As soon as Andromeda and Tshering returned with news of the captives, the camp became frenzied with preparations. Sonam and Dewi had established contact with the other camps throughout Galahd via radio. They spoke in an old code, confident that Imperial interceptors wouldn't be able to understand them. In the time Andromeda and Tshering had been gone, the leaders had created a plan with all of the camps to launch an attack on all three Imperial bases at the same time. Around the same time they returned, another camp joined theirs to attack the eastern base.
Their strategy was about the same as any other time they had attacked a base. This time, however, everyone was urged to have some restraint: the most important thing was to get the captives out alive. Sonam reiterated that it wasn't about revenge, but getting their comrades to safety. They were doing more than enough by taking the general's leverage away, rather than submitting to his demands.
On the last day, the two-technically-three camps were crammed onto the haven near the base. They waited as Sonam and Andromeda scouted ahead. It was moreso so she could make contact with Klahan again.
Sonam hadn't seen her dream walk before, but had believed her with less argument. He did not disturb her as she worked, falling asleep so her mind could make its way into the base and track down Klahan. She found him faster the second time around, knowing the general area where he was being kept.
He was in a cell now, the general long since finished with him. It was in a whole block of cells, the others occupied by the other rebels missing from camp. Klahan was thankfully sleeping again. She went into his dream.
Andromeda couldn't comprehend what she was seeing; images flashed by too quickly for her to comprehend. They weren't important. "Klahan."
The dream remained still as he remained asleep, but became alert in his mind. The images went away, leaving just the two of them.
"You're not really here," He acknowledged. He was learning, too.
"You're right," She nodded. "How is everyone?"
"They're all still here. They're holding out," Klahan reported, without his usual disdain for her.
"Don't call any attention to yourselves, but be prepared," Andromeda instructed. "We're coming. When I go, wake everyone up. Don't alert the Imperials. We need to act quick."
"I will," Klahan assured.
With his word, Andromeda left his dream, going back to herself to wake up. Sonam knelt beside her in the brush, far from the sight of the base. Once she confirmed that everyone was accounted for and in tact, the two of them went south, back to the overcrowded haven.
Once there, Sonam briefed everyone on what they had seen at the base, and what they already knew about it. It wasn't the first time his camp had infiltrated it. Dewi's camp usually didn't come this far to the east. The other camp had some knowledge of the base as well. The three leaders explained their plan of attack before ordering everyone to get ready.
Before they left the haven, Sonam caught Andromeda amid the commotion. True to what he had promised Hank in the previous year, they usually worked alongside each other during such attacks.
"Don't summon your power on this one. It's too dangerous," He warned.
"I know," She had already thought of that. They couldn't risk Klahan and everyone else being torn to shreds by MTs. "We'll have a disadvantage."
"The important part is to get everyone back, not destroy the base and its MTs," Sonam repeated. "I want you and Tshering to go with Dewi's medics. The four of you will be joined by a couple others. Your group's priority is to get the captives out of there alive. Avoid the fight as much as you can."
"Yes, sir," Andromeda said.
At his command, she searched through the crowded haven until she found Tshering already standing with four other people. She recognized Dewi's two medics for how long she had been in their camp already: Pema was thin with light brown skin and a small face. Norbu was very much her opposite in that he was brawny, had darker skin, and his mass of dreadlocks reached his lower back. The two other men were from Datu's camp, Kishor and Ravi. Their complexion was similar to Pema's. Kishor had the traditional Galahdian braids at the side of his head, while Ravi's hair was cropped close to his scalp.
As soon as she joined them, everyone was ordered into position and to pull up their masks. They began to head out, the groups spreading out as they had done before as they had cross the islands.
Andromeda and Tshering exchanged glances, but said nothing as they made their way to the base. They hadn't had time to talk since that night on the haven. She was still comprehending her feelings about it. She couldn't recall having such feelings before: they were kind of fuzzy, but pleasant. Andromeda was hardly given any time to dwell on them with all that needed to get done. Preparing an attack was much more important than whatever that had been. She was much more used to fighting and surviving; it was what she knew best. All of that fighting might have given her more of a life now in Galahd—as much as she had had in Lucis or Tenebrae. She definitely wanted to stay in the islands.
It was an hour-long trek to the base. No one among the groups spoke, staying within sight of each other. They kept an eye out for any patrolling troops along their path that would alert the base. They saw nothing the entire way.
As the first group in the lead broke through the treeline before the military base, they began to run towards the gate. The leaders ordered everyone else to keep at their steady advance. It wasn't time for the full charge yet.
A siren suddenly blared as the first group closed in on the gate. MTs appeared on top of the wall and aimed below at the assailants. A few in the first group raised their own guns, falling back to exchange bullets with the automatons above. The others of the group put their heads down and sprinted, each of them cradling an explosive in their arms. One stumbled, shot somewhere Andromeda couldn't determine from a distance.
The rest of the group made it to the gate. They threw their explosives at various spots on it. They turned and began running back before seeing where their bombs landed. They pulled the fallen runner back along with them while the MTs continued to fire upon them. The gunmen did not fall back, but a couple also fell from wounds.
Ten seconds after impact, the explosives went off in a collective blast that nearly drowned out the wailing siren. The thick metal twisted backwards into the base from the impact. The gate was wide open, with no way of closing it again.
Once the gate was settled after the blast, the leaders finally gave the call for everyone to charge. MTs were already charging out out at them in orderly fashion. They were not feral this time. Andromeda rarely had experience with rationally-operating MTs.
Most of the rebels were now armed with guns, including her. A few snipers were part of the first wave of MTs, but most of them wielded large saw-toothed swords or axes. The snipers were the smallest and easiest to riddle with bullets; the other two types were much bigger, and bullets didn't seem to bother them all that much. As they closed in on the rebels, the latter fell back to their kukris, stabbing and slashing while easily ducking and weaving from the larger weapons.
Without chaos present, the MTs remained disciplined and controlled, which was possibly more dangerous than if they were berserk. Galahdians were quick on their feet, whereas the larger MTs were slowed by their two-handed weapons. Andromeda observed a few people receive blows, and somewhere in the fight, she was grazed by a blade as well.
The strategies for defeating MTs remained the same: a few times throughout the skirmish, someone from Sonam's camp managed to rip the core out of one, held it up, and yelled "core" while running from the pursuing MT. Anyone else from that camp ran from the space as well, sometimes pulling others along with them. Five seconds later, the MT exploded. A couple of times, others were damaged as well. Such a defeat was encouraging for everyone. Rebels from the other two camps picked up on their trick, yet more MTs continued to pour out of the base.
Andromeda used that strategy as much as possible, but she was only able to get close enough to one MT without it pushing her back and trying to chop her in half. After she fled and it exploded, Sonam caught up to her in the battle.
"Go with Tshering into the base," He reminded her. She had gotten caught up in the fight outside of the gate; she needed to fight her way into the base.
As he distracted an approaching MT from Andromeda, she turned towards the gate and rushed towards the oncoming MTs. Tshering, the two medics, and the two others from their group had remained focused and were slightly ahead of her. Like her, though, they kept getting stopped by MTs. Tshering demonstrated Sonam's tactic for dealing with them quickly, but it was difficult to achieve when multiple MTs were approaching at once. Andromeda thought it would be nice to have a chaotic shadow just push the MTs aside, but Sonam had told her not to summon it. She simply joined the others in their efforts, which helped take some of the pressure off.
Twice the extraction group fell back before a coreless MT exploded. As soon as it was safe to approach again, they advanced before more MTs could come through the gate. It was tedious: for every two steps they took, they took one step back. As with every assault they made on an Imperial base, the rebels were amazed at how endless the charge of MTs was. The amount that could be in Niflheim baffled even Andromeda.
Despite constantly falling back, their team made it through the gate, slipping past MTs after one just exploded in the opening to clear their way. The first thing they all noticed was the mech approaching the gate, flanked on either side by more MTs. It was nearly on top of them as they made it through. The rebels tried to dodge to the side to get around it, but the mech swiped at Dewi's medics. Andromeda and Tshering ducked from another swipe as they went back and helped the two up. Thankfully, at that moment, some more rebels slipped in and immediately engaged the mech. The extraction team moved away with the Imperials so distracted.
Having been inside the base a couple of times now, Andromeda took the lead as they got away from the thick fighting at the gate. Still more MTs were charging towards the battle. Many of them spotted the group of stray humans and attacked. The team stayed close to each other as they utilized Sonam's strategy, pulling the cores out and running from the impending explosion. Andromeda ran in the direction of the correct building as she led the others. With more than one MT chasing them at a time, they managed to do more damage to other MTs than they had managed outside of the base.
The door was locked when they finally made it to the low building that housed the prisoners. By now, everyone realized how little of a problem that was. Pema ran off a little ways and attracted the attention of an MT. She led it to the door, stopping when they were close enough to rip the core out and dodge an attack. Everyone else scattered from the door as she ran at it, then pivoted left just before hitting it. The MT ran into it and exploded.
The explosion damaged the door, but it remained where it was. As the rebels closed in on it, it opened roughly and even more MTs filed out. They seemed to be tucked into every corner of this base. Andromeda began to realize that such an assault was expected by the Imperials. In all of her reconnaissance, she had only been concerned with finding the captives; she hadn't thought to see what forces the Imperials had gathered. She couldn't believe that she had been stupid enough to overlook it. It was even more important now that she not summon chaos—no one would survive it.
The extraction team was not completely unprepared to deal with a surprise attack. They were readily armed, shooting or stabbing at the MTs. They were able to rip cores out. They all fled briefly, making sure the explosions damaged other MTs.
No other MTs came out of the building. Once the team disposed of the squad, they went inside and down some stairs. Ravi stayed at the door, taking point and making sure no other MTs came up from behind.
It was just as Andromeda had seen while dreamwalking: once they were downstairs, they came upon a large room with cells lining the walls. Two cells had been opened. Andromeda recognized one of the occupants as he laid out on the floor, the large gash in his throat filling the pool of blood underneath his head. An Imperial general stood a little further from him, at the solid wall at the other side of the room. He held another captive in his grip, poising a blade at his throat.
"Drop your weapons," The general demanded. "And cease your attack, or I'll continue to kill your friends off one by one."
For a moment, the group did not move. Dropping their weapons guaranteed nothing. So long as the general had the keys to the cells and a weapon himself, they were powerless to stop him. Andromeda and the others followed Tshering's lead as he put down his gun and kukri. They held their hands up warily, afraid of any sudden movements.
The general was not Dalton, but he was vaguely familiar to Andromeda. He seemed just as puzzled by her presence there—she was clearly not Galahdian. She supposed he had been one of the visiting generals Dalton had entertained while he had used her.
Before the general could make any more demands, Ravi came down the stairs to join them. Seeing everyone else disarmed, he took no time in aiming his gun at the general. He pulled the trigger. The general flinched to the side as the bullet missed him and embedded itself in the wall behind him. He pulled his knife across the captive's throat. The captive's cry was cut off, then the general dropped him on the floor.
At once, everyone picked up their weapons and charged at the general. Ravi was in the lead, since he had never put his weapon down.
"Don't kill!" Tshering warned them, charging just as everyone else did. It was a difficult order to keep in mind when their comrades had been taken away, and two were dead, of which they had just witnessed one get murdered.
The general waited for their attack, pulling out his own gun and taking aim. Before he could fire, Ravi slammed into him, knocking him against the wall. The gun fell from the general's hand, firing as it hit the ground, yet missing everyone. Ravi smashed the general's head against the concrete wall, then threw him down to the floor. Pema quickly descended upon him, bashing the butt of her own gun against the general's head until he stopped moving.
It was suddenly very quiet, except for the distant noise of battle outside. The other cells were shut, their occupants against the far wall. They crept closer as they saw that the Imperial was down.
The extraction team turned to the second slain captive, who was still in the process of dying. Andromeda didn't have to get too close to realize that there was nothing they could do for him. He laid gasping and wheezing, the effort to breathe convulsing his whole body. Pema took one of his hands with her dainty ones.
"We're sorry," She said quietly, as if trying to keep his suffering as private as possible. "Don't fight it. Just relax."
The dying man did not immediately take her advice, but steadily his efforts to breathe lessened until he shut his eyes and laid perfectly still.
Tshering went over to the first slain captive and shut his eyes for him. They hadn't expected casualties; everyone had been alive just a couple of hours before. Andromeda hadn't known the general would go this far, but she should have expected it.
She spotted Klahan in one of the cells, observing them like the other trapped captives. He looked worse in reality than he had in his own dreams. He had a couple of dark bruises on his face—not to mention other places.
"You actually came," He said. "You really were sneaking in here."
As the two medics and Tshering saw to the bodies, Andromeda went to the unconscious general and dug through his pockets. Kishor went back upstairs to the door.
"We're going to scout a way out of here. Stay put until we get back," Ravi ordered.
He went after the other man upstairs. Andromeda finally found a keycard on the general. She approached Klahan's cell first and swiped it through the card reader. The door clicked. Klahan pushed it open and let himself out.
She went around to all of the cells, unlocking them. "Is everyone able to walk?"
All of the remaining captives muttered confirmation, but two of them were questionable in their abilities. The four medics descended on any injuries they could provide a quick fix for, wrapping ankles and knees for the time being until they reached the haven.
"It's madness outside," Norbu warned everyone. "We're going to have to run through it."
Klahan turned to Andromeda and raised a brow. "Your madness?"
She shook her head. "We'd all be dead right now with the amount of MTs crawling all over this place."
"We can't leave them here," Tshering motioned to the two bodies on the floor.
No one argued against it. Once all of the injuries were seen to, Dewi's medics, Andromeda, and he picked up the two dead rebels from the floor, two people to each body. Klahan tried to get involved, but he was pushed away. Andromeda gave him her gun as something to do. They all laboriously climbed the stairs.
She and Pema were the first to get to the door, and so took a look outside for everyone. The base was now in more disarray as most of the rebels had gotten through the gate. The mech hadn't been able to get through. At this point, it didn't have to: the rebels had come to it. With so many now in the base, the mech and MTs were all preoccupied, having completely forgotten about the group that had slipped by them.
While they observed the fighting, a steely white truck pulled up in front of the building, the Imperial emblem stark on the door. Ravi and Kishor stepped out of the front to help everyone else into the bed in the back. The medics placed the two bodies on the floor first.
"Keep your heads down," Kishor warned everyone as they loaded up into the bed. They were careful not to step on the bodies.
The four medics were the last to squeeze in. Andromeda took her gun back from Klahan with only a little debate. The other two returned to the front of the truck. A moment later, the truck lurched and the sped through the base.
There was no single clear path. The truck wove around MTs and skirmishes, the driver finding space where he could and moving quickly. Dewi's medics, Tshering, and Andromeda held their guns up, though sometimes had to cling to the sides of the bed to not fly out of it.
It was still congested at the gate, with the mech being the biggest obstacle. The rebels saw the truck and knew enough to just get out of the way. For the most part, MTs also moved, but it was mostly to pursue the fleeing rebels. The mech took aim at it as it drove by. The four gunmen in the bed likewise took aim back at the mech. Their bullets did not deter it. Ravi, sitting in the passenger seat, threw something at it, which exploded on impact with its leg. The mech fell to the side, its leg disabled. The truck drove through the gate, out of the base, and into the jungle.
The ride out into the jungle was possibly rougher than it had been in the base. There was an old dirt road that could be vaguely picked out—most likely something the Imperials used in between bases when flying was too impractical. Yet their path did not follow the road, and soon the truck pulled off of it when there was an opening. The ride became even rougher. Trees moved for nothing. The brush and foliage could just as easily stop the truck in its tracks. The truck didn't go very far off of the road before stopping completely.
Everyone got out and continued on foot. The medics took up the dead bodies again. They took the lead along with the other two rebels from their team. Though the truck couldn't get through the jungle, it still saved them a lot of time on getting to the haven. At the same time, though, the truck was a little too close by for comfort; it could lead the Imperials to them. The priority was to get everyone to safety and to take care of their injuries.
It was half an hour before they came upon the haven at last. The medics were relieved to set the bodies down, but they didn't have time to rest. The four of them went to work on the captives' injuries, giving them more attention than before. There were plenty of gashes and some broken bones. The general had been cruel to those he used as leverage.
"What's the plan?" Klahan asked as he was seen to.
"We're staying put here until Sonam and Dewi come back and tell us what to do next," Tshering explained as he wrapped his bruised midsection. "Don't even think of going back and joining the fight. You can't even take down one MT right now."
Klahan was not pleased to be criticized so. He turned to Andromeda as she took care of the person sitting next to him. "You really were in my dreams."
"It's the last trick up my sleeve," She assured, still disappointed she had had to reveal it.
With four people, the injuries were soon taken care of. Still there was no sign of any other rebels in retreat. Several people soon became restless at that. There were too many people to safely stay on the haven at night. The retreat should not take so long.
"We should take that truck back to the base and get rid of it," Kishor said. "Everyone else must still be fighting. But we got what we came for."
"Some of us should go back and see what's going on," Ravi agreed.
"Us hostages are out now," Klahan looked to Andromeda again. "If you're all so against me going, at least you should go to Sonam."
"I'll go, too," Pema offered. "There's probably a lot more injuries holding them back."
"Fine. Let's go," Kishor stepped off of the haven.
"I'm coming, too," Tshering spoke up as the four were leaving the haven.
Andromeda shook her head. "Most of the MTs must be destroyed by now. Staying here will probably be more of a fight than going there. Keep Klahan from doing anything stupid."
He grinned. "You're right about that." He looked as though there was more that he wanted to say, stepping closer. The others only continued walking further away.
"Save it for when I get back," She smirked, imagining whatever little joke he had about Klahan, or perhaps even better: a small tender gesture. She had to remain focused right now. She turned her back and ran after the three others walking back into the jungle.
They took less time finding the truck again while no one was injured or encumbered. With less people packed into the truck, the ride in the bed wasn't so perilous, either. Kishor managed to get the truck back onto the road. It was a short time later that they saw some rebels making their way to the haven. As they broke through the trees and approach the base, those rebels increased in numbers, albeit pursued by MTs. The retreat had been called.
The gate was blocked by debris from fallen MTs and pieces of mech. The truck stopped just outside of it—it was too much to try to run over. It was much easier for the rebels to just get out and walk over it to get in. Andromeda had watched the retreating rebels as they had gotten closer, and none of them had been Sonam or Dewi. They would be the last two to fall back, after everyone else did.
There was less fighting in the base now that so many people and MTs were running out of the gate. Andromeda squeezed her way through the nearly impassible gate, then weaved around the skirmishes that were still happening. It was concentrated near the gate; beyond that, hardly any MTs came out of hiding. However many extra troops this base had had, they were nearly depleted.
Finally, she caught sight of Sonam in a tussle with a large MT. Andromeda raised her gun and fired a couple of shots at it. It staggered from the surprise attack, which gave him the opportunity to rip its core out and run towards her. Andromeda joined him in his running. Five seconds later, the MT exploded.
They stopped running once the body finished clattering on the ground. Sonam placed his hands on his knees while he took a moment to breathe; he looked exhausted, having earned himself a few cuts like everyone else.
"Everyone's safe and taken care of. Tshering is with them," Andromeda reported.
"Yeah, I noticed. It was hard to miss that escape plan," Sonam straightened up again. "We're retreating. We spotted the general not long ago. He fled to into the command center. Probably calling for reinforcements. Summon the chaos now. We need it to disrupt whatever he's doing in there."
That Andromeda hadn't slipped up and summoned it already made her confident about her control over it. She would have been content to forego chaos in this assault. There had been too many MTs, but now most of them laid broken and dead. Whatever was left would be manageable, and as Sonam had said, the chaos would disrupt radio signals. For as long as she had had the power, Andromeda was still learning new things about it.
A wind picked up and shadows appeared with the slightest of provocation. If she hadn't had so much practice with it, her control would have slipped and she would have summoned it at the very beginning of this assault. She didn't give much into it—the battle was practically over.
What little she had given into wouldn't do enough damage to please her, not while she stood still. Knowing the layout of the base, Andromeda began to approach the tallest building towards the north wall at a run. Naturally, the tallest building had the communications tower on top of it.
"What are you doing?" Sonam demanded, following after her.
"I can't destroy the tower unless I get closer," She explained. "The chaos will disrupt radio signals, but I don't want this general to be able to call for help for a long time—not just when I'm here. Besides, the chaos is going to last for at least thirty minutes. I have to make the most of it."
Sonam continued to follow along. With the chaos around them, the MTs fell out of their disciplined statures and ran wildly at any humans they saw. He and Andromeda were often stopped to beat them away on their way to the command center. It was almost easier to destroy them when they were feral. An occasional shadow knocked the MTs away when they were too much to handle.
The door was unlocked when they finally made it to the building, left open by the general in his rush to call for help. Inside was possibly more chaotic as the staff scurried about to escape the rogue MTs that had been guarding them the entire time.
Sonam and Andromeda were completely unbothered by the civilian staff members. They found a staircase and began to ascend it, continuing to run as MTs came after them. A couple of staff members became brave, but they were just as battered by the shadows and debris as the MTs were. She felt some regret to what happened to those people as the MTs snatched them up. They were just civilians, who hardly knew what they were involved in. Andromeda steeled herself. She had to see this through.
As they reached the upper floors, she and Sonam could hear the general repeatedly requesting reinforcements, and asking if anyone could hear him. It would have been easy to sneak up behind him, but destroying the tower was more important. A couple of the MTs that chased the two up the stairs broke off at the sound of the general. His call was abruptly interrupted by their screams. Andromeda surmised that he didn't live much longer after that.
The stairs finally led up to the roof. Three towers stood roughly in the center, with the middle one being the tallest. Neither Andromeda nor Sonam could stop to plan further as MTs funneled out of the doorway after them. In the open space of the rooftop, they could finally deal with the robots.
The feral MTs turned out to be the ammunition they needed. They stayed as close as possible to the towers, luring the MTs to them. They fought with them one by one: whenever one of them managed to rip out a core, Sonam threw the body at the towers. A box underneath them was warped and blackened by the repeated explosions. A fire broke out from the electrical work inside, but did not get very big. The bases of the towers were weakened until the smaller two collapsed, teetering over the edge of the roof, and the large one leaned heavily to the side. By then, no more MTs came rushing through the door.
Andromeda's chaos still persisted, though it had to have been close to thirty minutes. She and Sonam made their way downstairs. The room the general had been in was now locked, but it was completely silent inside. He didn't bother them, if he was alive to hear them, and they didn't bother him.
Sonam was dead tired, and Andromeda wasn't much different. Still, they ran for the gate once they were out of the building. The skirmishes had lessened even more. As they got closer, she could recognize the remaining rebels to be from Sonam's camp. They had stayed when they noticed their leader going in the opposite direction of the retreat.
The MTs became feral as Andromeda came closer, becoming more aggressive in their fight. It caught the humans off-guard. A few stumbled. Once close enough, Sonam shouted for them all to retreat again. The humans followed after the two of them out of the gate. The MTs still pursued them, but Andromeda managed to knock two back against some others as they tried to get through the mess at the gate.
Once they reached the jungle, there were more things to throw at the couple of MTs that had somehow managed to keep up with them. Andromeda could feel the chaos dying down, but there was still just enough to deal with the automatons. She tried to focus on throwing debris at them, but it was nearly impossible while running away from them. She handed her gun off to Dechen. He was always a better shot. She heard him take them down long before the reached the haven.
It was roughly forty minutes before they saw the already-crowded haven. By then, the chaos had long since died out. Andromeda wanted to collapse next to the captives, but there were the new injuries to inspect among Sonam's people. Sonam spoke with the other two leaders, presumably to ensure all of their people had come back and were okay.
As soon as that was taken care of, the rebels moved out again, with the hope of reaching Dewi's camp before sunset. It was likely that they wouldn't, especially for the extra time Sonam and Andromeda had taken in leaving the base. No one complained; they were happy to hear of the damage done, and that the general had run and hid like a coward. Yet as two bodies were carried upon makeshift litters, some did not feel it had been enough retribution.
Sonam hadn't let himself rest, and it affected how fast he walked. Andromeda found it easy to get into step with him once he and Klahan finished their discussion, in which the latter explained everything that had happened in the cell block.
"They're going to know it was me," She said. Now that the adrenaline of battle and the excitement of victory had passed, she realized that the destruction left behind might be a little too telling of her involvement. She continued when Sonam didn't reply right away, "There was way more MTs than we've ever seen there. The general got a good look at me when we found everyone in the cell block."
"You had your mask up?" He asked.
Andromeda nodded. "I think they were expecting me to show up."
"Yeah," He agreed with a sigh.
"I killed all those people," She stated, adding yet another problem onto the pile.
"Well, the MTs did that. The Nifs could always make it so they don't go haywire when your chaos is around," Sonam said in a matter-of-fact way.
It wasn't as simple as that, even if the Empire pretended so. She bit her tongue. She hadn't told anyone yet the truth of Magitek soldiers, how human clones and daemons were used to create them. If the Empire wanted to fix the daemon problem, it would dismantle their whole army. They could not change without losing everything.
"We'll see what the Imperials do next, and go from there," He concluded.
It didn't make Andromeda feel any better. The rebels had managed to take back their comrades instead of surrendering, but the Empire would only try harder next time. If Sonam and Dewi hadn't been able to put this plan together, he might have been forced to surrender. If Niflheim knew she was there, it was just as likely they would demand her back, with a worse ultimatum. She couldn't be certain that Sonam would refuse them again.
They reached Dewi's camp by nightfall. Most celebrated their incredible victory, especially when they received word that the attacks on the other two bases were similarly successful. Some, however, found it difficult to celebrate, knowing that they had still lost two lives. Andromeda was still careful about celebrating too much.
After one night, there was no time for rest. She and Tshering were still in charge of overseeing the injured. The next morning, Sonam's meager camp went to the nearest town with the two bodies, where they had the beginnings of preparations done. From there, they were all given rides to the nearby home village of one of the fallen rebels.
It was there that they stayed awhile. It took a couple of days for the family of the other fallen rebel to arrive. Sonam explained what had happened to both families alone, and he was the one to deliver the bodies to them.
There was a lot of ceremony around the joint funerals. The bodies were burned on a pyre by the families. Sonam and his rebels could not be present for that, but they lingered in the village quietly as it went on through the night. They were allowed to join the next morning to spread the ashes out to sea.
A lot of care went into delivering the dead to whatever came next. Andromeda admired it in a way; she remembered the mass grave in Galthaeus. She had been unconscious the entire time, but she had been told how the Imperials brought the fallen warriors back to their home, dug a massive hole, and unceremoniously dumped every dead body in there. Once they were all buried, the survivors had been ordered back to work, rebuilding their own village. They hadn't been allowed to properly honor the dead like this. Andromeda realized how much easier it was to cope through these traditions.
She didn't dwell on it much longer. Once the ashes were spread, Sonam put everyone to work gathering supplies from generous donors. The following day, they left to reestablish their camp out in the jungle, getting back into it. They had to keep moving.
A month passed with minor skirmishes, but nothing big like the collective attack had been. The Empire did not release a statement, nor did they contact any Elders further. The Galahdians took it upon themselves to spread word that the captives had been rescued, and all of the bases attacked. It was why the Imperials were being so quiet, off licking their wounds. The only activity was the occasional supply transport on land between bases, which the rebels quickly dispatched once they caught sight of them.
Despite wanting to be scarce from the general public, Sonam had his camp stop in a village for the second time in a month. His camp was quickly reestablishing itself, yet supplies and news were easiest to get in town. He resumed looking for new recruits, and their victory was still fresh enough that plenty of people came forward.
Andromeda took part in the restocking of supplies with others while Sonam was off either recruiting or gathering news. Some supplies were simply given to them, but a lot of it had to be bought with gil, which was mysteriously donated by various families and clans. One of the rebels had given a list to the shopkeeper of the general store, and he worked out what they needed and how much it would cost them. She simply loaded supplies into the bed of a truck. One of the locals had been kind enough to drive them back and forth.
Tshering suddenly appeared as she strapped some crates down. This was his home village, so he mostly spent time catching up with family. He was grinning.
"C'mon. I have something to show you," He said, containing his excitement. Andromeda followed his lead across the village. Their time in town was much more relaxed than it was at camp.
She and Tshering didn't get a lot of moments to themselves. They still had not discussed that kiss, and as there had been occasional ones since then, perhaps he was finally taking her someplace private to discuss whatever it was they were doing. Though she was fine with not talking about it: it was just a thing the two of them did. They didn't have to talk about it. Andromeda still wasn't sure what to think of it—Sonam had kept her busy with the little skirmishes and spying on Imperial bases, now that he knew of her dreamwalking. She was somewhat disappointed to know that she was held so close at hand just for her useful powers.
Tshering took her to his aunt's house. He had taken her around the village to meet his family the day before. They had been cool towards Andromeda. His mother had seemed nice, but she got the sense that the older woman actually didn't like her. Andromeda had gotten used to these awkward introductions since arriving in Galahd.
Tshering's aunt was practically famous in the village because she was the only one with a computer and internet. It was the focus of whatever Tshering wanted Andromeda to see. His teenage cousin sat at the computer, flanked by Hira and Dechen. As the two entered, Hira turned to them and held up the day's newspaper from Insomnia. She pointed at the colored picture on the paper.
"Congrats on getting us on the front page!" She was also grinning.
"Looks like you and Klahan are poster children for the rebellion now," Dechen added, just as amused.
Andromeda was confused by what they were saying. She took the paper and looked at the large photograph in the middle of the upper half. It was of three people on a dirt road, possibly from the last village they had visited. Sonam was caught in mid-stride in the center, with Klahan on his left, and Andromeda to his right. They all wielded the guns they had now left back at camp. Her head was turned towards Sonam, as if they were in the middle of a conversation.
It couldn't be anyone else—there was no mistaking the scarred arms and exposed skin of her chest, and the long black hair and paler skin. She couldn't look any less Galahdian. All three wore their scarf masks around their necks, exposing their whole faces. The headline above the photo read: "Rebellion in Galahd Strikes Back: Galahdians refuse Imperial demands".
"They have a short video online," Tshering's cousin said. He moved to the side to show a webpage opened on the computer screen to the online version of the article. At top sat a minute-long video.
"The journalist didn't get all the details quite right. He didn't get names or anything," Dechen explained. "The Elders didn't refuse the Imperials—they just hadn't given an answer by the time we took action. We aren't really that close to outright war like he says we are."
Andromeda looked down at the paper with a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Could someone go get Sonam and Klahan?"
"You were supposed to bring all three of them here," Hira said pointedly at Tshering. He shrugged. "The reveal would have been way better with all three of them at the same time."
"I'll do it," Dechen left abruptly.
While he was gone, Andromeda took the time to read the full article, opening the paper all the way to find the second half of it within the pages. It was the lengthiest article the reporter had written thus far of the conflict. As Dechen said, some of the details were not quite correct. Thankfully, the reporter didn't seem to know any rebels all that much. There was no mention of any particular person in the article, which meant that the photograph had been taken simply for a nice cover photo. The article summed up the unrest in the islands leading up to the rescue mission that took place a month ago. News of it must have just reached Insomnia. It wasn't easy to get news out of Galahd—not with the Imperials in the way. Insomnia's thick walls just as easily kept news of the outside world out.
Andromeda finished reading by the time Dechen returned with Sonam and Klahan. She handed the paper over to the older man. They all watched as Sonam frowned. Klahan looked dignified as he looked over his shoulder at the paper. Having his face on the front page just made him feel more patriotic.
Sonam looked up at the computer screen after he finished reading the article. Everyone waited, silently anticipating his verdict. Tshering's cousin hit the play button on the video.
The video started with the same scene from the photograph, but was voiced over by a woman who reported a shortened version of the article. Sonam, flanked by Klahan and Andromeda, walked along the road. The two flanks observed their surroundings. Sonam and Klahan were discussing something. Andromeda seemed to be looking off-scene, then turned her head to briefly look somewhere above where the camera was, before turning to add something to the conversation. She said a few words, but from the side it was impossible to read her lips. From this perspective, Andromeda could not recall this scene or what was spoken. After Sonam began speaking again in the video, it cut away to a woman dressed in business formal in a newsroom, the backdrop simply a map of Galahd. After a minute, she finished reporting on the islands and moved on to something else. The video ended there.
"This is bad," Sonam exhaled. Everyone but Andromeda and Klahan were surprised by him.
"Isn't publicity a good thing? People are taking notice. This will give them hope," Hira insisted.
"I'm wanted in Lucis as well as by Niflheim," Andromeda reminded her. "This just announced to the whole world where I am."
Hira's brows rose as she suddenly saw it their way. Tshering, his cousin, and Dechen made the same realization after her.
"The Nifs only suspected I was here before. We left a lot of evidence before, but this is hard evidence," Andromeda explained. "They know who's with me now. They'll tear the jungle apart looking for me."
"They only saw us as a nuisance before—now that their failures have been on international news, they'll come down even harder now," Sonam agreed.
"They don't care who gets hurt," She added quietly. "The Lucians wouldn't have forgotten my first episode, either."
"That's right. They'll spend spies now, instead of reporters," He predicted.
"It's just a photo," Dechen shrugged. "Will they really notice it?"
"Yes, they both have technology that will pick up on this," Sonam answered.
"My face is known to both governments. Their tech has probably already recognized it from this," Andromeda gestured to the paper Sonam continued to hold. Even if the tech somehow hadn't caught her, she clearly did not belong in the photo.
Klahan frowned, the problem dampening his patriotic mood. "What should we do?"
"We have to cut our time here short," Sonam concluded. He turned to Andromeda. "Return to camp immediately. We're leaving tomorrow morning. The only bad thing about this whole news debacle is that you've been exposed. You must stay hidden among us from now on." He held the paper up towards Tshering's cousin. "I'm taking this with me."
The teen was justifiably put out. He had been so excited to show them this news, but it turned out to be awful for them.
Tshering offered him a smile. "Hey, you did good telling us about this. It helped the cause, but the work is hardly over."
Sonam looked around the living room. "Kid, you have a phone somewhere I can use?"
Andromeda had been given an order. She left the house and went back across the village. Everyone else stayed behind, presumably waiting for Sonam to tell them what to do next.
The truck bed was much fuller when she returned. It didn't quite have everything yet, but she told the driver to take it out into the jungle anyway, on Sonam's order. She hopped into the passenger seat and they were off.
There was way more to do at camp than in the village. Andromeda was kept busy for much of the day and night, sorting the new supplies and packing up. Those who had stayed at camp were leery when she told them Sonam wanted to move out in the morning; it was only when more people came back from the village that they believed her and joined her efforts.
The camp began moving at dawn. By then, all copies of the Lucian paper had been pulled form the store, and the rumor among the camp was that the article had been taken down from the news website. Sonam said nothing about this development, but assured that he still had his copy. It was probably the only copy left in all of Galahd, the rest having been burned.