Welcome back, wonderful reader!
(There's really ntmuch else to say here so) Read on!
The same hovercrafts that shuttled the citizens to the rebel base now bring us to war.
I sit with my squad in the cramped hold of the craft, knees tucked up to my chest to make room for the other soldiers squashed against us. As pragmatic as Thrace is, he has as many squads crammed into the ships as he can – to save on fuel or some other excuse, I can't guess.
The real reason is that if we were all seated comfortably, there would be a lot of empty hovercrafts coming back to base.
There are no windows in the hold, so I have no idea how far we've traveled. How far away is the rebel base from Borg Tower, our destination? Whispers and rumors fly through the cramped soldiers, filling the hold with an incessant rustling.
I catch sight of groups of soldiers writing their names on their arms and torsos in pen, so their bodies can be identified posthumously if need be. Their mouths are drawn in grim lines, eyes dark and unfeeling. Some scrawl out notes to loved ones on scraps of paper, shoving the messages in their socks. Others simply sit frozen, completely numbed by the shock. I hear a faint retching in the corner.
Everyone reacts differently to war, especially in the face of it.
The flight's been mostly quiet, no one raising their voices above a whisper. The mood can only be compared to a funeral, reverent and silent but painted with fear in thick brushstrokes. My heart throbs in my chest and I take a deep breath to calm myself.
Bide nods at me from a few seats down, and I give him a faint smile in return. I notice a faint sheen of sweat on his brow. The sight of it unnerves me – the unflappable Bide, shaken.
In the near-silence of the hold, the explosion nearly shatters my eardrums.
The calm is split in two when the hold ruptures with the impact of a shell. Artillery punches through the belly of the hovercraft, metal screaming and tearing. A yawning hole remains, and the limp bodies of soldiers fall through and tumble into the abyss. A silent scream lodges in my throat and shouts fill the hold, panicked cries echoing and reverberating against the walls.
The hovercraft gives a nasty wobble, shaking me from my seat and onto the shoulder of another soldier. I mutter a hasty apology, but it's lost in the general din and panic of the situation. The crowd crushes against me as the soldiers creep away from the tear in the hovercraft's wall. Again the hovercraft swings from side to side in a sickening half-roll, and my stomach turns.
"We're going to have to jump!" Bide leaps on top of a seat and roars above the noise, every inch the put-together leader I've seen so far. The only betrayal of fear on his face is the thin layer of sweat on his brow. "Ming!"
It takes a moment for me to realize he's called me and I leap to my feet, shoving past soldiers until I reach Bide. "What?" My voice cracks with the effort to shout above the roaring wind.
"Can you ensure the soldiers won't turn to pancakes on the ground when they land?"
I nod swiftly, panic writhing within me. Suddenly the mission got a whole lot more interesting – and terrifying. Bide gestures to the gaping hole in the hovercraft's side and I walk over to it, keeping my body pressed against the wall as I sidle over. The wind snaps at my jumpsuit and brings tears to my eyes, but I keep walking until I reach the hole and give Bide a thumbs-up.
He shouts something above the wind and a squad approaches me, eyes dilated with fear but jaws set. I whisper a short spell and nod my head to the squad leader, prominent with his three patches and a confident expression. Calling back an encouraging word to his squad, he reaches the hole and jumps as he hovercraft grinds to a halt. The rest of his squad follows him, arms and legs flailing as they jump.
I risk a glance through the hole and see the soldiers plummet on the edge of the battlefield, falling almost too quickly for my eyes to follow them. Their fall abruptly slows when they reach the ground and they stand, unharmed. Immediately the squad forms ranks and progresses to their station, transitioning to soldier-mode in an instant.
The hovercraft groans and I realize it won't hold us much longer. Bide does too, and he calls out for squads rapid-fire. It's all I can do to keep up with the spells as the soldiers jump like rats fleeing a sinking ship, one crush of bodies rushing for the exit. My vision fades to jumpsuits and patches as the tearing wind until my squad is the only one left. Bide and I exchange relieved grins – then the hovercraft's power cuts out and we start to free-fall.
Hassen releases a holler of alarm and Bide grabs his arm, tugging him to the exit point. All of the soldiers sprint past me, leaping through the torn metal as I cast the protection ward, the hovercraft approaching the ground at a frightening speed. Once I've checked that everyone's gone I jump out of the hole myself, reaching the ground in mere seconds.
A hand latches onto my arm and drags me out of harm's way as the hovercraft comes crashing down to the earth, exploding in a fireball that singes my hair and the front of my jumpsuit. The blast throws me back against Bide, hand still gripping my arm, and a plume of smoke rises from the wrecked ship that could blot out the sun.
"The pilots..." I gasp, and Bide shakes me lightly.
"Let's get to our attack position." Which, translated, means they're gone.
We have no time to grieve as my squad works our way to our position near the front lines, and soon the terrain becomes familiar. A group on Nindroids come our way and instinct takes over. Asa raises his gun and shoots the robot in its optical port, then rolls as Leon fires a bolt of electricity through its skull. Bide takes care of the second robot, and with a tearing motion I rip the last two Nindroids into scrap metal.
"Not bad." Asa grins at me, then flies backwards as a slug catches him in the shoulder.
I scream and run forward, pressing my hand against the bleeding wound. With a few muttered words I stitch the skin together, reworking the muscle and bone back into one again, and Bide drags Asa to his feet with a growl.
"Pay attention!" He yells, and Asa winces. The effect of the magic has drained my energy slightly, but adrenaline pumping through my veins makes up for it. My heart pounds furiously, my hands still damp with Asa's blood.
The sight of it makes me sick.
The battlefield weaves into a single fight, one Nindroid after the other. A tank tumbles past us, disabled by a fireball in the engine I spawn quickly. The soldiers fight with deadly precision, every shot flying true. We know the terrain better than anyone, ducking behind hills, using the high ground to our advantage, decimating any forces that come at us. To me, the world is bullets and Nindroids and metal and the stench of death that clogs my nostrils.
Panic sets in and my breaths come too short. I fall to my knees, damp mud seeping through the knees of my jumpsuit. Two hands come down on my shoulders and I stare into Bide's eyes, dark and roiling with fire I've never seen before.
"You can do this, Ming. You're stronger than this."
Tears brim at my eyes and I hate myself for it. I'm stronger that this. Slowly my panting breaths subside and I get to my feet unsteadily. The squad has reached the top of a major hill, giving us a sweeping view of the battle before us.
Borg Tower sits like a pen thrust into the muddy earth, slightly crooked and far too modern, so unnatural it makes my skin crawl. Before the tower, forming rings of defenses, are rows and rows of Nindroids. Their chrome bodies gleam in the sunlight, bright against the murky forces of the rebels who surge against them, bullets tearing through the ranks of Nindroids as they progress. I see the forms of blade monsters like pure shadows against the shining Nindroids, and tanks tear up soil with their treads. Everywhere bullets fly, screams of the wounded fly to the heavens. I catch sight of a bolt of lightning ricocheting off of a line of Nindroids, and at the front line a firestorm erupts, scorching anything in its path. The magic takes my breath away – its pure emotion, pure hate and rage and a desire like I've never seen before.
I remember that Kai's sister is in the Tower, but never before now realized how fiercely his fire burns for her. And now that the magic's been unleashed...
The plume of fire broils to a white-hot intensity, and the Nindroids melt in the face of the vicious flame.
Rounds of artillery shatter the cries of battle, breaking into the ranks of squads. One lands on a cluster of wounded and I look away, then throw up.
Hassen's hand slips into mine and I wipe my mouth, not willing to meet his eyes. "It's going to be okay." He assures me, and I manage to nod.
"Let's go, people!" Bide rallies us and charges down the hill, firing into a unit of Nindroids attempting to climb up and meet us.
"That man, he's a maniac." Hassen chuckles lightly, then hurries after our leader into hell.
My body resists me for a moment, then I leap forward as well. A single Nindroid to our right is shredded with a quick spell, and I survey the scene for the largest threats. A bellowing roar raises the hairs on my arms and I look up to see the blade monster bearing down on us.
"We meet again." I can't keep an insane grin from my face as I approach the battle-maddened beast. "Let's do this."
I've grown so much with my magical skills since the Games, and this battle proves it. Chanting softly under my breath, I weave a dagger of darkness in the air, tendrils of terror and the essence of the battlefield bleeding into my magic. In one motion I twist the blade, moving my hand with the shadow-formed creation, then stab it into the back of the blade monster.
Metal grinds against metal as the beast's back arches in agony, staggering in its death throes. A deafening roar washes over me, a scream of pain and anger and fear that nearly drives me to my knees. The blade monster tumbles to its side, turning a squadron of Nindroids into thin ribbons of metal as its razor-sharp armor cuts through their ranks. I release the spell for the dagger and a wave of exhaustion passes over me, but I stay on my feet and hurry to the quickly advancing Bide. No one congratulates me this time, no smiles or thumbs-up. Fifteen minutes into war and we're already battle-hardened?
Or has it been an hour? Time bleeds together. Everything bleeds in war.
We reach the forcefield, visible by a faint shimmering in the air and the fact that every squad that's reached here is pooling around a circular area. Borg's final stand is aligned behind the wavering wall, endless rows of Nindroids, too many tanks to count.
And human soldiers. They stand ready for us, guns drawn and ready to fire. They honestly want to kill us.
Voices buzz to life in my ear and I start with shock, then remember my comlink. Jay's normally energetic voice is shell-shocked and dull, a sound that nearly breaks my heart when I hear him speak.
"This is Jay, in position. Repeat, I am in position."
The trundling of tires rumbles behind me and I see a massive machine of war thunder its way to the forcefield. It's built like a strange tank, with multiple cannons on the top and enormous tires on the bottom, fitted almost like a car. The wheels are taller than I am, with shock absorbents coiled in the underbelly of the machine. A pinprick of a laser dances across the forcefield, an aiming system for the tank's massive guns. "This is Zane, reporting that I am in position."
"Cole, in position."
"Kai, in position. Let's light this sucker up."
Lloyd and I both radio in our assent at the same time, and immediately the charge of the air shifts. The snapping of lightning rumbles over the tank's purring engine, blackening the sky and casting strobe-like lights across the battlefield. Strokes of pure white stab into the forcefield, casting showers of sparks over the ranks of the soldiers.
Fire swirls above my head, lacing its way across the forcefield with such heat and intensity that my eyes water and I have to shield my gaze. Strands of blue-tipped flames crisscross each other and burrow into the forcefield, stretching cracks across the dome. Cheers and roars like I've never heard before thunder from the soldiers, every voice raised in praise as the forcefield sways half an inch.
My heart leaps as ice crawls up the forcefield, clashing against the fire and digging into the broken forcefield, blasting at the whole parts. Snow flutters down from the sky and the temperature drops a few degrees as the ice works its way around the dome, mingling with the other elements in a harmony that's all too right.
Finally an earthquake brings the entire rebel army to its knees, shuddering in violent waves that cause the forcefield to buckle, leaning in on itself and collapsing slowly in. A blast of pure gold strikes the forcefield as it falls – Lloyd, his elemental magic so powerful it causes me to gasp – and the forcefield implodes on itself, shattering and collapsing on the waiting army of Nindroids.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get 'em!"
Dun dun dunnn! By the way, am I the only one who can quote every Olympic commercial because they play them over and over again?
"And you thought we just made the gas." Ugh.
Until next time!