Ch 9.

"This is weird."

"I thought that you'd be used to by now with fire and lightning tornadoes, giants made from mountains, dragons of pure fire raining from the sky and the sea itself coming to attack you as krakens."

"Not that father, look to the fleet, the formation their going with is a spindle and are closing in for melee, but that formation is to tight for melee, and look at the disembarking army, they have infantry lined up around the base, but they haven't set up their artillery, cavalry and chariots, and there's another line of infantry behind the chariots and artillery. This is something that even cadets don't get wrong, also the way their lining up, it's almost as if they know….."

Jon suddenly stopped and went pail as the truth struck him.

"I…I was right, but to such a degree I and the enemy….GET ME GENERAL KHAN-"

Wave after wave of explosions and tremors flooded the base, making all those present in the command centre grip the nearest chair, table, wall or body to just keep themselves from falling over.

"We are getting reports from the front line, the enemy infantry has adopted infantry wave tactics and is charging the defenses, also their saying they are blowing themselves up when they reach a defense or fall."

"We LOST CONTACT WITH THE FLEET!"

"Get me a personal link now! Aubrey are you there, Aubrey, answer me ya bastard, I still owe you twenty pounds, are you as a sailor gonna let that debt go. ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!...Answer me….."

"This is Commodore Aubrey, don't worry about me Jon, the dammed Maran's have just rammed half my fleet with a quarter of their, we're pulling back and reforming, they hit us hard but we'll manage. Don't worry about me Jon, I've braved tougher storms than this!0GHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

The commander of the space fleet said before static replaced his voice, whether it was from terminating the conversation, from enemy jamming temporarily overwhelming theirs or just the chaotic communications of a battle Jon did not knew, but what he didn't knew was that the map that depicted base LV-223 was now flooded with red as more and more sections were struck by the suicide bombers.

"How the hell is this possible, even if they outnumber us you can't just charge over Death's garden like this, ya march in formation, what the hell is going on?"

"Major, one of our medics has captured a Maran and he's discovered something."

"Well put him through!"

"Major, I found out what the hell is wrong with them."

"You mean besides being suicidal terrorists?"

"Yes sir, Major they are all jacked up on Elysium, Just looking at their eyes these sons of Tonurs are so high that I doubt they know their own names, let alone the fact that we're ripping them to shreds as they charge."

"Great, get me Central."

"Yes sir. Eh sir, central's not responding."

"What? That's impossible! We've run crystal wires underground to prevent something like this, why Central's-"Jon looked at the portion of the map that depicted the main command center and saw that it was red.

Not just any red, the particular shade of red that was used to indicate destroyed ships and 100% casualty rates.

"C-Contact Brigadier Sharpe."

"No contact with Brigadier Sharpe, we're trying others, and it's a negative, no one is replying to the Brigade command level."

"WHAT! T-then, then send a ping staring from Captain's up, search until we find whoever's left that's in charge.

Several minutes paced like this, several long minutes during which Jon looked at the map depicting the base and its surrounding areas and noticed that now the enemy was brining up their armor and the second line of infantry.

"Sir, we've found the highest ranking officer still left."

"WELL WHO IS IT? WHO'S THE SON OF A BITCH THAT'S IN CHARGE?"

"Y-you are sir."

"Wh-wha-I'm in charge. I'm the son of a bitch." Jon said he saw the eyes of the entire command room look at him for guidance, not just for their build project, but this time to survive.

"I'm the son of a bitch" Jon muttered beneath his breath as he started walking away from the desk map and started pacing around the room.

"I'm the son of a bitch"

"I'm the son of a bitch"

"I'm the son of a bitch"

"I'm the...son of bitch who's in charge! Contact all surviving forces, we're abandoning the first and second line and we're falling back to the last line around the train station, tell all units to withdraw and rally there, and get me a headcount!"

"Yes sir."

The command room immediately snapped to attention as they processed Jon's orders, as he Major Snow, now Commander Snow started slowly breathing in and out to calm himself down.

He looked to his father, his brother and Stannis, who all gave nods of approval.

Jon had earn and would earn many medals and battle merits in his career, but he would always cherish that moment.

"Sir, we've got the head count, we lost about 30.000 dead, wounded or captured, the remaining 55.000 have rallied around the last line of defense."

"Sir, we're picking up one last company that's still fighting! They're at junction B Major!"

"What! Give me a direct link"

"Whoever's in charge get you're men and women out of there!"

"No can't do Jon."

"Casper!"

"Lieutenant Casper now! And sorry but we can't withdraw, junction B controls all Western roads to the train station, if we hold it you 'll only have to deal with the Eastern attack, that will double your odds."

"Casper you only gone once company, half the enemy is coming that way, you're outnumbered a thousand to one!"

"Don't worry major, we won't let them get away."

"You-you can still withdraw, any minute now you'll be surrounded."

"We're Black Berets Major, we're supposed to be surrounded."

With that the comm link went dead as Lt Casper terminated it.

"Elite troops!" Jon said as he gave out a breath of exasperation.

"Sand peddlers in the desert have more success, then officers have of reeling in elite troops, especially 88th's, darned Black Berets!" he muttered.

"What's the status of the enemy?"

"Their forming up on our second line, they've also begun to assault Lt Casper's 101st company."

"Figures, allright I want 80% of our forces to the East, keep 20% in the West, that should give us time if Casper brakes before we can win this thing. And everyone here draw you're weapons, I have a feeling that it's gonna be a long night, a Very Very Long Night."

Jon said as he turned to his father, but before he could say or do anything, he saw that Ned, Robb and Stannis had all drawn their swords.

Their weapons had received upgrades as gestures of good will from the Empire.

Lord Stark's Ice had received an upgrade, now living up to his name as a water sword that freezed it's opponents on contact.

Rob's blade was an earth one, that with each swing would take the surrounding ground and morph it into great wolf beasts that would charge any attacker.

Finally there was Stannis, who's own blade was a fire sword made from hot lava, one that gave off flame, but to heat.

They looked at him, he looked at them and a nod of the head was given and received from both parties and no more words need be spoken.

Behind him Val and Ygrette readied theirs.

Val chose a great two handed mace that burst with lightning and Ygrette had an air bow and arrow said that could adjust their trajectory mid flight and could even shoot around corners.

And so, Jon Snow, Val, Ygrette, Ned and Robb Stark and Stannis Baratheon all rallied to face the hoard of death that was coming to kill them at this what seemed to be a very, VERY Long Night.

Jon turned to them and said:

"Come on everyone, let's go save the world."