," he argued, trying to remain respectful but struggling. "The threat is real. If soldiers here think we abandoned their families to certain death then an uprising is sure to happen."

Cyclonis forced herself to calm down. "Is the threat so dangerous?"

"I can confirm one man dead, one hundred and twenty five are missing in action- including General Guinea. It appears the entire populations of Zartacla and Terra Shire is M.I.A. as well. With the exception of one small child I found hiding on Terra Shire, all that was left of the people there were body parts and copious amounts of spilt blood. Trees and roads were ripped up, buildings were battered in and turned to rubble."

She glanced away before looking back with dark eyes, "what did it?"

"It's… they appear to be giants. They're some sort of huge humanoids. Only they were somewhat deformed and ungainly." He paused, "but the worst and most bizarre part is that they…they ate an officer. Myself, Snipe and ten of our men all witnessed the creatures ourselves."

She nodded, "very well, but we still need to avoid evacuation. It needs to be a last resort." She looked at him, "we don't have the resources to house so many people in this terra. Hereby order you to eliminate the threat at all costs. Evacuation is absolutely, absolutely a last resort. Do you understand Commander?"

He nodded. He understood.

"In the meantime I will work on finding out what these things are and why they are attacking us," she said darkly. She looked at him, "all you need to do is kill. You can still do that much, right?"

"Of course Master," he answered immediately, the old wound of her lost faith biting at him again.

"You say there was a child survivor?"

"Yes Master. He is with Medic Rain."

"Interesting. I shall take my leave. Don't mess this up."

Dark Ace saluted her as she turned away, leaving him alone with the difficulty of preparing for war.

xxXXxx

Five evacuation carriers were almost ready.

"Sub-Commander Chicken Feather-"

"I actually prefer to be called-"

"You will be in charge of the Evacuation," continued Dark Ace, marching with the Sub-Commander next to him.

Sub-Commander Chicken Feather sighed, "yes sir…"

"You will have three generals under you, each general overseeing each Terra. Beneath them are two captains each. You'll have one hundred men on each terra, and fifty watchmen. Make sure there is enough space on the carriers for civilians; don't let them pack too much. You'll only have Rookies on the ground, so make sure they do not get overwhelmed."

"Just Rookies?! But if we're attacked-!"

"But you will have more experienced Talons as your Watchmen."

"Thank goddess! So, are we really up against giants, 'cause that's the rumour and-"

"Get to your ship Sub-Commander," interrupted Dark Ace, staring resolutely ahead, "hopefully you shall see no action today. The plan is for me and my team to annihilate the threat before it can even reach the terras. You evacuating everyone is a last resort. However, I need everyone ready. If things do go wrong we won't have time to wait around. Understand Commander?"

"Yes Sir," the cowardly Sub-Commander saluted then scuttled away. Dark Ace was infuriating to converse with, namely because he didn't converse, he just talked at people.

"I'm telling you sis it was messed up," Snipe said the Ravess, who was polishing her weapon. He still had goosebumps from hearing the screams of Fraust before he was killed. "You could hear the bones crunching…it was horrible."

"You're just a big baby," Ravess sneered, "we've battled many man-eating beasts before now, and survived."

"This was different," he argued, "it was really awful…they look kind of like us…"

They stood to attention when Dark Ace appeared in front of them.

"Are the Destroyers ready?"

"Yes Sir."

"Then it's time to leave. Ready your men."

As they ran to do his bidding, he turned his attention to the tall, slim figure of Talon Alto who was loitering around alone, waiting instruction.

"Talon Alto, correct?" he walked over to the talon, who saluted without enthusiasm. Dark Ace could see the resentment the man held for him in his eyes.

"I've just contacted the family of Fraust sir," he said, though Dark Ace hadn't asked, "I wanted them to find out about his death sooner rather than later. She -his wife- asked for a body to be buried. I told her that we couldn't, that he was gone. She cried."

"Get your revenge now," said Dark Ace. "I cannot bring your friend back and I am not sorry I stopped you from saving him. You wouldn't have been able to anyway and you would have given away our position. But I want you and the others from that small recon team to come with me on this next mission., You know what we're up against, and this, as I say, gives you your chance for vengeance."

Alto agreed and saluted as a good soldier should, but as Dark Ace walked away, he wondered if he should have just told his Commander the truth; he didn't want revenge, he just wanted his friend back.

xxXXxx

Approximately twenty minutes later, Dark Ace climbed onto his Skimmer. He would be with the rest of his men, on his Ride and without the safety of a Destroyer. He would lead the charge. Immediately to either side were the ten talons from before. Around them were two thousand general talons. Behind the two thousand were two Destroyers, one manned by Snipe, one by Ravess. Behind the Destroyers were three large evacuation carriers.

Dark Ace put up his arm, steadying them all. The gates opened, and the afternoon sky greeted them. It was turning dark and grey.

Dark Ace dropped his arm and there was a loud, angry hum of thousands of engines.

He stepped on the accelerator and away he went at full speed, all the people behind him following his lead. There was the stomach-churning thrill of falling, just for a moment when the Rides first drove off the metal panel, but the wings opened automatically and soon he was soaring through the sky.

Dark Ace allowed himself a small smile. He could do this. He was the Dark Ace, and no one could beat him.