There hadn't been time to reheat the food, Elijah slowly shoveled the cold meat pie into his mouth trying to compensate for how tired he was. Only managing to grab four or less hours sleep, he was almost looking forward to the journey to the mission area, as he could try and grab the extra hours.

Sajjan had woken up slightly earlier than Elijah and had already eaten. He was stood in front of a full height mirror, making minor adjustments to the deep green turban on his head.

"Don't give yourself indigestion, that won't do you any favours during the mission."

The advice was likely just Sajjan trying to find something to talk about. They'd barely spoken to each other since seeing the Governor.

"Don't worry dude, I'll be fine." Elijah didn't want to be distant but it was hard to act normal. It had only been hours since speaking with Berlioz and those hours of poor sleep had done little take the weight off his mind.

He left the plate on the side, making a mental note to wash it and drop it off at the Cafeteria when they returned.

If we return.

The moment the thought crossed his mind he dismissed it. But of course, as is the case, the more you try not to think about something, it becomes impossible not to think about it. Death was just part of the job. Sometimes, Ravens didn't come home. They didn't get a burial, they didn't get a farewell.

Just like Wynne. Left to rot, forgotten, hated. Elijah didn't know if he could live with guilt like that. An act as terrible as that would consume you, it would eat you hollow. It was entirely possible that without his sister, Berlioz would never had needed to sign that contract.

He would have died at that table and Rayleonard would have likely chosen the next best candidate from their program until they found someone they could use.

The pair left and began the walk to the Hangar. Sajjan cleared his throat, "How did the meeting with Berlioz go?"

Of course you'd ask.

"Fine, he got to hear what we found, he didn't tell me more than we didn't get from Desmond."

The lie was obvious but Elijah literally didn't have the energy at this time to tell it convincingly. It wasn't a conversation he wanted to have.

"I won't make you talk Elijah, but it was the reason I didn't go with you. It was a conversation you needed to have alone with him. To make sure you knew what you wanted."

Sajjan had no idea, did he? He believed it would be a talk to make sure that Elijah was dead set on his goal and to confirm he had the drive. He thought he was helping.

"I appreciate the thought but I won't- I can't talk about it. It's… Difficult."

He got no reply, hopefully out of understanding. It wouldn't be like Sajjan to ignore him out of spite but these days could anything be counted on?

They carried on down corridors, elevators and through doors. Sajjan slightly ahead. At 5am, they were virtually alone as they walked. The silence was overbearing.

In the hangar, a transporter was idling by the opening out onto the runway, it's rear hatch open. Even from here it was easy to make out White Glint standing in the internal gantry with Havok behind it.

As they approached, a Hangar staff member ran up to them, "Havok and White Glint right?" He carried on before any confirmation was given, "You're in the transporter waiting with your ACs, once you're in and secure you'll be off."

"Thank you," said Sajjan before they crossed the Hangar deck. Despite the quiet inside the rest of the Ark, the Hangar was a hive of activity. Machines always needed maintenance, there were always shipments of ammunition and spare parts that needed unloading and breaking down.

There was never a moment to be wasted.

A short run up the ramp later and they were both inside the transporter hold. Elijah wordlessly made his way to Havok's gantry, working his way around White Glint's.

"Elijah?" He paused on the ladder to listen to Sajjan, "You'd say if something was wrong, wouldn't you? I wouldn't want you to think you couldn't talk, right?"

It was most likely that Sajjan had the best of intentions and just wanted to help but it still ticked him off.

"Dude I'm fine, I swear. I really would say something alright?" His grip on the ladder tightened, waiting for the imminent questionting.

But it never came.

Sajjan silently climbed the gantry and entererd White Glint. Guilt washed over him like a sickness. If he could kick himself he would have.

Finally climbing to the top of the gantry, he made his way along the narrow walkway and lowered himself into the Core of Havok. Once secured into his seat, he quickly went through the startup procedure.

Only moments later, Havok's head dropped down, sealing him in. A blinking com notification caught his attention and he accepted the channel.

"Alright Ravens, time to destination is roughly three to four hours so get comfortable."

"Confirmed, thank you pilot." Sajjan's voice came over the channel, sending another stab of guilt through him.

Surely it'd be fine, wouldn't it? Elijah slouched in the seat, shifting to one side, trying to get as comfortable as possible.

Whatever sleep he could get, would be appreciated.

Elijah stared at the main display, a system diagnostic now running its fourth loop. Trying to find something to pass the time was difficult, it wasn't like there was much to do but eat snacks or sleep in the cockpit.

The lack of communication from Sajjan wasn't helping either. He wished it was possible to just tell him about what Berlioz had talked about but given the fact that literally the only other person that knew his situation was him, he didn't think it'd be right to just give that information away.

Just being able to vent his thoughts would be enough. Having this maelstrom of noise running around in the back of his head made any silence deafening.

He wanted to talk about what to do next. To talk about the future, where to go what to believe. Elijah had such a clear picture of where he wanted to be. Now it was like someone had taken a blender to it.

None of it was right anymore. There was no sense to it. What was the point? The things he wanted? What he strived for?

The throne he believed Berlioz sat upon, the one he wanted for himself, was a throne of blood and death. There was no pride in it. No sense of achievement.

It was a dead, false throne.

Even Berlioz himself would give it away willingly if it weren't for the horrors that the next Ninebreaker would have to endure.

He picked a small bottle of water out of a slot in the side of his seat, popping the lid and downing half of it. Looking at the clock on his HUD, roughly three hours had passed since leaving the Ark, he couldn't see from where he was but the sun should have risen by now.

It was one of the great pleasures of living in the sky, you got to see so much of it. Floating above what would have been roughly Nebraska or Kansas before the Great Destruction, there wasn't much to see below on the ground. Just dust and miles of baked ground.

That's what a lot of the world had become, the firing of Orion, the years of warfare and the wild consumption of natural resources had caused significant desertification even in areas previously thought to be low risk. Going north you'd eventually encounter forests but they were receding every year.

How long would it be before t-

"Ravens, we are fifteen minutes to our destination. We will be landing and you will disembark in your ACs once we have come to a complete stop, please be ready to leave at that point."

Once Elijah's heart was no longer in his mouth he let out a sigh. He'd forgotten that he'd never actually closed the channel to the pilot.

"Thank you Pilot," Sajjan's voice now coming through the same channel. "We will be ready to leave by then."

He had to say something, spending this entire goddamn flight not speaking to each other was unacceptable and Elijah knew he had to be the one to say something.

He closed the joint channel to the pilot and opened a separate one to Sajjan.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Of course I am friend, how are you?"

This is fucking stupid. Elijah wanted to cringe himself into oblivion at this exchange but he went with it regardless. "I'm fine, I mean… No I'm sorry. I wish… I wish I coul-"

"Elijah, there is no need to be sorry is there? I don't know and I don't need to know what you and Berlioz discussed. It was important for you, knowing your goals, to speak to someone who has achieved them. So that you can learn from their experiences."

Sajjan was clearly somewhat lost when it came to trying to talk around this subject as he'd just repeated almost exactly what he'd said back on the Ark.

He didn't blame him, it wasn't like he had much to go on. Sajjan would want to help anyway he could but this wasn't something he could just talk about. Berlioz told him everything on good faith, he trusted him.

Elijah couldn't betray that trust.

Sajjan had to stay in the dark for now.

"I appreciate that, I really do," Elijah said through a heavy sigh, "I think… I think it's given me a lot to consider. Things I should deal with in my own time. But thank you."

He couldn't see Sajjan's face but he could imagine that typical grin across his face.

"It is my pleasure Elijah."

The topic had to change before another silence settled. "Do you think we'll need a second shot at Motherwill?"

Elijah was immediately kicking himself as the connotation of what he said instantly hit him.

"Elijah, I think a mission like this is best taken on with the intention of surviving it, don't you think?"

"Oh yeah of course, but, I mean we have to consider it don't we?"

There would be a time in the far future when he could finally stop digging such terrific holes for himself.

"I understand your thought process and of course, should a second attempt be required I will step up to the task. But…"

This was a loaded but.

"I have absolute faith in you, as such, there will be no need for myself or White Glint to face Motherwill."

It was always nice to know that there was somebody out there who did believe in him.

"Thanks. I am scared though, I mean, this is a hell of a thing to take on. It's not every day that you get to take down a secret corporate super weapon."

"No that is certainly true. This is a mission that falls outside the usual contracts given to us."

"I think falling outside the usual is putting it lightly, it's not like anyone else is ever going to get this mission are they?" Elijah paused for a second, "At least I really hope no one else does, I'd like to have left this world by the time a Spirit of Motherwill MkII starts wandering around."

The thought of another weapon on the same scale being built was terrifyingly realistic. The power of Motherwill had been effectively shown to the entire world, Elijah wouldn't be surprised if departments of many other Corporations weren't hard at work developing their own super weapons.

Perhaps not identical to Motherwill, but the something along the lines of the same concept. Able to support auxiliary forces, overwhelming direct or indirect firepower and well armoured. Motherwill had another obvious yet unstated advantage, it was extremely intimidating. Its size alone… The blueprints had its height topping out at roughly six hundred meters tall and its runways from end to end were nearly two and a half kilometers long.

An AC, standing around ten meters tall, was literally an insect compared to Motherwill. It could step on him and never even know.

The com light blinked on, Elijah reactively opened the channel.

"We're beginning our descent now."

Literally as the pilot said this, Elijah could feel his insides rise rather uncomfortably in response to the transporter pitching downwards. "Alright, thanks for the smooth trip."

The channel went dead, clearly they weren't the chatty type. He went back to the channel with Sajjan, "Hey, wanna make a bet?"

He should have expected the sigh that came back at him.

"I do not gamble Elijah, you know this."

"Oh shush you know I'm kidding. But seriously, how long to take Motherwill down? Five minutes? Ten?"

There was only the briefest of pauses before a very slight chuckle came back at him, followed by, "Now now Elijah, just how much ammunition can Havok carry? I don't think you could keep firing for that long in the first place so you'd better make it quick now shouldn't you?"

Elijah genuinely laughed at that, something he really needed at this time. He was an idiot, he knew it but sometimes it was hard to see around the mess in your head. Sajjan was a man who maybe couldn't always clear the mess, but make wading through it easier for you.

Turning on Havok's altimeter, Elijah was surprised at how low they were. "Hey d-"

He barely managed to start speaking when everything lurched forwards. The shock of landing was dampened by the gantry and Havok itself but it was still more than noticeable. It was likely that they were still going at some speed after dropping so fast so they'd have to bleed speed on the runway.

Eventually the rumbling and bumping came to an end. Almost on cue, the com light blinked on, Elijah flicking open the channel instantly. "Alright Ravens," the voice of the pilot coming through, "The rear hatch will be open momentarily, detach from the transporter gantry and head to your designated point in the base. It'll be marked on your HUD. Good luck Ravens."

Without a chance to even acknowledge the message, the channel cut dead.

"Uhhhhh ok then." He dismissed the rather rude pilot's parting message and set Havok to run off its generator, the gantry connections falling away.

White Glint walked forwards, already free of its gantry. "Hey Elijah, I've got to head to the mission control, I'll be with the team directing this mission and your Operator so don't worry."

Wait what? "Hold on, are you saying you're my Operator?"

If that really was the case it was certainly unorthodox at best, flat out illegal at worst. Sajjan wasn't qualified to be a Raven's Operator, it was entirely different to being in the AC.

"No Elijah don't be silly, I will simply be observing but I will have access to speak to you via the same com channel."

Of course, that made an awful lot more sense. "Oh fair enough, here's hoping you get to stay there, right?"

Laughter came back at him, "Please Elijah, you needn't worry so much. There will be no need for myself and White Glint to step in."

No need to step in. Something about Sajjan's faith in him felt misplaced. It was too much trust. White Glint walked down the transporter ramp in only a couple of steps and headed left.

Havok stepped out of the gantry and had to carefully step through the one that had held White Glint to avoid damaging it. It was somewhat of a design oversight. A transporter typically had three gantry racks for holding ACs, it wasn't particularly easy for the second or third AC to leave.

Once off the ramp, Elijah looked left, seeing White Glint crouched far down on one knee powered down. The building next to it wasn't unlike almost every other one he could see. Around the extremely large runway that Havok now stood on, were clumps of hastily put together prefab buildings and stacks of crates.

Men and women moving from building to building and soldiers with armour wearing the BFF logo on their chest and shoulders. Most of the buildings were emblazoned with the same image.

On Havok's HUD, an objective notification blinked up to his right, pointing towards a large gantry that stood a little distance from the main complex. Even from here it was easy to recognize what was setup in the gantry, the numerous booster nozzles giving it away instantly. A VOB system.

Elijah began moving forwards, not engaging Havok's boosters. While walking would take a little longer, it seemed like even lighting his boosters here could blow several of these buildings over when he passed them by. Flying over them was an option but he wasn't sure if there was some regulation regarding flight over corporate airspace.

It was strange, as he passed people, he could see them stop and stare. Several talking to each other, he obviously had no idea what they were saying even if he activated his external microphones, they would be too quiet to pick up.

He had to wonder if it was because they knew what he was going to do or if it was something more mundane. Perhaps they haven't had a chance to see an AC this close? It wasn't difficult to imagine that being the case. Typically the only people who regularly saw an AC this close were Ravens and the Ark Hangar staff. Virtually no one else had any need to be that close to them, you could spend months or even years on the Ark and never actually come into contact with one.

He focused on just walking ahead without stepping on anything, being aware of your surroundings in an AC could be difficult at times, like trying to walk through a room filled with tiny model soldiers without breaking any of them but seeing your feet is nearly impossible.

Fortunately, he made his way through and once Havok was only a short distance from the VOB's gantry, the com light blinked on.

He opened the channel.

"Havok? This is your Operator. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah the connection is fine, everything good on your end?"

Asking seemed reasonable considering this wasn't the usual situation. The Operator for this mission was actually on site, not back at the Ark as this was a particularly high risk mission. If BFF had fudged the Operator's setup then there could be serious problems later down the line.

Elijah didn't want to be suddenly cut off from his support line because someone didn't plug something in properly.

Another voice came over the channel, "Hello Elijah, this is Jonas Amsel. We spoke yesterday in the Governor's Office?"

After trawling his memory in a split second for the face to go with the name, Elijah remembered the small man who had announced himself as Motherwill's creator.

"Ahh Mr. Amsel! I didn't think you'd be here?" Sticking with formality for now seemed appropriate considering he barely knew the person.

"I helped bring this thing to life, it's only fitting I should be here for its destruction after all the harm it has caused."

"Well having an expert around wouldn't hurt I guess." Elijah saw a soldier with a rifle slung over his shoulder waving both arms at him.

Elijah brought Havok to a stop and opened a direct channel to the soldier, "What's up?"

An unexpectedly deep voice came back at him, "I'm informed that the VOB is ready for mounting, please stand in the gantry so we can begin the attachment procedure."

Immediately the channel closed and the soldier walked away.

"Holy shit what is it with people dropping channels like its no big deal, geeze come on guys." He knew that time was precious and all but the rate at which people effectively just dropped the line on him was getting ridiculous.

Now standing next to the gantry supporting the VOB unit, it was rather nerve wracking to imagine it attached to the back of Havok. It was nearly as long as Havok was tall, bulky and covered in pipes and wiring. It certainly didn't look like the typical pristine and polished product that would roll off a BFF assembly line but it was really their only chance at striking Motherwill.

Their hopes and aspirations resting on a single AC with an untested, oversized rocket booster being effectively fired towards the enemy at supersonic speeds.

I hope this thing doesn't kill me before Motherwill does.

#####

Elijah didn't think it before, but after only half an hour of listening to dull clunks, bangs and the hiss of seals being made he really wanted out of the AC. At least to escape the incessant noise.

During this time, Havok had been standing powered down in the modified gantry, feet locked into place on movable platforms. These platforms were part of a custom catapult system similar to what would normally be used to launch fighter jets from aircraft carriers. This one however was considerably more powerful, needing to be able to assist an AC with VOB in getting airborne.

He needed to do something to distract him before he lost his mind. He opened a channel to Mission Control.

"Operator, can we do a rundown of the mission plan before we go ahead with this?"

A brief silence before, "One second, Havok."

Elijah took a swig from his water bottle, although an actual meal would be appreciated, he couldn't remember the last proper meal he'd sat down to eat in nearly a week.

The channel crackled slightly, "Alright, first you are to take off from the VOB launch pad. Then, using the VOB, you will have roughly one minute close to striking distance from Motherwill. The VOB's fuel cell pairs only last for twenty seconds and you can only have three pairs total so the moment the third pair is jettisoned you will disengage from the VOB unit. Then you are to target Motherwill's main guns until they are disabled."

Didn't seem particularly complicated but that didn't mean it wouldn't be difficult. An awful lot of this was banking on the VOB working as intended.

"Are there any secondary objectives?" It was worth asking at this point.

There was a second pause before, "Not technically, only in the event that you are able to actually bring Motherwill down completely then you will receive a bonus for its destruction."

A bonus eh? Elijah could only imagine the reward for the destruction of Motherwill. It was considered somewhat poor form for a Corporation to explicitly outline how much secondary objectives were worth. The idea was that they were to be done entirely on the volition of the Raven.

Often, secondary objectives would allow the main objective to be completely more easily or at least assist the Corporation in a more indirect fashion.

"Alright, thanks. Do we have an estimate for the launch?" Waiting any longer here was not a thought he wanted to entertain. At least on in and outbound flights he could sleep.

This time, Jonas' voice came over the channel, "We are performing the last pre-fight checks on the VOB system. There should only be a few minutes before everything is ready. Motherwill is inside the launch window so the moment we are set, you will launch immediately."

"Shit, no pressure then."

He closed his end of the channel. Only minutes till launch, the niggling doubts in the back of his head only grew louder.

Can you do it?

Will you survive?

Are you good enough?

Is there any point?

The com light blinking snapped him out of it. He opened the channel again.

"You've got a relayed call from the Ark, somebody wishes to speak to you." It was Sajjan this time.

"Oh really? Put it through."

He was about to ask who was calling when, "Yo Elijah! How's things?"

"Wait, Tom?"

"Yeah! Sajjan told me you had a real nasty mission about to go down so I figured I'd say give it your best and give them hell!"

Elijah found himself smiling, the fact that Tom would be willing to go to the trouble of having a call relayed directly to him, which wasn't exactly easy, was a welcome reminder that he wasn't on his own for this thing.

He had Sajjan and Tom watching over him, there was no way he could let them down.

"Thanks man, I really appreciate that." He wished there was more he could say.

"Nah don't worry about it, now I gotta go, there some racket going on outside so I need to go yell at someone. Break a leg!"

The relayed call ended and Elijah slumped back into the seat. He didn't particularly want to be in this seat. It wasn't like he wanted this responsibility on his shoulders. But it was there, it wasn't going to just go away.

"Elijah?" Sajjan speaking again, "Jonas tells me that the VOB is ready for launch, please set Havok to run off internal power as the gantry will be moved away shortly."

"Thanks man, will do."

He closed the channel and immediately began to go through the routine motion of disengaging Havok from the gantry. To his right, a secondary monitor rebooted, the readout of non-critical information replaced by what looked like an image of the VOB unit with several charts and graphs slowly changing, rising and falling.

Obviously this was something he was going to have keep an eye on during the VOB's burn in. While a single minute didn't seem like a long time, there were plenty of things that could go wrong in sixty seconds.

As the powerlines connecting Havok to the gantry fell away and its generator flared to life, a klaxon sounded and all the people who had been working around him quickly moved away to a safer distance.

Of course if the VOB exploded right there and then on the launch pad, it was unlikely that they could get far enough away in the short time they had.

The panel displaying the VOB's information blinked a warning at him.

[VOB Gantry Disengaging, Weight Compensation Required]

Almost immediately Havok was virtually pulled over as the framework holding the VOB in place came loose, meaning the only thing supporting it was Havok. Elijah pushed his AC's center of gravity forwards as best he could with his feet still secured in the catapult.

Once he'd found a nice balance, the com light blinked on. The Operator coming through now. "Give the word and the catapult will fire, from then on, it's up to you Raven."

This was it. Was there even a chance to turn back now? Was the point of no return now or had it already gone by?

No time to dwell on it now.

Three

Two

One

"Do it."

There was a shudder through Havok as the catapult tension strained against the weight of its payload.

"Catapult firing! Alright Raven, leave this channel open, you just need to focus on getting to Motherwill."

He didn't bother answering, instead lighting Havok's boosters ready to take to the air. Very slowly at first, he began creeping forwards, but within seconds he was speeding down the very short launch track.

The end of the track lined up with the edge of the plateau, meaning that if he couldn't get airborne by the end of the catapult track, he was in for a nasty drop.

He maxed out Havok's throttle, the boosters burning as hard as they could. The catapult restraints holding his feet to the platforms broke away and Havok very gently sailed over the edge.

He let out the breath he didn't even realise he'd been holding in. Suddenly chatter came over the com channel he'd left open.

"Havok is airborne, are we ready? Alright everyone, keep an eye on readings. VOB ignition in three… two…"

Wait... No... Hold on!

"One… Burn!"

What happened next was what Elijah could only describe as being hit by a building. If he wasn't still breathing, which was almost impossible due to the G-force, the explosion he had heard behind him would have had him convinced that the VOB had gone off like a bomb.

Everything was shaking, everything was rattling, nothing made any sense whatsoever but he had to hold his controls steady regardless or else he'd fly straight into the ground.

He did his best to listen to the com channel.

"Output is stable! Speed is still climbing! Appro-"

Before he caught the end of the sentence there was a violent shudder through Havok. He glanced at the speedometer, trying to focus on the blurred number.

From the brief glance, he was passing thirteen hundred kilometers per hour, fourteen hundred, fifteen hundred, climbing higher and higher steadily. The sound barrier was long behind him, he cleared White Glint's test record of eighteen hundred kilometers per hour and continued to accelerate.

In less than fifteen seconds he had climbed from just short of two hundred kilometers per hour to roughly twenty one hundred. It was safe to say that he felt like his face was going to come off from the G-force.

The Operator was still speaking. "-st cell dump coming up! Speed has stabilized, Havok is now crusing towards target. Cell dump… Now!"

There was a thunk audible over the roar of the VOB.

On the VOB's status screen, one of the three squares representing the fuel cells went dim.

Twenty seconds down, forty to go.

At this point, Motherwill was now clearly visible ahead of him. Looking at it from the blueprints, it was hard to imagine its actual scale in relation to the world. Even the lowest part of Motherwill's body was able to clear buildings, those it couldn't were simply smashed through.

The shuddering and blurry image slowly filling his display was enough to make him want to turn around already.

Over the com channel, he could hear the usual chatter, people shouting status reports, any subtle variations cropping up in the VOB, even the smallest changes in booster output. When travelling at such ridiculous speeds, a tiny error could rapidly spiral out of control.

He glanced at the VOB monitor, the second fuel cell indicator was blinking, showing it was almost ready to drop. He prayed that nothing went wrong.

"Second cell almost dry! One point nine percent drop in output, well inside safe boundary! Cell dump… Now!"

Another thunk as the pair of cells fell away. Elijah loosened his grip slightly on the controls.

Thank God everything s-

"Booster seven's fuel line pressure just spiked three hundred percent! The line won'-"

There was an almighty bang behind him, everything began slewing to one side. Returning to a white knuckle grip on the controls as he fought to line Havok back up with its flight path.

"Jesus Christ guys what the fuck happened?!" If there was ever a time to panic, it was now.

The Operator came back, the channel now beginning to suffer from light static, "You lost a booster! The entire thing blew itself off when a fuel line jammed, you'll need to compensate for it and keep flying straight!"

He glanced down at the VOB panel, sure enough, it was highlighting a second of the VOB on the right hand side. Below it were a reel of warnings.

[WARNING, Fire in VOB]

[WARNING, Booster 7 Failure]

[WARNING, Stabiliser Failure]

[WARNING, Flight Control Failure]

Not only had he lost a booster, but he'd lost a lot of the automatic systems that assisted him with controlling the VOB in flight. This meant that this approach was going to be far more hands on than he wanted.

"W-w-what the fuck do I do n-now?!" The shaking of Havok gave a convenient excuse for covering the fear in his voice. He couldn't lie, he was genuinely terrified right now. Death could be literally seconds away.

He had to strain to hear his Operator over the sound of the VOB burning behind him, the shaking and rattling of Havok, the background shouting of the Mission Control staff, "Just hold course Raven, you've got less than twenty seconds left but we can't dump the last cell anymore, the system has locked up! You're gonna have to purge the VOB manually once you are in range of Motherwill!"

Manually purge?! He'd have to judge, using his own senses, when to dump a critically damaged booster pack that was pushing him through the air at over two thousand kilometers per hour to land on a thin platform hanging several hundred meters in the air with only seconds to decide?

Shit.

"Fine! I make no promises but let's give it a shot!" This was ridiculous, there was no way he could pull this off, he'd undershoot and mash into the main body of Motherwill, misjudge the height of the runway and cleave Havok in half or he'd overshoot and get pasted by Motherwill's missile system and AA guns.

Actually landing Havok on the deck he was aiming for would be little short of a miracle. What could he do but give his best? If you die giving your one hundred percent, surely no one could ask more of you? Could they?

Something Sajjan told him years ago, roughly around the same time he moved in with him, flashed through his head.

"I know many see Ravens as the harbingers of war and death. We are often the last thing many on the battlefield see. Ravens are summoned when a conflict reaches a point where normal soliders and war machines are no longer enough. I am fully aware that to the majority, we are to be feared and hated. Murderers who kill for the money that slips through the Corporation's fingers, hungry scavengers that feed on the carrion left by their wars.

But I think there is a chance, that one day, Ravens will help the world take a step forward. When we're ready, we will put our lives on the line not for a price, but for people. Where our one hundred percent falls short and we give another ten percent, so that somebody else has a chance to live."

He gritted his teeth, trying his best to still his shaking hands. People will always ask more of you. There are times when one hundred percent won't save someone's life, you've gotta give more than you have. Give that one hundred and ten percent.

He pushed Havok higher, burning its boosters as hard as possible to counter act the force from the VOB. Motherwill filled his view, the beginnings of incoming tracer fire could be seen scattering around, failing to track such a fast moving target.

He recovered the altitude lost due to the reduced VOB output, he had no way of telling if he was perfectly back on the original flight path but there was no time to fret.

"Raven! Get ready!"

The Operator didn't need to tell him, his fist was hovering over the large button on the VOB console marked 'PURGE'.

Three, Two, One… NOW!

"Purging!"

He hit the button as hard as he could before throwing the free hand back to its control column as fast as possible. However the jerk from grabbing the controls so fast spun Havok around so he was now staring at the disintegrating VOB that had been hooked onto Havok only moments earlier.

It was actually rather unsettling to realise what had been going on. The VOB had twisted in the air enough that he could see nearly half of it was blackened and burnt from the fire that had been spewing out of the side. The rough tear in that side where the booster once sat was still streaming a black cloud shot through with an orange glow from the fires still burning. He only got that split second to see as the VOB came apart in an instant, breaking up in flight.

The best way to describe it would be like a glass figure hit with a sledgehammer, it shattered into a million pieces that hung in the air long enough for him to blink before the last two fuel cells detonated, scattering those pieces far and wide. The force was enough to give Havok the last kick it needed to clear the lip of Motherwill's flight deck and land smoothly on its surface.

As much as he had successfully touched down, he now had to do something about the incredible momentum that Havok had built up from the VOB. Bleeding this much kinetic energy was not going to be an easy task.

Immediately he dug Havok's heels into the runway surface, chewing it up as the material came apart with virtually no effort whatsoever. In the same motion, Elijah brought Havok's throttle to full reverse. The strain of the deceleration cutting the harness into his chest, to the point where he was actually concerned the material might give way.

In this situation, if he'd had the entire two thousand four hundred meter length of Motherwill from one end to the other to slow down, he could stop in time. Instead he had not even half of that.

It wasn't even Motherwill's central super structure that was the immediate problem, it was the Gibbon MT that had just strolled into his path, having only enough time to notice him and freeze in shock.

He was still doing roughly over one thousand kilometers per hour when he collided with the Gibbon and the pair of them had very different outcomes from this event.

Havok lost its balance, tumbling to the ground still sliding along with the remaining momentum. During the crash to the ground, its right auxiliary missile launcher broke away from its mounting, scattering along the runway surface before sailing off the edge and disappearing.

Elijah's journey to Motherwill came to an abrupt halt when he slid into the superstructure, the jarring halt shaking him to his core.

From his position now, he could see what exactly became of the poor machine that he'd just hit. Although it was more like he'd plowed through it. The MT was in pieces, its torso split open, both legs and an arm had come loose, only the leg had remained on the deck.

What was left of the pilot was not to be described in detail.

Struggling to find his feet, Elijah was suddenly very aware of the people shouting at him over the com channel.

"Elijah?! Elijah! You need to move!"

"Raven get up! You can't si-"

He already had Havok up and sliding away. The spot he'd been in seconds before had just exploded as Motherwill's CIWS fired on him, it's poor tracking once again providing the necessary time for evasive maneuvers.

A couple of things became apparent to him now that he was upright. The first was the suspicious lack of any aircraft, for a support platform dedicated to the rearm and refueling of attack aircraft, not a single one was to be seen on the deck or in the local airspace.

Second, Motherwill's main guns were currently rotating, slowly grinding their way towards the direction he'd just come from.

The bottom fell out of his stomach.

They're going to fire on the VOB launch pad!

Before he could do anything about that, on the super structure ahead of him, a Behemoth lumbered forwards so that its upper half was now visible, the muzzle of its bazooka peeking around its shield.

At the same time, on both flanks, Gibbons leapt up from the lower runways, using their integrated boosters to assist them in the jump. They weren't nearly as mobile as an AC, but they were able to catch inexperienced Ravens off guard if they got the drop on them.

Now with the Behemoth, at least six Gibbons and Motherwill's point defenses all aimed directly at him, the fact he was still standing was the oddity here.

His com channel blasted static for a second, causing him to flinch at the noise before an unfamiliar voice came through to him.

"Raven, my name is Arthur Russo. I am the Commanding Officer of the Spirit of Motherwill."

Elijah froze. Why did the enemy have access to his communication channel? He never got a com request, he never allowed a second channel. Somehow, they've flat out overridden his connection to Mission Control and simply piped their own channel through.

"It has been suggested to me, against my own judgement, to offer you a chance to fight for the winning side. I understand you're a Raven, so I can promise you will be suitably rewarded for your services as is the custom."

Bile crept up his throat at the thought. Money? How much could they possibly offer? What amount could sway him?

He gritted his teeth. Could Sajjan and everyone else still hear him? Would they know?

"How much?"

"An amount suitable to the task, I think you'll find. Global Armaments are offering fifteen million upfront, with a further thirty million upon our victory in this war."

If Elijah's jaw hit could have hit the ground harder… F-forty five million credits? That's… That's…

That would be enough to live in relative comfort for years, possibly the rest of his life if he invested in safe markets. Forty five million was a frankly absurd amount of money, it was obvious that GA saw the Ravens as a considerable threat. Any that could be coerced onto their side were valuable.

His hands on the controls were shaking. Why was he considering this? Was it not obvious that GA were in the wrong here? Had they not murdered innocent people? Didn't that make them the bad guys?

the wholesale slaughter of thirty thousand unregistered refugees…

Did that make him the enemy as well? The man who cut down thousands of innocent lives with his own hands?

Can you define who is good and evil just by those they kill?

Did he still aspire to that blood soaked throne? Could he still believe that the Ninebreakers were honourable men and women who could be counted on to do the right thing?

Or would it be better to abandon that ideal, to fight for himself?

If he did that, there was no way he could face Sajjan, or Tom or anyone else really. There would be no place for him on the Ark. GA had declared war on and attacked the Ravens. He couldn't turn his back on them.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to pas-"

"Good, annihilate him."

What?!

He didn't think, he just did. Throwing Havok sideways, he narrowly avoided the bazooka shell from the Behemoth. Machine gun rounds from the Gibbons scattered wide, some striking him but all were glancing hits, none striking anything vulnerable.

The Gibbons could be dealt with whenever, they weren't the real threat here. Motherwill's point defenses were dangerous but could be avoided if he focused on them due to their rather poor tracking. It was the addition of the Behemoth that made this situation unmanageable, particularly because a single hit from it could potentially cripple him.

Taking out all of Motherwill's close in weapon systems would take too long, destroying the Behemoth was really the only logical choice.

As the sideways dash began to slow, Elijah kicked off from the ground, firing Havok's boosters, climbing into the air.

There wasn't enough space behind it to land and attack, meaning an attack from above was in order. The articulation of the Behemoth's left arm was limited by the size of its shield, it couldn't lift it over its own head.

While flying above his target wasn't a difficult task alone, the position he'd need to take could open him up to fire from other MTs on Motherwill as well as other point defense positions. Not to mention if he flew too high, the safety on Motherwill's missile system would disengage. There was literally no way he could evade that much incoming fire.

Throttle control would be paramount.

Shifting Havok's weight forwards, he flared the boosters, pushing the throttle higher, another stream of point defense fire streaked towards him, passing through the space he'd occupied roughly a second beforehand.

He did need to jink to the left after the Behemoth fired again, its shell whistling by.

He couldn't risk his missile's failing to track correctly due to the number of potential targets in the area, he'd do this with his machine guns. Even attacking from above, it would have to be focused fire, try and strike the same spot as many times as possible to cut through its armour. At the end of the day even if he couldn't actually kill it, rendering it blind by destroying its head would be good enough.

Only a couple of seconds later, he was hovering above the Behemoth, which was slowly attempting to adjust its position, unable to protect itself properly.

Both crosshairs blinked red, overlapping each other. There was no time to hesitate, a moment too late and he'd be swatted out of the air by Motherwill's defenses.

Squeezing both triggers, he fought to keep his aim straight as both weapons kicked back, shells spewing forth in a torrent from their barrels. The Behemoth disappeared in a cloud of explosions, Elijah now unable to tell if he was actually doing anything to it.

He didn't have the time to check, he'd sat in one spot too long. Flicking his FCS back to his missiles, Elijah blindly fired off six warheads while killing his boosters, dropping like a rock.

The plan worked. He'd been banking that Motherwill's point defense was designed to prioritise recognized missiles over other threats, true to form, the few turrets he could see turned away from Havok, now tracking the missiles instead.

He flared his thrusters, shifting himself slightly to the left so that he didn't come crashing down on the Behemoth and lose his balance.

The second he touched down, he looked right, just in case the Behemoth was still able to retaliate. Thankfully, the MT was sitting idle, smoke billowing from the mess that used to support its head. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd actually managed to completely gut it but for now it was no longer a threat.

In the time it took for him to land and check the Behemoth, the CIWS had destroyed the missiles he fired earlier and was now beginning to track back towards him.

He kicked off from the superstructure, taking to the air again.

More Gibbons had begun to crowd on the runway, some leaping up from the other decks, some drifting over from the other side of the superstructure. This was starting to get slightly out of hand. He could ignore for the most part a handful of them, but this many was an issue he'd have to deal with.

From his position in the air, he had a good line of sight. Havok's FCS automatically compensated for independent aiming between his two machine guns, meaning that he could fire down on two different targets at once without a dip in performance.

Elijah used this to the best of his ability to try and thin the Gibbon numbers, firing down in broad sweeping patterns, only a few high power shells needed to bring one down. He didn't need focused fire like for the Behemoth.

He pushed Havok repeatedly left and right, constantly adjusting his altitude at the same time to throw off both the Gibbon's return fire and the point defense's poor effort to take him out.

In only seconds the enemy's number had halved.

However in that moment, he remembered.

The gun closest to him had almost completed its rotation towards the VOB site. If that fired, it wouldn't surprise him if the entire base was flattened by the barrage.

He wanted a better firing position, firing down from above onto the guns would allow for the chance to hit the ammunition racks underneath.

There was the threat of the missile system but at this rate he had to risk it.

Pushing the throttle, Havok climbed, well past the point he reached to attack the Behemoth.

As if reading his mind, the com channel crackled to life, "Raven! I hate to be unprofessional but if you don't get a move on Motherwill is going to kill us all! Destroy those guns!"

"I'm working on it!" There wasn't really any time to put thought into his plan of action, he just started shooting.

Both crosshairs over the gun, no need to aim as the target was so large. It was just a case of keeping the triggers down as long as possible.

It didn't take long before he got results. The framework holding the guns in place came apart under the barrage of fire. Elijah peeled away a salvo of AS missiles from his auxiliary launchers, the time between launch and impact was too short for the CIWS to take them out.

The warheads weaved between the support structure of the guns, slamming into the unarmoured base.

The effect was immediate, actually faster than Elijah had anticipated. Havok was blasted backwards through the air, losing stability and crashing down onto a lower runway. The shock was enough to dislodge the hastily mounted VOB display, the small unit briefly flailing about in the fall before smashing itself to pieces against the inside of the cockpit, nearly smacking him in the head.

Looking up at the column of smoke now billowing up from where the gun system once was, he could now, from where he was, only see glowing orange and two barrel ends pointing skyward.

The rumbles that were still felt now likely meant that internal damage was ongoing, taking out that second gun could be enough to bring Motherwill down for good.

One down, two t-

As he pushed Havok to its feet, he was caught by fire from above slamming into Havok's back.

He needed to move, fast. If he lost the use of his primary boosters then his mobility would be reduced to a point where dodging wasn't possible.

Pushing Havok's throttle to max, he burnt straight up, landing on the topmost deck. This time on the other side of Motherwill.

As he landed, something caught his attention. One of the previously closed pods that were dotted around the edge of Motherwill's runways popped open, its triangular lids flipping up and over like a bizzare geometric flower.

As this happened, the pod several meters down from it did the same, then the next and the next.

"Uhhhh, Jonas, what's Motherwill doing?" Elijah asked, somewhat concerned.

There was a second before the reply came back, "I- I don't know, Motherwill's missile bays are opening but it can't hit you while you're on the deck? The safety preve- Ahhhh!"

Elijah flinched as the scientist effectively filled the cockpit with his yell, "What?! What is it?"

"Elijah you need to move! They've overridden Motherwill's safety! Her missile pods are active!"

Ohhh shhhhiiiittttt

Not good wouldn't cut it here. This was downright catastrophic. Almost on cue, the pods closest to him spewed forth a torrent of tiny missiles, their white smoke trails carving lines across the clear sky.

If he was going to dodge these missiles and attack the gun, only something drastic would cut it. Elijah engaged Havok's OB unit, the whine behind him building.

Come on come on come on COME ON COME ON!

The second the charge was built he pressed the button on his controls. However, unlike the race with Sajjan, he immediately released it, resulting in a split second boost that fired him forwards. In the same motion, he fired his shoulder thrusters in a clockwise fashion, spinning him one hundred and eighty degrees around so he was now sliding backwards, watching the missiles slamming into the runway.

However without further input he'd come grinding to a halt, pushing Havok's throttle in reverse, he lifted away from the runway, missiles still streaming in.

Elijah made the mistake of looking to the otherside of Motherwill to see swarms of missiles launching from innumerable pods.

There was no time to think, no time to consider. With his AS launchers still active, he squeezed the triggers, warheads flying forwards without guidance, blowing the gun's scaffolding apart, the barrels crashing down.

Moments later the gun exploded just the same as the last, but now being further away, he was only buffeted by the blast and not knocked out of the air.

The gun barrels were blow slightly upwards before they came back down, breaking into Motherwill's interior.

As Elijah touched down, he could feel the rumbling from deep inside Motherwill's body, fire and smoke continued to pour out of the two wrecked gun systems.

Seconds later, the colossal legs that had been carrying them along came to a grinding halt, losing their strength as the massive body of Motherwill slammed down into the sand and dirt below it.

"Raven, get the hell out of there! Move!"

Elijah didn't need telling twice, the runway wing he was standing on was severed from Motherwill's body by an explosion that blew out the side of the superstructure. More eruptions blasted out, fire spewing forth as the machine died from the inside out.

The charge in his OB unit hadn't depleted entirely, meaning he could still use what was left to boost away.

He pressed the OB button, keeping it down as he flew away. Praying that Motherwill didn't become an enormous fireball that would consume him in an instant.

In the seconds he had to think, while hurtling away, it suddenly hit him.

He'd won.

He'd actually done it. Motherwill was no more, there was no way it could recover and even if it could, both of its cannons had been completely destroyed. It could no longer support any form of armed force.

Killing Havok's OB, he slowly dropped down into the sand, coming to a standstill. Turning around, the mammoth frame of the broken Motherwill filled his view. All of the 'wings' that were its runways had sagged into the sand, giving it a strange, skirt like appearance. Fire was still billowing out along with thick columns of smoke towering thousands of meters in the air.

Ash from the fires was already beginning to fall. He could hear the cheering and shouting from Mission Control through the com channel.

Sajjan in particular was certainly audible over the crowd, "He did it! He did it! Did you see him!? Oh my gosh he did it!"

Elijah wanted to laugh, the sudden stress of it all bleeding away.

"Operator, you there? I think I have a ticket home to call in."