Clarke Griffin was exhausted, after days of bloody fighting in corridors the Ark was finally free.

She was exhausted but she still had one more thing to do before she could rest.

In the communications hub she turned to her personal guard Octavia Blake. She looked as haggard as she most likely did. She had bags under eyes and her armor was spattered in black blood.

Octavia, like herself and the rest of her Sardaukar, wore the same armor. It was the old guard uniform from the early days after the Thirteen stations joined to form the Ark, except for some additions. The old guard Uniform now had plates of titanium from salvaged Satellites incorporated into it. The plates formed greaves from ankle to knee, vambraces from wrist to elbow, low profile pauldrons, armor for the outside of the thighs, a half face shield that also functioned as an air filtration system and rebreather that was currently hanging around her neck, and a cuirass that ended at the bottom of the ribs to allow full movement of the torso.

Mistaking her staring as nerves Octavia gave her a reassuring nod and smiled a fang filled smile. Her four canines like herself and all other Sardaukar were replaced with shining metal and were longer and sharper than normal teeth. It was the mark of a fully fledged Sardaukar, something to take pride in.

She grabbed the microphone.

"People of the Ark, this is your Commander speaking. For too long have we suffered under the rule of Chancellors like Jaha, too long have our loved ones been killed for any crime, children taken away and trained to kill as I was; as all of my Sardaukar were. Chancellors have always chosen the children of those they deemed a threat to their power, to be their army and hostages both. But no longer! For the first time since Becca Franco a Commander rules the Ark, and like Becca before me I will endeavor to lead you to ground!"

Now the hard part.

"Before Jaha had my father silenced, my father discovered that our life support was failing, we have less than a year's worth of oxygen. Instead of facing the problem Jaha decided he would rather play God for his remaining time. That is why we were left with no choice but to overthrow him and when cornered he fled the Ark on board an old war missile. In the unlikely event that he survived, I will find him and bring him to justice! Now for what comes next. I have a plan to get us all to the ground but it will require everybody working together. As you know our orbit to ground navigation systems have been disrupted since we lost contact with Becca one hundred years ago. In order for the Exodus ships to safely land I will take one company of my Sardaukar to the ground by dropship to find and disable the source of the disruption so that you can follow. We willmeet again."

She switched off the broadcast. "How do you think they took the news O?"

Octavia smirked. "Listen for yourself."

She strained her ears. She heard it. It was… cheering. Her people were cheering so loud that she could hear it through the metal walls.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and smiled in relief. "Thank Becca.."

She suddenly realized how disgusting she felt still in her armor soaked with sticky black blood. She needed a shower, and to clean her armor and weapons. Her bearded axes had seen better days. "Hey O, I'm going to get cleaned up and sleep while I can, you should too. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I would kill for a shower..although I guess I already did huh?" Octavia agreed.

Clarke laughed quietly at Octavia's accidental joke. "Let's just hope this trip to Earth is more successful than Becca's."

After saying what might be their last goodbyes Clarke and her hundred Sardaukar knelt along the hallway leading to the dropship.

The high priestess of the Order of the Flame stood before her in the black robes and veil typical to her order carrying a bowl of what she knew was blood from the willing.

She also knew her as her Grandmother, on her dad Kane's side. Her Mom had been devastated to lose Jake, if it wasn't for her other husband's intervention Clarke guessed her Mom would have thrown herself into her work like she was known to do.

Her Grandmother began the pre-battle ritual.

"May the Flame guide you."

She dipped her thumb into the black blood and pressed her bloody thumb to her brow and dragged down only slightly. The mark sat below a metal circlet with the triquetra at its center, the symbol of the Commander.

The high priestess moved on to Octavia.

"May the blood keep you strong."

She moved on to her General, Bellamy.

"May we meet again."

Once she made her way all the way down the hallway marking all of the kneeling warriors and back they all stood in unison and began filing onto the dropship.

Clarke was the last to her seat. She checked that her pack stowed below her seat had everything.

It contained four camouflaged cloaks; desert, woodland, snow, and urban/night. It also contained a thermal layer that snapped into place underneath any cloak for added warmth so that the cloaks could effectively be used as sleeping bags in any weather, a compass, an old world map of the east coast, flint, high calorie ration bars, and filtration straws.

"I already double checked everyone's gear, are you doubting me Griffin?" A voice to her right said.

"Me doubt Raven Reyes? That should be illegal, in fact once everyone's on the ground I'm making that the first law." Clarke snarked at the brunette.

Raven was wearing the same armor as everyone else except that her armor plates were colored red instead of black to signify she was an engineer. Monty wore the same red.

The only difference between Raven and Monty's armor was that Raven's left greave was gone and her pant leg was rolled up exposing her prosthetic leg. She had lost her left leg from the knee down some time ago doing dangerous work Jaha had rushed. She hadn't let it slow her down in the least though.

"Good!" Raven agreed wholeheartedly.

Raven went into business mode and began doing final checks.

"We're all good here Commander, ready to launch on your orders." Raven confirmed as she strapped herself into her seat.

Clarke tapped her vocal cord/bone conducting radio. "Ark command center, this is your Commander, all systems are go. Begin launch sequence."

Her Mom's voice came over the radio. "We read you Commander, beginning countdown." Red lights flashed and a feminine voice began counting down from thirty.

"Kane and I love you Clarke, may we meet again." Her mother said just as the countdown finished and the dropship launched.

"May we meet again.." Clarke whispered to herself.

Lincoln was scouting his usual patrol when he heard a sound like the sky cracking. He had looked up to see a fireball falling from the sky but instead of crashing like he thought it would, it began to slow until it landed with a soft thumb nearby.

He was now in a tree watching the invaders mill about in the clearing their metal object had landed in. There were also two massive metal statues of headless warriors erected next to the entrance of the metal object…They were a strange sort.

While they were obviously warriors, they looked as if they had never seen a tree before. Most were armed and wore black clothing with black metal armor attached, a protective half mask, and a green cloak that helped them blend into the forest surprisingly well. They were building a perimeter wall with uncharacteristic speed.

There were only four exceptions. They had the same black clothing but two had red painted metal plates, while the other two had white painted metal plates. He was unsure as to the significance of the coloring but the four no doubt were of importance. Though they did not seem to be the leader.

A black armored woman with hair the color of the sun shouted out orders. She had a circlet on her head keeping her hair out of her face, there was a symbol at the center of the circlet but he couldn't make it out from here.

The Blonde leader had a brunette that followed her everywhere and who he could have sworn looked right at him before whispering to her leader.

The blonde was now setting up a small table and two chairs that seemed to unfold from themselves.

'What strange craftsmanship.'

She then pulled out a cylinder and pressed something. Seconds later she was pouring a steaming hot liquid into two cups.

'Strange tek as well'

He was pulled out of his musings when he noticed that the ever present brunette guard was missing.

As he was attempting to relocate her when a voice sounded below him.

"My Commander wishes to speak with you." The newly relocated brunette said.

He whipped his head down to her in surprise, she had her mask down and was smiling with sharp metal teeth replacing the four sharpest. Her smile looked like a wolf's, and She was pointing back to the clearing.

'How did I not hear her coming?'

Lincoln chanced a glance back to the clearing and saw the blonde sitting at the table staring directly at him smiling the same wolfish smile and gesturing to the other seat in invitation.

He had to report this to Anya. These people were not to be underestimated. He darted from his perch to the next tree and began darting from tree to tree as only a Triku could.

Once he was a short distance away he looked back to see how close the brunette had gotten. She was just standing there below his original spot and she was…waving.

It had been two days of waiting and Clarke was worried that she wouldn't see another 'grounder' as her people called them. She may have lost her chance to learn about the people that were impossibly still alive on Earth. They may even know what happened to Becca and her Flame.

She looked to Octavia who was sitting across from her drumming her fingers along the table. She had wanted to go searching for the grounder but they couldn't afford to make a wrong move so here they wait. "You didn't have to sneak up on the scout with your aural dampener on. You scared him off."

Octavia stopped drumming her fingers on the table. "Ya but it was hilarious, did you see him jump!?"

"Oh I did, I also saw him jump from tree to tree away like a squirrel." Clarke deadpanned.

"Ya, a shame he ran, he was pretty hunky from what I could see." Octavia said, not caring about Clarke's frustration.

Her best scout, Harper jogged up to her table. "Commander, grounders approaching. Two on horses, two dozen trailing them in the trees."

"Horses? Real horses?!" Clarke asked, blue eyes wide.

"Damnit, Zoe bet you would react that way. She's going to smug for days now." Harper grumbled.

"What did you bet?" Octavia asked with a knowing look interrupting Clarke's indignant gasp.

Harper blushed furiously and walked away.

Once Clarke had recovered from her embarrassment at being called out she turned on her radio and gave the orders she had been waiting to give. "Everyone to their positions! remember, absolutely no hostile action until i give the signal."

"Fox, Charlotte, is the dropship's first floor done being converted into an infirmary?" Clarke asked.

"Yes, Commander." Came the immediate response from her best healer, Charlotte.

"Great stay inside and be ready, I don't know how this will go. Raven, Monty, ready the paragon warsuits." Clarke gave out her last minute orders.

Her warriors opened the gates and backed off closer to the dropship so that Octavia and herself stood alone waiting to receive their guests outside of their walls.

Not a minute later a blonde intense looking woman with prominent cheekbones and warpaint rode up a short distance from them and dismounted her beautiful black horse.

The same scout from before dismounted his brown horse next to her. She could feel Octavia's joy at seeing him again.

"Hello there! Welcome! I am Clarke Griffin, Commander to my people. Clarke greeted as cheerily as she could.

The other blonde began speaking in a strange language but after she must have seen Clarke's confusion she switched to English. "You would welcome us to our own lands? What are you doing here, invader?!" The woman ordered.

'Well this is going well' Clarke thought.

"We are searching for a signal. We did not know there was anyone alive on Earth. We didn't know these were your lands, was that acidic fog yesterday your doing?" Clarke asked.

The other blonde's face filled with hatred. "The fog was the Mountain's doing." She seethe.

'So an enemy of theirs then.' Clarke surmised.

"You only speak Gonasleng, you are a stranger to these lands, what clan do you come from?" The other blonde asked suspiciously.

'Entire clans of survivors?!' Clarke thought with astonishment.

"We are from the Ark, a space station above the sky." Clarke tried to explain it in a way that made sense.

There was shock evident on the other blonde's face and..hope?

Before the woman could say anything a horn blared from the forest and the two grounder eyes widened.

"Anya! It's reapers, at least three hundred of them!" Cried a scout in a tree from behind the two grounders.

'Anya must be her name. And there's three hundred of these ripas coming. Judging by the look in their eyes, that's a bad thing.' Clarke quickly parsed what information she could.

From beyond the treeline there was the sound of metal on metal clashing, screams of both fury and pain. The sound died out and after a few seconds hundreds of grotesque monsters that were once men shambled out of the tree line.

They were armored and wielding weapons but had more in common with the dead than the living. They were emaciated husks of humans that were looking at them like a man in a desert would look at water.

"I take it these things aren't with you?" Clarke asked rhetorically.

"No..the Mountain takes our people and they only come back as these monsters. There are too many we cannot hope to survive this." She closed her eyes and breathed. "Oso gonplei ste odon." She said while drawing her sword and facing the army of monsters defiantly.

"In that case.." Clarke keyed her mic. "Battle positions!" She ordered.

Anya heard Klark give her commands then the next second archers were lining the walls of the barricade behind her and warriors were streaming through the gate and taking up positions in a shield wall formation in front of her with melee fighters close behind.

That wasn't what surprised her the most though, the metal statues Lincoln had told her about began to move. They strode through the gates and when one was near her standing at least 12' high it stopped. The dome where a head should be opened to reveal a brunette grinning at her in what she recognized as attraction.

"Watch this, cheekbones." The brunette said.

Before she could reply the dome folded back over her head once more and the metal warrior unsheathed a broadsword as tall as itself and half as wide.

It was then that Klark spoke up again shouting over everyone.

"Well don't be rude, introduce yourselves!"

In answer a chorus of a hundred shouts began.

"We are Sardaukar!"

"The Commander's blade!"

"Those who stand before us, fall!"

Klark spoke once more. "Kill them all."

"THE COMMANDER ORDERS IT. IT IS DONE."

The horde of Ripa charged.

Arrows flew with deadly accuracy from overhead, the arrows piercing all the way through Ripa and into the next. The enemy charge stumbled over their dead but kept coming.

The Ripa were stopped cold by the shield wall and began falling by the dozen as the shield wielders struck out with spears after every coordinated push of their shields. After each thrust the wall would advance a step. Any monster still clinging to life was quickly killed by those behind the wall.

Archers began focusing on the left and right flanks of the shield wall to keep them from overwhelming the line. Piles of Ripa were forming on the flanks and corralled the monsters forward.

Anya watched in awe as the massive metal warriors began running towards the shield wall full tilt, then they jumped.

The audacious brunette had said 'watch this' and she was watching… the two metal warriors soared through the air and over the heads of friend and foe alike. They landed on the far side of the horde of Ripa with a squelch. She figured it to be a suicide charge, a desperate attempt of soon to be dead warriors. Then the towering warriors began swinging their broadswords and the real slaughter began. With each powerful, wide swing dozens fell and viscera rained upon the field of battle. They were cleaving their way back towards their comrades.

With the attention off the shield wall momentarily the warriors without shields that had been previously waiting behind the wall rushed forward and jumped over the shield wall and began cutting down Ripa left and right.

"Octavia, let's join." Klark suddenly said. The blonde pulled her bearded axes from their metal rings at her hips while Octavia drew her one handed sword and a dagger in reverse grip. They too jumped over the shield wall to join the fray.

The Octavia girl was weaving through Ripa like it was a dance, spinning, and sliding. Klark..fought with a calculated rage and strength that she had never seen before. While Octavia parried and dodged strikes Klark powered through, her axes simply cutting through the poorly made weapons of the Ripa.

It was a massacre. These 'Sardaukar' were stronger than any normal warrior, they were on par with a nightblood…and then there was that symbol on Klark's circlet. Could Becca's people truly come? Had Wanheda come home at long last?

"These are no mere Gona.." Anya said, eyeing Lincoln closely.

"You believe they are Becca's lost people." Lincoln stated.

"I didn't at first, but this cannot be ignored. I must send word to the Commander." Anya confirmed.

Clarke stood among the field of dead monsters from the 'Mountain'. She needed more information on this enemy that could make monsters of men.

The battle had been too easy, and then there was their blood…it was red…Becca had failed then. Her flame and legacy were lost. Perhaps this 'Anya' knows something.

"Gather any wounded and take them to the dropship!" She called out to her warriors. "Fox, Charlotte, you have wounded incoming."

She noticed Raven jog over to Anya in her paragon warsuit, lower the visor and…wink.

'Ugh' Clarke thought as she sighed in exasperation.

As a few wounded were being hauled to the infirmary she noticed the only two serving grounders gawking at her wounded.

'Odd' she thought.

"Anya, we must clear the field of the dead. These Ripa were once your people, what funeral rights should we observe?" Clarke asked. She wanted to get off on the right foot with these people, she needed their information.

Anya whipped her head to her eyes wide.

"You are Natblida." Anya stated. At Clarke's confusion she translated. "You are nightbloods, your blood is black. How is this possible?"

Clarke stopped dead in her tracks towards the woman, Octavia right behind her. 'They recognize our blood. Perhaps Becca's legacy lives on, perhaps even her flame survives.' She thought.

Her thoughts gathered, she finally responded to the question. "All of my people are Nightbloods, it is the first Commander's legacy and I carry her flame. Do you know about it?" She asked, eyeing Anya closely for a reaction.

She could see the recognition in Anya's face. There was no doubt she knew.

"So it is true, Becca's people have finally come home...Wanheda." Anya answered cryptically.

"You know of Becca! Tell me, did her flame survive? Also what is 'Wanheda'? Clarke asked with excitement gesturing wildly.

Anya raises an eyebrow at the gestures. "Her flame survives in our current Commander, Wanheda is the prophesied second Commander destined to end the threat of the Mountain forever. The Mountain men burned Becca at the stake a hundred years ago, they were meant to help us and Becca but they betrayed her."

Just then Monty came running up from the dropship after dropping off his warsuit. "Clarke! I just checked the scans, the signal is coming from Mount Weather, it's not just a disruption, they're jamming us."

Clarke was shaking in rage now. 'They betrayed Becca, made her people into monsters for a hundred years, and trapped the Ark in space all this time..she was going to tear the mountain down with her bare hands if need be!'

Clarke turned back to Anya trying and failing to suppress her anger. "We will avenge Becca, free your people from the Mountain's evil, and stop the signal keeping my people trapped in space. Red blood will run ankle deep in their halls and the Mountain will fall." She seethed.