The skirmishes that occurred around Galahd had little effect on the Imperials as they bolstered their presence there. The large military base positioned on the main island now had a command center, a barracks, and a storage bay—despite the rebels' efforts to halt construction.
Sonam knew their skirmishes did nothing. The rebels were eager after their victory at the easternmost base, yet he was cautious after his appearance on international news with Andromeda. Finally, seeing that something had to be done, he came up with a plan for their next big attack.
Most of the camp gathered before him shortly before he planned to set out to meet with another camp. As the base still lacked thick concrete walls and a gate, getting in would be easy. Their tactics would have to adjust for that.
"You all know a lot more Imperials have come from Niflheim to snoop around," Sonam began. "Each general has brought their personal troops with them. If you thought we've faced a lot before, there's only more ahead of us."
His words didn't discourage anyone. All villages and towns had reported their frequent visits, which made it impossible for the rebels to go near them. They had to depend on locals to bring supplies to them. In the rebellion's inactivity, Imperials had no only searched for rebels, but harassed civilians and disrupted their daily lives.
"They still have big plans for that new base. Our scouts have reported that a whole slew of generals have stopped there to see the progress," Sonam continued. "Our camp will be joined by two others, Harta and Wangchuk. Together we'll have the numbers we'll need. The base will be easy to get into, but remember to be aware of your surroundings and keep vigilant. The Imperials are learning our tactics, and that makes them more forceful."
He looked at Andromeda, who stood at the front of the crowd. "You may use your magic this time. Those generals already know you're here somewhere—it's time to give them a good scare now that so many have come and brought their tin soldiers."
She gave a nod to that. She shared in the restlessness of her comrades, and was only too eager to use the chaos again. The Imperials had forced her into hiding, and that kept her from healing potential Scourge victims and fulfilling her oath. She was getting frustrated with hiding.
Several people whooped at Sonam's words. Everyone present liked the idea of scaring generals and chasing them out of the islands. It was what would gain Galahd its independence. With nothing more to say, Sonam led his war party to the rendezvous point.
Though it was too close for comfort, Sonam had had his camp set up a half-day's journey from the central base. It was risky enough that he had even returned to the main island so soon, but there had been no further sightings of Lucians. Once they destroyed everything they could at the base, they would go to the western island.
The rendezvous point was just north of the base, in a glade. Harta had already arrived with her camp, and Wangchuck and his camp arrived shortly after Sonam's. That they met in the open like this meant that there was no haven nearby to hide on. The rebels would not have an advantage on this attack.
By now, Sonam's camp had teamed up with the handful of others that existed, and that made their members familiar with one another. Because of this, it only took fifteen minutes for Sonam and the two other leaders to make last-minute touches to their plans and arrange everyone in groups.
As they marched towards the base, the other two camps had their groups fan out to the east and west as they moved south. Sonam's camp went directly for the base. Andromeda was in the front with the runners armed with bombs. Their leader was close by.
The finished buildings could be seen some ways away before the rebels broke out of the jungle. Without any walls to protect them, the base was simply heavily patrolled by MTs. They were scattered about the open area between the trees and the buildings, and among the buildings, outnumbering the human workers that were just beginning work on the walls. There was still heavy equipment in the area, yet they were no longer relevant. It would be pointless to destroy them when the Empire would just replace them. They provided good cover.
Once they finally broke through the treeline and into the open field, the first groups broke into a run towards the patrolling MTs and the base. Other rebels came out from the east and west at the same time, following Sonam's charge.
"Do it now," He ordered Andromeda.
The chaos came easily to her. She was somewhat relieved to summon it; with all that was going on, she had felt held back and restless. It wasn't always easy to keep from summoning chaos.
Giving their collective scream, most of the MTs dropped their weapons as they lunged at the humans. The first group threw their bombs at them as they collided, then kept running past them. They pulled out their own weapons as they went for the base.
The explosions were big, products of bombs that were meant for tougher obstacles. The rebels gave them a wide berth as they engaged other MTs on their way to infiltrate the base. The blasts from the explosives were followed by the deafening siren of the base.
MTs began pouring out of buildings and other hiding places. There was so much movement of people and MTs clashing together. The workers abandoned their construction and fled to other buildings. The rebels did not pursue them—they weren't fighting, and they were human. The rebellion still did not take lives. Whatever the chaos made MTs do was entirely the Empire's own fault, flawed logic or not.
With the first patrols taken out by bombs, the rebels easily slipped into the base. Andromeda's chaos caused the MTs to abandon their programmed protocols; they did not attack based on the orders of generals. They did so wildly, like daemons armored against the sunlight. No one had control of them now.
Gone rogue, they took risks in combat that exposed their weak spots, which the rebels took full advantage of. They were probably more deadly this way, preferring to rip and tear opponents with their claws. It was a risk worth taking for the rebels, though.
As always, Andromeda and Sonam stuck together as they fought their way through to the base. Their goal was to destroy the communications towers again—it had worked well last time, but it was on top of the same building that the generals were holed up in. It would take the fight to their faces, but humans were not driven mad by the chaos; they would be much smarter than their robots.
Rabid MTs targeted them as much as they did anyone else. Sonam and Andromeda tried to make the resulting explosions damage equipment nearby. It was a well-established tactic among his camp by now as a few others joined them in destroying the above-ground fuel tanks, causing a massive explosion that they all fled from. Some still ended up taking damage from metal shrapnel.
Soon after the rebels had infiltrated the base, mechs appeared. Five people must have managed to dodge the MTs to get to them. The automatons sometimes targeted the mechs, but the rebels on the ground made for easier prey.
Previous battles had had only one or two mechs at the base—five was a lot, even for three camps. The rebels tried to avoid them, but the mechs were persistent. Small groups gathered to engage them, and keep them busy.
Andromeda and Sonam avoided the mechs as much as they could, although they were swiped and shot at. They remained focused on their objective. He called a couple of rebels to follow them. With MTs chasing them, they charged to the command center.
One of the mechs stepped in the way, guarding the building as they closed in. Some of their group faltered in their step. The MTs were right behind them; they were getting pinched. The group turned to grapple with the MTs, rather than the mech.
Focusing for a moment, Andromeda managed to will a shadow to slap into the mech from the side. It only caused it to stumble off to the side, but it bought them just enough time to get by it. As the mech recovered, the others had managed to pull the cores from the MTs. With the mech staggered, they all ran towards it and the doors of the command center. At the last second, they turned sharply away from both. The MTs were not as quick to change direction and crashed into both the doors and the mech. They exploded on impact.
Once the debris settled and the MTs were still, the rebels stormed the command center. Inside was just as chaotic as out: there were MTs waiting inside as well. There were plenty of people inside, and their screams could be heard as the MTs attacked them just the same.
The group remained focused. Andromeda had spied on this base a couple of times already; she led the group to the stairs. They began climbing quickly, still pursued by MTs from behind. Some also came down the stairs at them—if they were far enough ahead, they were gunned down. If they were closer, they were slammed against the walls and had their cores removed. The rebels booked it up the stairs even more to avoid the explosion. It helped to slow the other MTs down below.
About halfway up, a human general appeared from one of the floors. He came down at them with a sword drawn. Sonam lunged and tackled him against the wall. He was cut deeply in the shoulder while disarming the other man, but he managed to do it. He then continued to lead the others upwards, acting unbothered by the gash. There was no time to inspect it. Some MTs broke away to attack the general while he was still dazed.
Still some more MTs came upon them on the stairs, having been positioned on every level. Andromeda focused a little again to urge a shadow to knock them against the walls. They were stunned long enough that the rebels could get by.
Soon after, they finally reached the roof. They ran at the towers. The wind from the chaos was strong enough to make the metal beams groan. The siren was located next to the communications towers; this close, nothing else could be heard. As the MTs funneled out of the door behind the rebels, the humans turned to face them.
In the scuffle between robots and humans, the power source of the siren was soon damaged by MTs and kukris. The result was an almost deafening silence, except for the sounds of fighting. The towers took more work to be knocked down, even though their power had likewise been disabled. Plenty of MTs came through the door to be used as fodder. Even the ones that were cut down were dragged over and had their cores removed just before it naturally died out, making their bodies bombs.
As the beams finally bent and twist enough in the explosions that the towers snapped away and down onto the roof, no more MTs came through the door. A few stragglers still remained to be eliminated before the rebels could go back inside. It was a brief pause in the battle where they could take a breath and look around, albeit while malfunctioning androids jumped at their throats.
Someone came through the door as they finished their scuffles. Andromeda took a moment, then immediately remembered where she had seen that long, harsh face with the short blond hair. By the time she recognized Dalton, he already had a gun in hand and was shooting at the others.
When most of the group had taken cover away from the bullets, he turned his attention and made straight for her. The others did not interest him nearly as much. She tried to will a shadow to knock Dalton away as he advanced, but it didn't listen very well and only knocked the gun from his hand, and away from the roof entirely, down to the ground far below.
Andromeda noticed Sonam was also coming towards them. It was unclear who he was going to stop; she had a personal grudge against Dalton, for the four months he had been her handler. She didn't care about Sonam's no-kill rule at the moment.
She lunged at Dalton, her blade aimed for his throat. In a few steps, they were close. Before her kukri touched skin, he grabbed her extended wrist and yanked it well away from his throat, then twisted her arm behind her back, turning her back towards him. Her blade pressed into her left side. As Sonam closed in on them, she attempted to drop her kukri into her left hand, but Dalton latched something onto that wrist.
The dark wind immediately died and the shadows disappeared. The area appeared a little brighter in the daylight. The MTs paused as their programming kicked back in; they stood straighter, and those that held weapons took better grips of them.
Sonam, and everyone else, stopped as they realized what was happening. Dalton continued to hold Andromeda in front of him as a meat shield. She smashed the back of her head into his face. It caught him by surprise and his hold lessened slightly. He threw her to the ground. She landed on her shoulder.
"You're nothing without that power," He spat.
Dalton charged at Sonam then, despite being unarmed. As the two men fought, Andromeda recovered, pushing herself to sit up. She fumbled with the device around her wrist. She recognized the black box and strap as the ankle bracelet that could block her magic. She couldn't get it off—her fumbling resulted in a couple of small shocks that made her hand tingle.
When she became aware of the fight once more, Sonam was restrained by two MTs. Dalton turned his attention to her again. She picked up her discarded kukri and stabbed the blade into the seam of the small box, earning herself a powerful shock that went up and down her arm. Yet it achieved the desired outcome: the device fell from her wrist. She stood, her left arm numb and a little useless.
Andromeda had to focus a little more than usual to get the chaos back, but she managed it. It wasn't as powerful as it had been before: the wind wasn't as fierce and the shadows were hardly there. The area did not get any darker. Regardless, the MTs still reacted to it as they screeched together, and that was perhaps the most important part.
Sonam broke away from the two that held him as they went rogue. He came to Andromeda's side as the two androids targeted Dalton while his back was turned to them. The general turned just in time to dodge their first strike.
"We're done here! Get back to the others!" Sonam boomed, leading the way to the door.
The couple of remaining MTs followed them on the way down, but Dalton never did. It wasn't certain that he was dead. For now, getting away was more important. The MTs were feral, but Andromeda's chaos was not very strong.
The group passed by the gore of the fallen general halfway down the stairs. The MTs had torn him up, then abandoned him once he was well beyond dead. No other general appeared to try to stop them. More MTs stormed up the stairs to greet them and had to be physically beaten aside. Andromeda had no hope of using a shadow against them.
They managed to get out of the building faster than it had taken to get in; there was far less resistance left. As they left the building, they were immediately in the full brunt of the battle. Four mechs were still going strong, with the fifth hanging on. There were still so many MTs as well—more than had been destroyed already. The rebels had managed to damage a lot of equipment around the base. They focused their efforts on the mechs as the next biggest targets, although they had to split their attention between the mechs and persistent MTs.
Observing the battle field, Sonam called out, "Retreat!"
He led the way through the battle, dodging MTs as they lashed out at him. He always called for an early retreat, but this time, Andromeda had to agree with him. Her chaos would not recover from the bracelet. They had counted on an endless amount of MTs, and that hadn't been the issue. There had been too many humans, and their mechs.
Everyone followed after him, including the MTs, unfortunately. It was easy for the rebels to abandon combat with the mechs when the MTs attacked them too. The mechs were forced to attack and eliminate their own MTs, which only helped achieve what the rebels wanted.
As they left the battle, those who were still able continued to engage some MTs. As they went back out to the open field, they gained some advantage as they led the MTs away from the base. Surprisingly, only one mech pursued them while the other four remained behind.
Sonam and Andromeda stopped, mostly so he could make sure as many people as possible were retreating. They also helped winnow the number of automatons that were following them. Many others stopped to help them as well. Those that could not fight anymore could more easily flee.
The amount of MTs quickly became overwhelming. Many of the rebels who stayed started to fall back. Sonam took notice.
"Stay put!" He urged. Not everyone had managed to get away yet.
The mech had also joined this fight. It was the most important target: they couldn't let it pursue them into the jungle. Not that it would get very far, but it was piloted by a human, who would be left alive, unlike the MTs.
Without the full force of her chaos, Andromeda soon found herself overwhelmed by three MTs, all of which still reacted to the chaos's dwindling power. Two had their claws on her arms as they pulled, and the third had a claw tangled in her hair, reaching the other around to grasp her neck.
But the claw never closed over her throat. Instead, the other was ripped out of her hair and the MT to her left was stabbed from behind. It let go of her as its core was ripped out from behind. Andromeda then used her free hand to take the core out of the right MT. It also let go of her, and she and Klahan fled from the two until they exploded.
Sonam was in a similar situation, cornered by a few MTs. He managed to hold them off. His two hands came up from behind the group, stabbing at the weak points on the MTs. Sonam worked through the front of the group until a couple of cores were removed. The group of MTs thus eliminated themselves while the three of them ran.
Steadily, the overwhelming numbers became manageable. No more came from the base, as if they had finally run out of MTs. Still the other four mechs did not come out to the battle, either. The rebels' retreat was beginning to look like a victory after all.
There was sudden shouting in the fight against the mech that caught everyone's attention. Sonam, Andromeda, and Klahan approached to help, but the mech was finally struck down by the several people around it. They then moved to drag the pilot out, wasting no time on victory. Though it made no sense that they would waste time on the pilot, when they should have been retreating.
A little ways from the mech, Andromeda noticed a prone body on the ground. Two other rebels stood over it. She went towards them, assuming she would be more help to them and there were already plenty of people to handle the pilot. As she got closer, she saw a bit of blood splatter on the ground and the blank expression on the face. She broke into a run. She recognized who it was.
Tshering was on his back, whether he had fallen that way or the two standing over him had positioned him just so. He gazed blindly at the sky above. His shirt was soaked in blood as there was a large gaping hole in the middle of his rib cage, a telltale sign that the mech had run him through with its massive arm blade. As Andromeda knelt next to him, she could see deep into his insides, which was dark and red.
She looked between the wound and his face. His chest wasn't moving. Tshering had already passed on.
Sonam stood somewhere between where he laid and where the others held the pilot. She heard him give some quiet orders, but she couldn't understand what he said—it had nothing to do with what language he spoke in.
The wind, having nearly petered out, became strong gusts again as the area grew darker. Andromeda's chaos was coming back in full-force now. There was nothing she could do to stop it.
She stood and ran for the trees, away from the path of retreat.
She kept running regardless of what was coming after her or whatever orders were given. She heard none of it. The chaos was too dangerous now when they were retreating. Andromeda didn't know where she was going and was immediately lost, but she had to keep running away from the moment.
It was one thing to think that one of her friends would die—she wanted it to remain only a thought. Tshering had never been a fighter. He should have never been at the battle with them.
The chaos persisted after her, crashing through the trees. So many animals came out of hiding—more than she would have ever guessed were present. They didn't bother her as they tried to get away from the sudden storm.
Andromeda didn't know how long or far she had run before she suddenly tripped and stumbled to the ground. At that point, she simply let whatever would happen happen—even if that meant being captured or killed. She realized her face was wet and her throat tight; she had started crying at some point. Her diaphragm spasmed, desperate for breath while wracked with sobs.
Something came up behind her shortly after she had fallen. She didn't turn around to face whatever it was, but registered that it was human footsteps. Arms came around her shoulders, but they didn't try to pull her up. Hira came around to face her with her own red face. Andromeda clung to her and continued to sob. Like the chaos, there was no stopping it. Some of the noise came from Hira, too.
Even with the chaos roaring all around them, they remained knelt together on the jungle floor, clinging to each other. Only Hira took glances at their surroundings; she didn't want to die as well.
Andromeda hadn't cried like this in years—she hadn't let herself. Crying had no use, but this time, she couldn't help but give in to it. Of anyone, Tshering was the least deserving of that death: he hadn't been a fighter. He had been the first one to show kindness to her when she had arrived. Everyone else had taken much longer to warm up to her. Much of her reasoning to stay in Galahd permanently had involved him, though she had never voiced it nor pondered daydreams. There had always been more important things going on.
They had never talked about what all their private moments and affections meant. Andromeda hadn't wanted to ruin them by talking about them. Now she wished more than anything that they had established what they had been doing, and what it had meant for them.
She should have promised to take Tshering to Tenebrae. Her first experience with love was gone and over with before she even knew it.
A branch fell close to where the two women huddled together, causing both of them to jump. The chaos was especially relentless as it continued to feed off of Andromeda. She didn't try to reign it in, knowing that it wouldn't listen. She didn't have the strength to do it anyway.
Hira began to rise and pulled her up as well. "C'mon. We have to keep moving."
Andromeda followed her lead. Most of their sobbing was finished. Along with the long run they had done, both were completely exhausted. Hira kept an arm around Andromeda while they walked. She seemed to have a better sense of where they were.
The latter let herself be led along. The last time she had cried with someone like this, it had been when she was sixteen, when she had lost complete control over her power as she had just done now. The person who had come to her then had been Sheila, and Andromeda had been the only one to cry then. She wasn't the only one who had lost Tshering—everyone at camp had. And his family.
As she continued to settle down, she noticed that the jungle was getting darker. Night was coming, and this second wave of chaos still seemed to have some reserves left. Hira knew where she was going. Andromeda trusted her.
They soon spotted blue glowing runes in the distance. Some time after that, they climbed on top of the haven. The chaos still went on, but they were safe on a haven from any daemons, Imperials, or animals. They wouldn't be bothered during the night.
They didn't light a fire or find food. They just settled onto the ground and continued to hold each other. As it became too dark to see, the chaos finally died away, leaving them in complete silence. Andromeda was completely drained.
"I know you two were close," Hira mentioned quietly. Her voice still sounded too loud in the night. When Andromeda looked to her face, she added, "Well, most people at camp noticed."
"I didn't think anyone had." Andromeda looked down at the runes again. She was too exhausted to be embarrassed.
"It's a regular thing in the camps. Everyone does it," Hira said. "No one's upset that you did it, too."
Andromeda sighed. "We all lost Tshering. He was too good to die like that."
The other woman nodded. "Of all of us, he was the one that most deserved to see this through to the end. There's a shortage of young healers like him in Galahd."
They both fell quiet at that. They were too exhausted to talk. The jungle remained quiet, cautious after the storm of shadows.
They didn't really speak again as they found their way through the jungle. The camp would be in the process of moving to a new location. Hira knew her way around very well. Andromeda only followed. The two of them stuck to the trees until they absolutely couldn't, and they never saw any Imperial activity the whole way. At least the MTs were not out looking for them.
They walked for a couple of days, saying very little to each other. The exhaustion didn't quite go away with sleep for Andromeda; it lingered. She wanted to sleep for as long as she could, as if time would go back for her, and she would wake up the morning before they had set out to battle, when Tshering was still alive. But as soon as the sun broke over the horizon, Hira woke her and they continued to her destination.
She didn't take her to camp. Instead, they arrived in Tshering's home village, to the east of the main island. Soon after they arrived, they found others from Sonam's camp; they had made it shortly before the two women appeared. No one took extra precautions that they usually did while in public: no one wore masks and they walked freely out in the open.
It became a blur for Andromeda. Sonam wasn't surprised when she and Hira arrived. He barely acknowledge that they had been missing since the battle. He didn't give them any orders. He must have told them that he had already gave Tshering to his mother—how else had Andromeda come to know that?
Hira and Andromeda stuck together during their time in the village. They were silent as they knew Tshering's body was being burned on a pyre; only the family could be present for that. They did go watch as the ashes were buried in the family plot at the nearby cemetery. The ocean was too far away for the traditional service, and understandably, his mother wanted to keep him near.
Andromeda avoided his mother. The older woman hadn't wanted her to be involved with her son. Andromeda honestly didn't know what she would say to her. She only had words for Tshering, or her own mother. She wanted to talk with her mother.
Still drained emotionally and physically, Andromeda didn't pay much attention through the funeral in the village. She found that she couldn't understand the words spoken, but didn't care to have it translated for her. Everyone gave her space except for Hira. She was right: everyone had known Andromeda and Tshering had been close. Her near-catatonic state was probably also off-putting to most.
When it was over, it was time to return to camp. She and Hira fell in with the other rebels as they went back and prepared to move again. As they moved out, four guarded and guided a newcomer—a man who had been stripped down to the simplest clothes. A canvas bag had been put over his head. Despite the cover, Andromeda knew he was not Galahdian.