"All ships, report in."

"IMS Byzantine, standing by."

"IMS Nautilus, standing by."

"EOS Cheng Lorck, standing by."

"The MCS Scarlet Pine is standing by.

"IMS Drakon, standing by …"

One by one, the frigates of the Embers' fleet checked in with the flagship. The communications officer on the bridge flashed a green light in conjunction with each confirmation of a vessel as Fenrir stood over their shoulder, clearing them for departure.

Tobias looked around the bridge- technically his bridge- at somewhat of a disadvantage. He'd never gotten the chance to lead a fleet as an admiral, and wasn't planning to start now. The only reason he was here at all was due more to formality than experience- that, and the fact that he doubted anyone was going to tell him no. Still, dressed in his Pilot suit, he certainly stood out amongst the present crew.

They were finally going to hit Regis. He wanted to see firsthand what they were up against.

"Never quite got around to renaming all these old IMC and Militia ships. Glad to have a few EOS vessels, but … guess we had a few higher priorities to take care of."

He turned to his right to see Barker standing there, flashing him that same euphoric grin of drunkenness that most knew him for. Maybe he'd become such an alcoholic that it was the only smile the man could manage anymore.

He shrugged in mock-nonchalance. "You could say that."

Giving a low chuckle, Barker returned his attention to the bridge. "Not used to being in the seat of command, huh kid?"

Tobias shook his head. "I've lead small teams before, on Erebus and Harmony- but never something like this. It feels … different."

"How so?"

"Lives always depended on us- on me. I was responsible for many, but only because they'd die if I failed. Now, I'm sending men and women directly to their deaths just to succeed."

With a tired sigh, the former ACES commander clapped one hand on his shoulder. The weight of his fingers pressed into Tobias' muscle was only matched by the heaviness in his voice. "Unfortunately, those are just two sides of the same coin. I found that out the hard way, stepping onto this bridge for the first time."

He gestured to the deck around them. "I never thought I'd be here, coordinating an effort like this. I was always the flyboy- 'best damn pilot on the frontier,' they said. Whether I was helping James, or Sarah … I was content to be in the background, just to be a part of things."

Slowly, he trailed off and a hard expression replaced his more common one of humor. "Like Fenrir said, I expected to drink myself to death in a bar one day, or go down with my ship in a blaze of glory. But this war needed a leader, so … that's what I became."

Once more, he clapped Tobias on the back with a wide smile before waving for him to follow. "You probably know a thing or two about that, don't you?"

Tobias would never quite understand how the man could go from somber survivor to cheerful drunk at the drop of a hat, but he opted to simply keep his mouth shut and follow.

Stepping next to Fenrir, Barker listened to the rest of the fleet as they finished reporting in.

"… EOS Sarah Briggs, ready to fight."

"MCS Cardea, standing by."

"IMS Persephone, standing by.

With a satisfied nod, the communications officer turned to Barker. "That's all of them, Captain Taube. The fleet is awaiting your order, sir."

Reciprocating the officer's nod, Barker reached down and opened a communications channel to the whole armada. "This is the EOS Inferno, all ships hold position."

Stepping back from the console, he glanced at Fenrir. "Any word on the civilian fleets?"

She shook her head with a pursed mouth. "Not much. Our sources indicated a few hours ago that there was mobilization across the frontier, but most channels have fallen silent now. We're still broadcasting your orders and the coordinates wherever we can- but we won't see if help is coming until we're there."

He nodded grimly, then turned to Tobias. "Check in with your team, make sure they're prepared."

Technically, Tobias didn't have to salute Barker with his standing as a rear admiral, but the action came instinctively. Besides, he felt that Barker deserved the respect for all his effort. "Yes, sir."

Spinning on his heel, he walked a few meters away from the main bustle of the bridge and opened his comlink. "This is Four. How are things looking?"

Vale's voice greeted him. "The riflemen are all geared up and ready for a brawl, assuming we aren't blown out into vacuum the moment we arrive. Just waiting on you for briefing."

"I'll meet you all at one of the hangar terminals when I can," he assured her. "Have to get a look at where we're going first."

"Copy that. See you down here."

Closing the link, he took a deep breath to steady his nerves. The others were all awaiting him to lay out their plans once they had a good scan of the topographical layout of Regis. Unfortunately, they'd have to be there to scan it, and he was more than a little apprehensive of jumping headfirst into the enemy's sights. There wouldn't be much they could do besides have hope that the hull would hold against the multitude of explosions that it would likely experience soon.

Shaking the unwelcome thoughts out of his head, he rotated once more and walked back to Barker who was looking at him expectantly.

"The crew is ready and eager, sir."

"They won't be eager for long," the older man muttered, then turned to the bridge at large. "What's our status?"

A quick systems' check was performed. "The FTL drive's energy readings are stable and holding, hangar is prepped for deployment and all hands are on station. We are clear for departure."

Barker clapped his hands together in anxious enthusiasm. "Well, no point in procrastinating any longer." Unexpectedly, he turned to look at Tobias. "Would you kindly do the honors?"

Even though it had been phrased as such, Tobias had no doubt that this wasn't so much a question as it was an offer he couldn't refuse. The bridge continued to work, but the noise had all but disappeared from the room save for the faint hum of consoles and computers as everyone awaited his next move.

Swallowing hard, he forced himself to take a few steps forward until he met Barker and Fenrir at the communications station. With one final encouraging nod from Barker, he leaned down and reopened the comm channel to the fleet.

"All ships, this is Rear-Admiral Four speaking on behalf of Captain Taube. Prepare to jump on my mark."

He allowed himself a moment to reflect on the people it had taken to get him this far; their hardships, their sacrifices, their lives. Now it was up to him- and he'd do his damnedest to make sure that none of it had been in vain.

Even if it cost him the same.

"MARK!"

One by one, the ships of the fleet could be seen out the forward windows as they were enveloped by white glows before launching forward at speeds incalculable to the human eye, simply seeming as though they'd just disappeared.

As he watched, that same tell-tale glow began to swallow their own ship, the viewport becoming brighter- brighter-

With one final blinding flash of light, the glow disappeared and the looming planet of Regis was left in its wake.

The fuzzy image provided to them by Dr. Carson didn't compare with the sight in front of them. Now, Tobias could see that it was mainly an ocean planet on the side facing them- the exception was one super-continent that seemed to be biased slightly north of the planet's equator-

Without warning, several impacts smashed against their hull and prematurely ended Tobias' analysis as he struggled to keep his balance. "Status!" Barker called, looking around the bridge wildly.

One of the personnel on the bridge quickly assessed the damage on a display next to her. "Shields are holding. All of our ships are currently engaged with orbital defenses positioned around the planet."

Through the window, he could see what she meant. In addition to a generous number of frigates and cruisers firing upon the Embers' fleet, it appeared that they were clustered around several unmoving weapon-platforms dispersed in a linear formation in orbit.

"MAC stations," Fenrir murmured from behind him. "They're arranged in a defense grid around Regis, there's no way we can get close without them targeting us, and we don't want that to happen."

He looked at her. "The shields won't hold?" He didn't have much experience with mass accelerator weapons, only knowing that they packed quite the punch.

She shook her head. "One well-placed MAC round would be enough to destroy our shielding and then some. Without shields, we'd be obliterated. I've seen these things cut through frigates like they were made out of twigs and duct tape."

"So what are our options?"

"We could keep our distance, they'll only target us if we get too close-"

Another series of explosions detonated against the shields, shaking the ship a bit more violently than the last ones. Her lips became tight with grim worry. "But not indefinitely. The frigates and ships surrounding them will keep the fire on us until we're either forced to move in or retreat- and both of those options mean death."

As if to accentuate her point, a sudden blossoming of orange could be seen to the left of the main window; one of the Embers' vessels was stricken with bursts of fire running up and down its starboard.

"Sir, the MCS Unforeseen has been critically damaged!" called a communications officer.

"Tell them to keep up what fire they can on those cruisers," Barker ordered before turning to another crewman. "Do we have a scan of the planet's topography yet?"

"Yes, sir! Uploading to your station now!"

A blinking light on the Captain's console indicated that the upload had indeed gone through, and Barker quickly nodded to Tobias. "I'll send the scan out ship wide, you can access it from the terminal in the hangar. Go!"

"Well, shit."

KT watched as Rose moved over to Gray's side and gave her a hearty slap on the back for her expletive. "That's certainly one way to phrase it, yeah." However, even the generally humorous Pilot's voice was laced with doubt at the holographic layout before them.

Tobias had called the Pilots and Riflemen over to a central terminal in the hangar, informing them of the situation they were dealing with. Even Al'cor was present a few meters away, having arrived on the same ship the others had. "There are no less than twenty MAC stations blocking entry to Regis. Each of them has been placed carefully enough to where their cones of effectiveness overlap with each other. There's no way for any ships larger than a shuttle to break through, maybe a few widows if we're lucky- which means that we'd be on the ground without Titans or heavy support."

With a wave of his hand, the areas he referred to were highlighted and indicated on the hologram. The outer boundaries of the MAC stations' circles of influence indeed intersected with one another to prevent any risk of unauthorized entry.

"Four years of all the resources and anonymity in the galaxy has certainly paid off for Spyglass, hasn't it?" muttered Vale with frustration evident in her voice. She looked back at Tobias. "I'm assuming you have a plan for that?"

He grimaced. "Not a good one. Our only hope would be to send a small team in and hopefully disable the MAC guns from the ground, allowing the rest of the fleet to move in. But most of us would be shot down before even reaching the threshold of Regis' atmosphere."

If KT had a mouth, she'd be matching Tobias' expression. As he described it, the situation did seem rather hopeless-

I knew this was a lost cause. How many more lives have to be lost before I give in-

Courage does not exist without adversity, my choices in moments like these is what defines me-

With every obstacle introduced, odds of success continue to decrease. This is suicide-

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

As quickly as her episode had appeared, the voices quieted. She looked down to see that her hand had unconsciously clenched into tight fists, and she hastily loosened them to avoid attracting attention to her brief fit.

She was nervous about having something like this happen on the ground- but she was determined not to let it show. All of humanity was counting on her- Tobias was counting on her- to succeed. If she were to lose control … if she were to become Artemis on the ground … she shuddered at the thought of the ground teams' fates if that were to happen.

For their survival as much as her own, she had to keep it together.

"Could we flood their sensors with ships?"

"We could," admitted Tobias, "But eight or nine out of every ten ships would be destroyed. Sacrificing fifty shuttles, all holding Pilots and Riflemen on them, just to land five doesn't seem like the best tradeoff."

"I'm with you there," agreed Buck, crossing his metallic arms over his chest. Absentmindedly, he scratched the tactical vest he wore with one of his fingers. "But it doesn't sound like we have a lot of options. With all of humanity on the line, this is looking more and more like a, 'throw everything you have at the wall and see what sticks' kind of operation."

"It's not just about the massive losses we'd take," Tobias argued. "It's about how to proceed on the ground afterwards, assuming we made it that far."

With another wave of his hand, the hologram changed to the topographical scan of Regis that had been taken from the bridge. Everyone's attention turned to the supercontinent and a particular region that had been highlighted with red lights. Zooming in on the aforementioned area, the hologram depicted a generous section of land with various points of interest upon them. To the north was a massive gulf, and littered south of it were a few pinpricks of light which Tobias pointed to.

"This is where we've narrowed down the bulk of Spyglass's operations to take place. Though he has satellite defenses all over in orbit, he's interestingly enough confined whatever he's doing to this relatively small portion of the landscape. But that also means that his ground forces are going to be concentrated all in one place- if we risked a frontal assault like the one you're suggesting, we'd have nowhere near enough manpower to complete the mission.

"There are three large, and I mean large facilities immediately southwest, south, and southeast of the center of the bay. We believe these are the production and storage sites for the nanites that Carson's team developed on Thone. We still don't know his distribution method, but needless to say that taking out those sites is priority number one. No nanites, no Coalescence."

Davis groaned in consternation. "Can't we just nuke the damn place?"

"If the MAC defenses were offline, maybe. But as long as they're on, they or the cruisers around them will just target any threatening ballistics with interceptor missiles. And even if we could bomb it from orbit, there wouldn't be any guarantee that Spyglass was dead. For all we know, he could survive and then we'd be back here in another few years trying to stop him again."

He pulled out the black cylinder that had pulled him into the mess in the first place. "The only way we can be certain is if we use the Cinder on him. Carson said it will emit some kind of signal, maybe something like an EMP that will hijack and disrupt any frequencies being broadcast in its immediate vicinity. That should take care of his control over the nanites- but he also said it's got one use, so we're going to have to get up close and personal with our least-favorite AI to be sure. That means being on the ground and surviving the initial onslaught of his forces upon our arrival."

Another batch of explosions rocked the ship, and Tobias' mouth tightened in a thin line. "That's assuming that we hold out long enough to survive this onslaught. If I get another update on the situation, I'll let you all know so we can plan accordingly. Dismissed."

Not much was said after that as the Riflemen and Pilots came to terms with the harsh reality of their predicament. KT watched as they scattered about the hangar, seemingly waiting with bated breath for either their hour of action or unexpected death via destruction of the Inferno. She wished she could offer some sort of reassurance, but she was just as anxious as they were-

"Kay? I need to see you for a moment."

Her focus shifted to Tobias as he gestured for her to come over. Unsure of what this was about, she obediently approached him.

He gave a deep sigh, evidently uncomfortable with the discussion he had planned. "Are you alright?"

She titled her head, trying to feign ignorance. "Why wouldn't I be? Is this about last night?"

"No, no- this has nothing to do with last night," he dismissed, eyeing her warily. Apparently, her attempt to mislead him had not gone unnoticed. "I saw what happened during the briefing. You're getting better at handling it yourself- but are you up to the job?"

She crossed her arms, almost affronted that he would voice his concern so openly even if she'd been wondering about it herself. "You've never doubted my ability in a mission before, why are you starting now?"

"You never had an evil twin before- sorry, bad joke. You get my point, though."

That certainly felt like a punch to the gut- or it would, if she had any guts. "You told me you trusted me," she replied coolly, though she felt more hurt than offended now. "I thought- well, maybe it was too much to hope for." It was hard to mask the painful effect his words had on her.

"Damn it Kay, that's not it," he shot back fiercely- far more fiercely than she'd been expecting. "I don't want to- if it came down to it- I don't want to make that choice-"

"What are you talking about?" she asked quietly, her emotions giving way to bewilderment.

His shoulder slumped very suddenly, the stress and tension he held all too blatant in his body language now. He was barely holding it together as it was, and this conversation was pushing him over. "Barker asked me what I'd do if you were to turn on us- if I'd be able to … stop you."

She had a feeling that 'stop' wasn't the word the Captain had used. Shamefully, he looked away from her.

"The truth is, I don't know. I don't know if I could do it, and … I don't want to have to find out."

Realization hit her like a sack of bricks. It wasn't that he didn't trust her on the ground- he didn't want her to be put in a position where he might have to … end her.

Without warning him, she reached forward to his side where he kept his Wingman and pulled it out of its holster.

His gaze snapped to her with alarm present on his face. "What are you-"

Gripping the barrel, she grabbed his hand and placed it on the handle before lifting the barrel up to her chest. The truth was that she felt far more nervous than she let on in such a state of vulnerability- but she refused to let what might happen haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Tobias, you should know me better than that. If I was a threat to the mission- if I was ever a threat to you- I'd want you to kill me."

He stood there still as a statue, the only reaction that seemed appropriate to such a request.

She nodded to confirm what he'd just heard in case he was having trouble processing it. "You know what he's done to me, what he's turned me into. You've seen how he uses others- their bodies, their minds- to further his own goals. Please … don't let me be another puppet for his to control. Promise me."

"Kay, I-"

"Promise me."

The few seconds that passed in silence between them seemed to stretch out into an eternity, but there did come a point where he finally lowered the gun and replaced it in its holster. Swallowing hard, he gave her a quick nod.

"I … I promise."

Her concerns now at ease, she returned his nod. "Thank you."

The moment was short-lived as suddenly one of the riflemen near the shield doors looked out into space and began to gesticulate wildly. "Holy crap, check it out!"

Their attention now shifted to the matter of interest at hand, and everyone began to crowd around the shield doors as they could see faint glows in the distance … the tell-tale signs of a successful FTL warp.

"Holy shit," whispered Gates, "it's the civilian fleet."

Though her declaration's obviousness was not lost on the crew, it was a sentiment shared amongst the group at large. Pinpricks of light began to increase in rapid fashion until the void was filled with flashes of ship after ship arriving in Regis space.

"Goddamn," called one of the Pilots, "there must be thousands of them!"

Could we flood their sensors with ships?

Can't we just nuke the damn place?

There must be thousands of them!

In an instant, several components of a new plan began to take shape in Tobias' mind, and he slowly turned to the company around him.

"Everyone, back to the terminal. I think I've got something that just might work."


A/N: Sorry for the delay, told you updates might be a bit sparse.

As a note to you all, I will likely be moving to post solely on Wattpad for any future stories, as I'm very tired of dealing with the ridiculous amounts of censorship that ff net has implemented in terms to external links and certain words. Not to mention that their support team is utterly and completely incompetent at their job.

Be sure to look me up on Wattpad for stories in the future, though any current ones on this site will be filled to completion here.

Until the next time,

- Matteoarts