Chapter 10: Warrior

A/N: This is where the story REALLY takes a turn for the dark. Prepare yourselves. Oh, and, yeah, I didn't write for two days, I was busy. But, on the bright side, some authors upload a chapter a month or less. I upload a chapter or more every day. So, you don't have much to complain about.

The journey between planets took around a week, as expected. The journey was rather tense for everyone. Nobody knew whether they'd be coming back or not. But, they couldn't desert, they knew they couldn't. So, they kept forth.

Eventually, they stopped around the planet, and Hat Kid looked down to see what had changed, and gasped. The planet looked simply like a gigantic fortress. She scanned the planet for the city where they would land and take, and ordered the entire fleet to converge on it.

They entered the atmosphere, and when the clouds cleared, chills went down Hat Kid's spine. The city was brimming with anti-spacecraft guns, which began to open fire. They continued down to the surface of the planet, sky lit up like it was Coronation Day. Many spacecrafts were destroyed upon entry, but there were so many that it didn't even matter.

When they got close enough to the surface, the guns on the various spacecraft began firing down, trying to eliminate the defensive turrets. Eventually, close enough to the ground to see the individual troops and prepared to land, when a stray shot smashed into the side of their ship, sending it spiralling down uncontrollably to the ground.

Everyone was panicking, until a large booming noise was heard, and Hat Kid was knocked unconscious. When she woke up, everyone was around her, hiding, screaming at her to get up, but she only heard muffled gibberish. After seeing her surroundings, she snapped out of her daze and got up quickly, and turned to the broken wreck of her spaceship.

She fell to her knees. It was completely destroyed. She crawled through the wreckage and grabbed the Time Pieces from the still-intact fuel vault, then climbed out and sighed. Bow Kid ran up to her and stared at her.

"You can mourn over your ship later. We need to get moving, or we're going to die," She hissed, and Hat Kid nodded and ran out into the open. The scene was pure chaos. Spaceships were fighting in the air, and a large amount of troops were fighting on the ground, but the friendly troops were demoralized, as they thought Hat Kid was dead, and were losing the battle.

She saw this and ran to the front and began fighting.

"Keep fighting!" She shouted, and everyone began yelling and cheering. The fight lasted for hours, with many, many dead. Eventually, the Legion forces were forced to retreat from the base, and were pushed out before they could enact a Scorched Earth policy.

With the base secure, Hat Kid walked around in horror at the sight. Bodies were everywhere, broken wrecks of spacecraft littering the place, and some buildings burning. She looked down, and was shocked to see some blood spattered on her sleeve.

She came to a horrible conclusion. She'd caused this. All this death, this tragedy, it was her own making. She was beginning to understand Moustache Girl more and more, why she did what she did. She was turning into a monster, just like she had.

She closed her eyes to keep away the tears, and fell to her knees. Her three companions walked slowly up to her, taking in the scene.

"Oh my, what an unholy mess..." DJ Grooves muttered.

"What have I done?!" Hat Kid screamed.

"This isn't your fault. Not by a long shot," Bow Kid said as steadily as she could, but she was just as unnerved. "This is that... that guy's fault, whatever his name is. You were just doing your duty. This is a war now. In war, there will be death, there will be suffering, as sad as that is. This could've been avoided, possibly, but that's not your job. Your job is to be a leader. The only other option was surrendering or leaving, and you know that wasn't an option, or there would be even more tragedy. So, don't put this on yourself. You'll avenge all these people when you bring that jerk to his knees."

Hat Kid took a deep, shaky breath, stood up, and stumbled back from her companions.

"You don't understand! Don't you get it?! I've killed people today! With my own hands! You can't possibly know how that makes someone feel!" She yelled.

"You're right, I don't know, but I think I have a pretty good idea. But, they chose to die. Instead of surrendering or trying to make peace, they decided death was a better option, and you fulfilled their wishes. You aren't a murderer, you're a warrior, and there's a MASSIVE difference between them," Bow Kid replied.

Hat Kid stopped, and took a deep breath, this time not as shaky.

"You're right, I guess. But, still, I'm never going to let this go," She grumbled.

"It'd be more concerning if ye did, lass," Conductor piped in, "Now, we should probably get outta here. If I look at this... peck-fest any longer, I'm gonna lose my lunch!"

Hearing this, she giggled, and they walked away, nobody looking back. A group of soldiers arrived to carry away the dead for burial, and a group of Timekeepers to clean up the wreckage.

Hat Kid looked down at the crimson stain on her arm, and sighed. What she's done today, yes, it was horrible, it was terrible. But, Bow was right, it was the best case scenario. She wasn't a murderer, a monster, no. She was a fighter, a warrior, a guardian, and a hero, possibly a bit misguided.

They came to a large central building in the base, and Hat Kid was shown a living quarters. After what had just transpired, she saw a desk and sat down at it. A group of generals and advisors came in, an nodded in salutation to the little general.

"What is your command?" One asked.

"Command?" She replied.

"Why, yes, these are your armies, they're yours to command. We need leadership, and we can't just sit around," The same general explained, and she took a deep breath in thought.

"Well, we have to expect that they'll come back. Unfortunately, I know Misfortune. He's not going to let this slide. He'll try to take this base back, and push us back out into space, no matter the cost. So, we can't just wait for him to come here. The best defense is a good offence, so..." She suggested, "Bring me a map of the region."

A 3-D holographic map was brought to her, and showed the nearby geography. She focused on a nearby city, and grinned. The city's name was Safehaven, and from what she remembered and what the map showed, it was a hugely industrial city, with many factories, spaceship hangars and whatnot. Because of that, there would likely be a large civilian population to rescue.

"We attack Safehaven, and if we can't capture it, we put it out of comission and evacuate the citizens," She ordered.

"A large city like Safehaven will be heavily fortified, we'd lose more people than we'd save. We aren't a suicide mission," The same general countered.

"Yes, and they'd probably be expecting us to attack there first. So, I have a plan. It may or may not work, but it's better than not trying," She explained, earning the interest of everyone present.

"And what is this 'plan'?" Another general asked.

"It will be called: Operation Deadlock, and prepare yourselves, it'll be a doozy," She said mischeviously.