Chapter 13

"You're such an idiot! I should hurt you…"

"I'm already hurt," I pointed out dully.

Leviathan turned to look at me, her face serious but her eyes laughing. "Why didn't you call for reinforcements? You're making quite a habit of coming back here all banged up"

I shook my head and looked at her evenly. "Tell me, Fairy, would you have called reinforcements?"

She pulled her eyes away from mine in embarrassment. "…I understand your point. But you still should have radioed us to tell us what was going on!"

"What, and risk being relieved of my head while blathering to you?" I barked a short, sarcastic laugh. "Or perhaps Zero could have proven himself a gentleman and sat and waited patiently while I called and told everyone about our little quarrel."

"Oh, stop it," Leviathan growled. "When I want your sarcasm, I'll ask for it." She sighed, seating herself on a chair near my bed.

I moved uncomfortably under the sheet. The gash on my ribs was mostly healed, but the dull ache was still there, and my body felt like a single, large bruise. I had presently phased off a couple parts of my armor; really just my helmet and jetpack to make it easier to lie down. Now that I was comfortable and in no danger of bleeding to death, it seemed that I was fair game for Leviathan's ire.

"Anyway," she said, her voice softening just a bit, "I'm glad you're okay. I remember Zero did a pretty good number on me way back when, too." She shrugged. "And I even had the field advantage."

I had decided not to tell anyone that I had, in fact, emerged from the battle victorious. In my present state, it was easy to believe that I had lost. I could not say what, exactly, it was that caused me to remain silent. Perhaps I only wanted to give Zero this one last chance to preserve his honor. My pride would take a back seat. Besides, it's not like it makes any real difference; we're both alive. On top of that, if I said I had beaten him Fefnir would either be very disappointed, or he wouldn't believe me, anyway. Probably the later.

"I appreciate the concern, Leviathan, but don't you have work you need to be doing?" I wondered.

"Ah, you're more important than a few piles of papers," she smiled, mussing my hair as though I were a child.

"Don't do that," I grumbled.

"Oh, touch-y," she sniffed indignantly, then let out a childish giggle. "Funny, I didn't even know you have green hair until now."

"Well, I do," I said dryly. "Do you have a problem with that?" She immaturely stuck out her tongue. "Leviathan, I think we need to talk about your behavior lately."

She gave me an innocent, "Whatever do you mean?" glance, trying to make her eyes seem even more large and watery than usual. It had no effect on me.

"What's all this enmity with Mayu?" I pressed. "Why would you pick a fight with her for no reason? All she was doing was sparring with Fefnir."

I thought her cheeks flushed slightly, and the expression on her face screamed "Deer in the headlights."

"Uhm…" she gathered her thoughts for a moment, looking everywhere but at me. "Well, I-you-he-she-"

"You're going to run out of pronouns if you keep that up," I put in sardonically.

"I just don't like her okay? I don't trust her." She stared hard at some invisible point in the air.

"Leviathan, you are the fourth Guardian of Neo-Arcadia. You should know better than to be this petty." Somehow, I attempted to look authoritative even while lying in a medical ward cot with my hair tangled around my face in an unruly fashion.

"I'm not being petty, I'm just being honest," she protested, still not looking at me.

"Picking a fight without cause other than 'You don't like her' is what I would consider petty," I pointed out. "Feel free to dislike her. No one's stopping you." I propped myself up on my elbows. "But if you cause any more scenes like that one, I'll make sure that you have kitchen duty for a week."

That caused her to finally look at me, and it was a glare that made liquid nitrogen seem warm by comparison. "You wouldn't dare."

"I would dare," I countered. "And I will if you give me an excuse."

"Hey, none of this, now. The injured should rest, and the obnoxious should leave." Fefnir flashed me a toothy grin as he entered the room.

"Yeah, that means you, Fish-lady." A familiar little ball of light hovered about Fefnir's head.

"That kinda includes you, too, Li," Fefnir pointed out, but the sprite blatantly ignored him.

Leviathan glared at Fefnir. "I should have known you'd always take his side." She creased her brow with a dark scowl. "Well, I no longer like the company here. I'm leaving."

"That was the general idea," Fefnir nodded. Leviathan honored him with a stony glare as she left.

"So…" he began after she was gone. "Got thrashed pretty good, huh?"

I managed an ironic grin. "You should've seen the other guy."

"Land some good hints?"

I propped myself up against the pillow. "Oh, yeah." Somehow, Fefnir was the one person that, one on one, I could allow myself to be completely casual with. By mutual, unspoken agreement, I supposed we were best friends.

"Harpy-boy got whooped on!" Oh yeah. And then there's the cyber-elf. Fefnir and I both spared a look at the fairy for a brief second.

"I'd like to see you do better, ya little shrimp," Fefnir mocked, poking a finger in her direction. He turned back to me. "So, seriously; how bad did you nail him?"

"Seriously…" I repeated, "Pretty good. Even got him full on with the lightning. Twice." I mentally reminded myself not to tell the rest.

"And he was still standing after that?" Fefnir blew his breath through his teeth. "Is anything ever gonna bring him down?"

"Only time will tell." I shrugged noncommittally. "Anyway, I just need to hurry up and get out of this bed. I was intending to schedule a meeting with the governor about opening a new facility for creating more pantheons. The X-drones have been in short supply, and the shipment is overdue. I think we need our own factory."

Fefnir shrugged. "I could do it for you. Believe it or not, I've caught up on my paperwork." He gave me a laughing smile. "And some of yours, too."

I sank back into the pillow. "I can't even begin to express my gratitude."

"Hey, don't just thank me," he shrugged. "Fairy's done a pretty good chunk, too."

"Really?" I wondered, surprised. "With all the goofing around she does, I wouldn't think she'd have the time."

"Eh, she's not as bad as you think." He pulled a chair nearer the bad and sat down. "She's not always a bubblehead."

"Yeah, I know," I agreed. "She just tends to act childish."

"Tell me about it," Fefnir grumbled. "I still can't figured out what is up with her and Mayu." He attempted to strike a "dashing" pose. "Maybe they were fighting over me…"

I gave him a bored look. "And maybe pigs will sprout wings and fly."

"Hey, it could happen," Fefnir replied amicably, refusing to be daunted.

"Or maybe they both like Harpy-boy!" Li proclaimed, standing nimbly atop the bed post.

"I think I liked Fefnir's idea better," I decided out loud. "Oh, yeah, we got kind of off the subject, here."

"Right," Fefnir nodded. "We were talkin' 'bout meetin' with the governor. I think it's a woman. Anyway, I said I'd go for you."

I shook my head. "I don't know, Fefnir; how good do you think you are in politics?"

"Hmm…" He scratched his chin. "I think this brings us back to your winged pigs…"

"Don't worry about it," I assured my friend. "I'll be fine soon, and I can go. In fact, I really should get out of this bed now." I attempted to rise, but Fefnir forced me back with a hand to my chest.

"You're stayin' right where you are. You've deprived yourself of enough rest already." He gave me a stern look, frowning in a serious manner that hardly befitted his usually jovial personality.

"But I have duties-"

"Screw the duties," he interjected. "I'm perfectly capable of handling your so-called 'duties.' Paperwork may be monotonous, but it's far from difficult." He grinned again. "And I'm sure you know I'm just fine at bossin' people around." Despite his seeming confidence, I knew that Fefnir had always been relatively uncomfortable with leadership. He normally let me and Leviathan give the orders, although he himself was a very capable leader.

"…Whatever you say, Fefnir," I said at last. I knew that he would not back down and I did not want to argue with a friend. Fefnir was quite possibly the only person that I did not argue with, and I did not intend for that to change.

"Well, I've got work to do." He plopped a familiar-looking deck of playing cards on the table next to me. "Keep yourself occupied."

I stared silently at the cards as he left, wondering if he knew that I did not know a single game.

Li landed on the box and looked at it curiously. "We could build a card house," she suggested.

"Why didn't you go with Fefnir?" I muttered disdainfully. "I thought you were going to stay with him."

"I don't remember saying that," she snapped. "When will you get it through your head that I'm here to stay?"

I thought back to my and Fefnir's conversation. "When pigs fly."

"What's a pig? Does it have wings?" Li pulled a card from the box and tried to hold it up in front of her, although it was bigger than she was. "Wow, what a … scary looking guy." She teetered back while holding the card and fell off of the table, landing on the floor below with a squeak.

"Nice," I muttered dryly. Man, I need to get out of here.

I got my wish two hours later when the medical staff told me that I was perfectly fine and no longer needed to remain. They recommended extra rest, but I think that they knew as well as I did that I would not take their advice. My mind was numb from Li's chatter which, for the most part, lacked any manner of intelligence, and I grabbed Fefnir's cards, intending to return them to him and inform him that I was leaving for my meeting. I hoped that the secretary I had talked to the other day had been successful in scheduling the correct timeslot.

Fefnir, of course, complained that I should not be out of bed, but I shrugged it off, leaving. I also "discussed" the matter with Li for a good fifteen minutes, eventually convincing her to stay on the base. It actually was not so much convincing as it was waiting until she was distracted and sneaking off.

I went in style, taking one of the base's military-owned cars to the massive city hall. It was a towering building with gold-tinted windows covering it from top to bottom; impressive, but I and the other Guardians had been displeased with it when Copy X had seen to its construction; tall and covered with excess glass, we agreed that he may as well have painted a sign that said "target" on it. Even Phantom had quietly disagreed with the plans, but would never have shared such a thing with his master. Copy X had always seemed a bit taken with extravagance.

Eventually, we planned to tear it down and build something more defensible, but we hardly had time for such things at present, and by the time we did, the threat of attack would be gone, making rebuilding it unnecessary. Sometimes you just can't win. I parked the car in the reserved parking and walked to the front double-doors, consciously making my gait quick and confidant and my gaze intimidating and cold- all the while wondering how many more messes I would discover that my old "master" had left for me to clean up. As if this war isn't a big enough mess. I could hardly feel the same respect that I once had for Copy X. The decisions he had begun making- especially toward the end- never seemed prudent to me. Fefnir and Leviathan, I knew, felt the same.

"Sage Harpuia. I'm here for a meeting with Governor Makay."

The secretary had not been looking in my direction, and my abrupt announcement startled her into dropping whatever she had been holding- I think it was a stapler. "Y- yes sir!" She exclaimed awkwardly, obviously never having dealt with a military higher-up before. I stared at her evenly, adding to her nervousness. I was inwardly amused that she was getting herself so worked up, but a slight bit alarmed at the same time. A human has no reason to fear me. I smiled inwardly. Unless, of course, she thinks her job could be at stake.

"Ms. Makay, the general is here to see you," she said hurriedly into an intercom. The reply was short and faint enough that I could not quite hear. It did not sound overly happy.

I was pointed through another door, down the hall, and into a large, comfortably decorated but not opulent office. A middle-aged woman sat behind an expensive mahogany desk. She had closely cropped blonde hair which was developing a smattering of gray streaks through it, testament that she was too proud to dye it. Her face was lined, perhaps a small amount more than what woman her age would normally have, and she wore a severe, alert expression. Her gray eyes were deep-set, and almost as piercing as my own.

Elena Makay met me with no sings of a friendly gesture in her demeanor, and nodded curtly to a chair. I chose to remain standing, perhaps just to spite this humorless individual. I noticed a recent picture on her desk; herself bearing a joyous smile, and two young children; probably grand-children. Not always so cold, are you?

No hint of that happy entity was there now. Her conduct was all business, masking perhaps a touch of contempt. "I'm quite certain that you are not making a social call, General Harpuia, so let us skip the pleasantries, shall we?"

I nodded almost imperceptibly, matching her expression of cold indifference. "You are quite right, of course, Governor Makay," I acknowledged. " I do not make social calls. I am here to see about that late shipment of pantheons and to discover what has held them up."

"They were never shipped," she answered shortly, never blinking or removing her gaze from mine.

Frustration welled up inside of me, but I forced it down, keeping my face an impassive mask. "And why, pre tell, would that be?"

She frowned, creasing her lined face even more. "Because there was nothing to ship. We are in the midst of an energy crises, remember; most of out factories have shut down indefinitely."

I sighed, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. "We need those drones. The Resistance has been growing more bold, and will continue to gain power if we do not do something about it."

She looked up toward the ceiling, over at the picture on her desk, and then back at me, her expression softening almost imperceptibly. "You do realize, Sage Harpuia, that there are those who do not agree with your war. Some humans even go so far as to say that the Resistance should prevail."

I narrowed my eyes in a questioning manner. "And are you one of those humans, Governor Makay?" I sat straight backed, arms crossed, awaiting her reply.

She smiled, very subtly making her face appear years younger. "I believe that nothing comes without a price, General." Her smile turned to an ever-deepening frown and she folded her hands on her lap. "Especially not peace."

This time it was my turn to smile, albeit emptily, and nod to her response. "Wise words indeed. I only do what I can to bring this war to a close. Unfortunately, to reach that goal, we must fight. In this case, the ends justify the means, I suppose."

She chuckled in the back of her throat, a sound that was anything but merry. "Yes, I suppose. And now we come back the other problem of the pantheons. You claim you need them, we need the energy. I'm afraid we seem to be at a stalemate."

I narrowed my eyes to threatening slits. "Do remember who you are speaking to. I have the power to simply order it done, you realize this."

Her gaze was equally hard when she answered. "But you would not, would you? Not if it could badly hurt the humans in a long run."

"What I need is a factory completely owned an operated by the military. The human's physical comfort can take a back seat to their physical safety."

"And what are you going to run it on?" She barked a short, curt laugh. "Willpower? I think not."

I caught myself biting my lower lip, and by the taste in my mouth, I may have actually drawn blood. "And what would you do, Ms. Makay?" I asked, my tone mildly condescending.

"Oh, I never said that I could make better decisions than you; I am merely informing you of our position. You may do or think what you will with the information."

"I know that the energy is a problem," I began darkly, "But we simply must have a facility to create these drones; we cannot afford more late or canceled orders."

"And I suppose that if I refuse, you will take matters into your own hands?" She reploid coldly.

I nodded. "If I must."

She gave a short, exasperated sigh. "Is that how all you military types think? Don't you ever stop to think about the consequences of your actions to the general public?"

I nodded once. "Of course. But the consequences of not setting up an adequate defense are much more dire."

"But where should we draw the line?" she pressed. "The energy supply has been getting lower and lower; I fear if a new factory begins producing, then it could knock out power for a large population of the city."

"Perhaps not," I said, thinking. "A cave has been recently discovered by the survey team, and there is a high possibly that we could mine energy crystals from it. We were getting some very good readings."

She looked thoughtful. "Would it be enough to run a factory?"

I shrugged very slightly. "One can only hope. But the fact remains that we need our own factory to produce the drones, or the Resistance may actually hurt us in battle…"

She placed her hands on her desk, defeated. "Do your worst, then." A wry smile passed briefly over her thin lips, and her eyes sparkled with just the faintest amount of concealed humor. "I suppose that this really was only pleasantries. You know, I am certain, that you do not need to go through me to get what you want."

I frowned. "I am not a dictator."

"I know," she nodded. "But others don't seem to." The wry smile was back. "People like you and me have to fight to earn our respect; you on the battlefield, I in politics." She shrugged her frail looking-shoulders. "I would imagine that neither of us would be much good stuck in the other's shoes."

"Are you saying I'm a bad politician?" I accused.

"Of course you are," she chuckled. "You're too honest."

I allowed myself a quiet laugh at that. "Well, this has been a bit more… pleasant… than I had feared. I trust then you'll take care of the arrangements.?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Of course. Now, I imagine that you have work to do; I know I do. A good day to you General."

I nodded politely. "And to you, Governor." I left the office, noting to myself how right she was about my having work to do. If Mayu was correct, The Resistance would be attacking- or attempting to- sometime during the earliest hours of the morning. We needed to prepare. I knew that the others had already devoted their energy to it, but I had been distracted and busy with other concerns. Now, I forced my mind to turn to battle tactics as I drove. One thing's for sure; it's going to be a long night.

Aztec Falcon and I waited patiently on top of the air force base. Phoenix Magnion was a short distance away, also watching and biding his time until the inevitable attack would come. I glanced at Falcon, who seemed slightly anxious. I did not blame him, since we had been here since twenty-three hundred hours, and it was almost oh-three hundred now. Four hours. My come unit blinked, clicking twice, and then went dead again. That's it; they've arrived. The double-click was Fefnir's sign to me that the sabotage team was inside and ready to do their dirty work. I did not realize that I was biting down on my lower lip until I tasted the small drop of blood that had formed there. I clamped my jaw shut. Now, it was just a waiting game. We had agreed to maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary. All I could do was wait with my other aerial soldiers and hope that Fefnir's team was successful. Most of the Jin'en army was still standing by, awaiting the main ground-attacking force. Fefnir himself was inside, along with Leviathan- who had insisted that she accompany him, and therefore, Cerussite was present, as well. Arcan was also part of the small squadron, and the rest of the soldiers I could not have named to save my life.

Unfortunately, that left that Rekku Army- myself included- to await the inevitable air strike. The pilots were ready to scramble to their jets, and those of us with our own means of flight stood by to combat the smaller, more agile jetpack users, although I was fairly confident that I could take down an air-craft or two.

I looked around at my men, who were all ready for flight, whether by wings, built-in boosters such as my own, or jetpacks. One rather small-looking soldier seemed to be having trouble with his pack. I sighed, mildly exasperated that the problem had not been fixed beforehand. Fefnir's team could be fighting right now. It's more likely than not. Why aren't all of my men ready? I stalked over to the short reploid who had inadvertently sparked my annoyance and crossed my arms, glairing down at him in what was probably a menacing manner.

He did not seem to notice that I was there for a moment, looking down at the strap on his jetpack. He barely came up to my chest. I cleared my throat, and he looked up slowly, finally meeting my eyes- and craning his neck to do so. He gave a strange little smile that dissipated into a confused expression, which in turn changed to something in between the two that I could not quite identify.

"What seems to be the problem?" I growled, in no mood for cheerful "How do you do?"

"Uhm… He looked down at his pack again, and then back up at me. "…I think my pack's too big."

"They don't come in child's size," I snapped. "You're obviously not made for combat; what are you doing here?"

He shrugged uncertainly. "Well, really, I'm the bookish type… I- I didn't really… uhm… didn't volunteer for this." He swallowed. "I'm- I mean, not that fighting for the cause is a bad thing, I just… well, they said I was small and lightweight, so they slapped a jetpack on my back and, well, here I am."

Is this another practical joke? I realized that I was gnawing viciously at my lower lip, and stopped. One of these days, I swear I'm gonna chew it right off… "How long have you been in the Rekku forces? I know I never assigned you there myself."

He blinked. "Oh, about six or seven months ago. You know, when-"

"I know what happened seven months ago, " I said brusquely. I had been very quickly put in charge of Neo-Arcadia, since Phantom and Copy X were dead, and members of the specialized forces had been drafted from our other areas by the more experienced members. Whoever drafted this guy obviously had poor judgment. The little reploid's over-sized goggles did nothing so much as remind me of large spectacles, further reinforcing my opinion that he looked as though he belonged in research.

"What is your name?" I sighed.

"Junto, sir. I was in research before this."

I knew it. It seemed that whoever Junto's creator was, he had made him to be a stereotype. "All right, Junto, if you make it out of here alive, I'll see to it that you're put back in research. You don't belong here."

"Th-thanks, sir!" He smiled brightly, and I found myself struggling not to think of him as a child.

I moved on, checking for anything else amiss. Things have gotten way too lax around here. As if to prove my point, I heard a burst of low, very immature tittering from my right. I turn to the offending two soldiers. "That sort of behavior is for schoolgirls," I spat, vexed. "We are about to go into battle. What could possible be funny?"

One looked at the other sheepishly, and the other shook his head. "Er… nothing, sir."

"Nothing?" I prompted. When I was met with silence, I said, "What are your names?" The second one, a man with a shock of flaming red hair, answered for the both of them.

"I'm Arod; he's Hasufel, my brother." He nodded to his blonde companion.

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. 'What kind of names are those?"

Hasufel shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it came from an old book or something."

"Well," I said shortly, "you can giggle and gossip and discuss literature all you want while you perform kitchen duty after this is over." Their faces fell, and I stalked away.

I felt a light touch on my shoulder, and turned to see Falcon standing behind me.

"Friend… I know you are nervous, and so are we all. Please do not make it unnecessarily worse on the men."

I nodded in understanding, allowing some of the stiffness to fall away from my posture. Had the advice come from anyone else, I probably would have quickly grown indignant, but since it was Falcon, I forced myself to stop and consider the wisdom of his words, and in the end I had to agree.

"…I'm sorry. You're right… friend." We walked back to our original vantage point and continued watching the star-flecked night sky for the dark shapes that would mean our battle had come.

After a few moments of silence, I became aware of a low thumping and the steady pounding that meant gunfire. I glanced at Falcon and then Magnion, but we all held our silence… I'm counting on you, Fefnir. Don't let me down. This went on for a good fifteen minutes without pause, and I prayed that the jamming signal was enough to stop them from calling off the rest of the attack. We have them now. And as an afterthought, Thank you Mayu. This time, you came through.

The distant-sounding explosions stopped for the moment and we all waited in silence once more, not sure what to expect. Every eye was trained to the sky. Oh-three hundred hours and twenty one minutes.

"This information contact," Falcon said quietly. "How reliable do you think she is? Are you sure she covered everything?"

I thought objectively about it for a moment. "I'm afraid this is only the second chance she has had to prove herself. The first time, she showed up too late with too little information." I paused and smiled wryly, although in the dark I doubted anyone could see it. "I personally would trust her with my life, since she's saved it- several times, now that I think about it."

"She's that powerful?" Falcon wondered, a bit surprised.

"Not powerful. Smart. When she knows something, she knows it well." I shrugged. "Of course, if she doesn't, she covers it up by cracking jokes about it."

"Sounds like Fefnir," Falcon said dryly.

The sound of gunshots began again, and I glanced at Falcon warily, wondering what kind of trouble Fefnir's small team had run into. We waited in the darkness for another five minutes before… there. I was probably the first to spot them with my keen eyes; the running lights had been removed and they were still far off on the horizon, but they were there. I elbowed Falcon and pointed.

"I don't…" He concentrated on the direction I had indicated. "I see them." His stance changed ever so slightly into one ready for battle. Magnion picked up on this, and he, too, spotted the incoming force. It spread like a wave over the Rekku army, each individual preparing for battle with this enemy of the humans. And they still have no idea that we're here.

The men grew antsy, and I could hear the collective shuffling of feet across the rooftop. They knew that they were to wait until I gave the order to attack, but that did nothing to make the waiting any easier. The force was fast drawing near. I shot a glare over my shoulder, and the men nearest me fell quiet and still. Quickly, the idea caught on, and the night was bathed in utter silence- a silence which was soon broken by the steady thrumming of many engines.

I could begin to make out more detail now; Mayu's estimate had been off, but only by about fifty. There were more aircraft than I had hoped, but they would be turned away just as easily. I realized that my deactivated sabers were in my hands, and I wondered briefly when they had gotten there. Seeing me prepare to arm myself, the Rekku army did the same, quickly, efficiently, and silently. At least they're trained well in some areas.

I could now discern the buzzing roar of jetpacks, and if I concentrated my vision on the approaching force, I could just make out the glow of the turbines. Closer. We need to wait until they're closer… They were no more than five miles away now, and closing that distance fast. Falcon and Magnion tensed, wings stretched behind them in anticipation, ready to take flight. Three miles.

Still, I waited, my feet firmly planted in place, but ready to launch myself into the air at any second. One mile. Almost… I tensed, ready to give my signal. A quarter mile. Now. I leapt into the air, screaming a deafening battle-cry, flaring my sabers to life. The response was a roar from my army and the sound of five hundred booster turbines activating at once as I lead my charge against the enemy.

The first wave that I met was a group of laser-canon wielding reploids equipped with jet boosters. Unfortunately for them, I possessed far greater maneuverability, and the laser canons, had I allowed them to make contact with my armor, did nothing but leave little, pitted scorch marks. I slashed through the barrel of one such reploid's gun and followed up with a sweep of my second saber through his head, dividing him at the jaw. Blood spewed from the corpse, and without someone to control it, the jetpack sent the body flying into the roof of the air-force base, where it exploded in a bright flare of light.

Rather than admire my fireworks, I continued flying though the ranks, my blades held straight out at my sides to cleave any passing soldiers. Magnion flew above me, Falcon below me, and in unspoken agreement we headed for our intended target; the first of the jets.

The sharp-pointed aircraft was black as jet, and almost impossible to see from above, but from below, the stars gave enough light to the sky to reveal the dark silhouette. Once we were clear of the jetpack soldiers, my two avian companions veered to either side of me and slightly behind, creating a V-shaped battle formation. The jet opened fire on us, and we were forced to break off in three directions to avoid it, I flying up and over the top. As I did, I stabbed one fiercely growing blade in through the glass of the cockpit. It was reinforced, but my beam-saber still left a melted gash on its crystalline surface. If I managed the time to make a more sure, decisive cut, it would probably slice right through…

Magnion and Falcon came at the aircraft from both sides, claws extended; Magnion's burning, Falcon's sparking., Falcon struck first, ripping a large chunk of metal plating from the nose of the craft. Magnion assaulted the fuselage, melting into the thick, metal skin with his talons, creating a smoking gash as the obsidian fighter-jet shot past. Refusing to back down, the pilot turned the machine to face us again, continuing to fire steadily in our general direction. Fortunately, "general" was not close enough, and the shots passed by harmlessly, since accuracy from a larger artillery such as that was not adept at hitting small, agile targets. My birdlike compatriots flew rapidly after it, but I deactivated my boosters instead, allowing myself to freefall until I was in the midst of the reploid-to-reploid battles. The jetpack users from the Resistance were surprisingly maneuverable, and proved to be more difficult targets than my men had apparently given them credit to be.

Halting my descent just below one such nuisance, I extended my blade and shot upward again for a short burst, slicing cleanly though his right arm and part of the booster, causing him to veer off of his intended flight pat until he joined many of his comrades in making a small fireball upon impact with the ground. Two more Resistance soldiers came at me, and I decided to ignore them in favor of my previous target; the jet. I flew straight up, kicking my feet up to "stand" upside down on the underside of the craft, plunging my daggers into its belly as it shot past, ripping two deep furrows into the metal flesh. One of my cuts caused a minor fuel-leak, and the spraying solution streamed away through the crisp autumn air. I spotted Falcon bearing down on the jet, but apparently the pilot did to, and nose-dived- right into Magnion's waiting attack. His super-heated body bursting into vermilion flames, he flapped once and charged forward, a living fireball. Although he juked upward at the last second, his blast-furnace-like heat blazed against the fighter's metallic surface, and the ruptured fuel-tank caught fire, sending a streaming ribbon of flame spewing into the night.

Realizing that his time was short, the pilot turned the craft away- and right for the air-force base. Blast it, this is going to cause serious structure damage… Then another thought struck me. Fefnir and Leviathan may still be inside; I've got to warn them, despite my order for radio silence. Before I could punch in the frequency, however, Magnion blew past me, completely ablaze. The heat of his flames was scorching, and his speed was enough to match that of the fighter's. At full speed, he rammed straight through the aircraft like a knife through butter, melting a path before him. The fuel fully ignited, and the machine erupted in a molten fireball, an explosion of light and sound. The blackened husk dropped away, landing harmlessly on the airstrip and away from the base. I did not have a chance to congratulate Magnion on his victory, however, as two more small aircraft turned their attention toward us, intent on revenge for their comrade.

Where are the rest of the Rekku forces? I wondered, growling to myself in my mind. Something go wrong down there? We need them now… As if in answer, a new engine roar reached my ears, and I knew it was not one of the Resistance's because I could tell the difference in pitch. One of the two jets blew apart in a shower of sparks and flaming debris, and the other veered away suddenly to avoid its new attacker, taking a smattering of hits on the wing. I turned to see one of my own fighters rushing toward us, and I breathed a mental sign of relief. They're okay down there, then. I looked around at my newly-arriving air-force. But wait… where are the rest of them? Indeed, there were enough to hold the Resistance back, but no more. The remains of my forces had already quit coming and now I began to wonder if there had, indeed been trouble inside my base.

But I don't have time to wonder now. Thinking too much on the battlefield is liable to get one killed. I caught sight of movement far below, a seething mass in the darkness, and realized that it was the Resistance's ground forces. I forced myself not to worry about it, telling myself that that part of the battle was all up to Fefnir now. I watched briefly as the Jin'en army rushed forth to meet the enemy, and I was quite sure that I could spot Fefnir- the only figure from which massive fireballs were coming.

Absently, I turned and slashed a Resistance soldier who was coming at me with a short-range beam dagger. The flashing blade split him open at the waist, and he fell, bleeding, screaming, and sparking, into the blackness. I looked up to see Falcon soaring over to me.

"Am I mistaken, Harpuia, or are we short by some of our forces?" It was subtle, but I could catch some of the mild concern in his voice.

I nodded. "I noticed, but we don't have time to wonder what happened down there."

He nodded, and I took off toward another group of battling reploids, both my own and the Resistance. I sliced through the enemies easily, and managed to catch one of my wounded men before he fell into the night's abyss. I recognized the redhead as Arod as I transferred coordinates to the base to teleport him.

"Do I still have to do kitchen duty?" he mumbled abstractedly, trying to remain conscious. He was transferred before I could bother to think of a reply.

"Arod..,. Will he be okay?" Hasufel circled uncertainly.

"Yeah, he's fine," I lied, when in truth I had no idea how badly he had been wounded. This seemed to satisfy Hasufel, however, and he flew off to exact his revenge on the Resistance.

"Master Harpuia, our forces have come up short," Magnion unnecessarily informed me, the flames around him lessoning considerably as he flew to join me.

"I know," I grunted curtly, already quite tired of being repeatedly told the same thing several times. "There's nothing I can do about that right now; we just need to fight, regardless."

Magnion gave me what may have been the equivalent of a glare; I could not be sure. "It is too bad that Master Phantom is no longer alive; the Zan'ei forces would have decimated the Resistance in one sweep."

"He had his chance," I growled before thinking about what I was saying. I probably should have kept that to myself.

Magnion, knowing that back-talking his superior was a terribly bad idea, said nothing and then turned to flap back to the battle. Yeah, he's angry. Good for him. I had swallowed my own pride often enough to avoid arguing with him; it was about time he was forced to do the same.

I jetted back into the thick of battle, catching sight of the land-bound fight three-quarters of a mile below me, and wondered how Fefnir and Leviathan were fairing. A Resistance soldier tried to shoot me in the face, but I noticed the movement first and dropped just low enough for the shot to pass harmlessly over my head. I stabbed straight out after stopping my minute decent, jabbing him in the gut and ripping viciously upward, slicing everything from the waist up in half. The fuel-tank split and the heat from my sabers ignited it. Seeing the minor danger, I winged away from the resulting explosion and turned my attention to another of the ebony fighter-jets. The pilot came at the group firing madly, dangerously close to his allies. Must be a reckless rookie, I decided. Should be easy to take down.

I quickly jetted upward to avoid the fighter as it made its pass through the group. One of my soldiers was not so lucky as the craft's wing tore him in half and sent both pieces spinning and spraying blood until they were out of sight. "Resistance scum," I muttered under my breath, following the enemy fighter quickly. The Rekku forces are going to be spending a lot of time in maintenance thanks to this. I came up behind the jet, carefully avoiding the thrusters, and attempted to carve into the side of the turbines. The pilot apparently picked me up on the scanners and pointed his craft nose-down, avoiding my effort to sabotage his jet. Instead of plunging after him, I soared evenly with him, waiting for him to come back up. He anticipated this, knowing my approximate position, and nosed the fighter upward again, this time aiming straight for me and laying on the lasers, pelting anything in the vicinity. I could not be sure, but I thought I saw one of his own men go down due to his carelessness. I darted left and right to avoid the fired shots, talking a few minor hits to my armor. One did managed to singe into my leg, but I grit my teeth and bore the pain- a soldier can do little else.

I dodged and flipped around so that I was facing the same direction that he was as the jet passed, trying to ram me with its pointed nose. I dug my sabers into the space just in front of the cockpit, hitching a rid while conserving a minute amount of fuel in my boosters. The pressure from the air blowing back at me gradually forced the sabers through the heavily reinforced metal, cutting two ever-lengthening gashes in the obsidian surface. The furrows glowed hotly as the beams passed through and slowly made their way to the Plexiglas of the cockpit. The piloting soldier barrel-rolled to try to shake me off, and my grip slipped. Rather than get caught by the rotating wings, I let go and let the wind and my booster turbines carry me out of the way.

Hovering far enough above him that his sensors could not discern me from the other soldiers, I watched as he performed a sharp U-turn to double back and finish me off. As he flew past below me I dropped and followed, raising my speed to maximum, and sank my sabers into the craft yet again, like a predator's fangs into its victim. My target was the cockpit this time, and I used the same trick of stealing a quick ride to slowly but surely rip through the transparent surface, gouging it away in molten chunks.

The reploid inside glanced up at me fearfully and pulled out a small low-powered sidearm. What does he expect to do with that? It's hardly more than a pellet-gun. Regardless of the futility of the effort, he fired it repeatedly at me. For the most part, I ignored it as one shot scorched my shoulder, another my hand. I did, however, take care to insure that none hit my unarmored face. That could cause a problem… Out of shots in the useless gun, he threw it at me in frustration as my blades peeled away enough of the transparent bubble for me to fly through. Right. Shooting me with it didn't work; what could he possibly think throwing it at me is going to do? He attempted another barrel-roll, but I was prepared this time and had a handhold on the jagged edges I had created. Arm-muscles aching from the strain, I pulled myself inside the cramped space to wedge myself next to him.

He shrieked in a cowardly fashion and tried to cower away meekly, putting his hands up like some sort of useless shield. "Don't kill me," he whined.

I drew back a saber. "Too late." My swipe easily lopped off his head, and greasy blood sprayed against the windshield. The moron had it coming. I had a low tolerance for stupidity and cowardice; the unfortunate pilot had found that out the hard way.

The jet began an uncontrolled descent toward the air-force base, and I grabbed the controls and pulled it back up again. Great. I need to dispose of this troublesome machine, but I don't want it to hit something important. I looked at the blood-smattered radar and spied another Resistance fighter headed for me, going the opposite direction. Tweaking the course a bit, I leapt from the pilot's seat and out of the aircraft as it collided head-first with the other, sending shrapnel and fire bursting out in all directions. The two blackened husks tumbled away, but I did not have time to watch them as I was jostled and bounced around by the shockwave of the explosion. I was sent into the line of fire of another jet, this one with more powerful guns than the last- probably because it had a more seasoned, reliable pilot. These lasers could just about take a limb off. I can't be so careless about it now.

Aztec Falcon dove at the fighter, scraping his electrically-charged talons across the surface and sending little sparks and metal shavings shooting out. While the pilot was distracted, I extracted myself from the situation, flying next to Falcon as the jet gunned its engines away from us and into another dogfight further on. One of my own promptly blew it apart and I resisted the urge to laugh at that particular soldier's misfortune. Instead, I turned to Falcon. "Thanks for the help."

"Only my duty to you as a soldier- and as a friend," he nodded.

I nodded in return and turned to chase after more enemy soldiers, slashing though limbs and bodies as I flew, losing count quickly of how many I wounded or killed. This fight feels almost anti-climactic, I thought, hoping that I did not jinx myself with my musings. All of the soldiers were really quite similar, varying in degrees of skill and appearance, but little else. None wore armor that stood much of a chance before my beam-sabers, although I really had not killed too many. A reploid could survive with a missing arm or leg, and many who fell managed to transfer back to their base before impact. My men, too, had not taken heavy losses, but were not without their share of casualties. This has turned out to be a fairly evenly-matched battle. A fight like this may have no clear winner or loser. As long as we drive them away from the base, we can worry about a more devastating blow to them later.

I came up behind another Resistance jetpack soldier and drew my saber over his throat in a swift, clean motion. Dropping the body, I sped to the nearest living soldier to dispatch him as well, but he moved away with surprising quickness, and I was forced to give chase. He pulled out a powerful blaster, although it was only capable of shooting one shot at a time, and fired a plasma burst at me. I easily avoided that, and he fired again, and a then a third time as soon as his gun's slow pace would allow. I dodged to my left past the second shot, and then tried to go right again to avoid the next, but it pegged me square in the side of my helmet, and my vision blurred for a moment. When it cleared, it was only to spot another blast headed straight for my unprotected face. I brought up a saber faster than thought and deflected the energy and then rocketed toward him to make sure he would not fire again- ever. I divided him from shoulder to hip and then turned away, searching for a new target while trying to take in how my forces were doing. The aircraft were still locked in combat and seemed relatively even in number. It was hard to tell with the rest of the soldiers, as they all seemed to blend together in a jumbled mass. Well, this wasn't quite the devastating victory that I had in mind. Still, we're not losing, either. Mayu's estimate was off just enough to mean the difference between victory and stalemate, but it was an honest mistake, since I doubt that she had the opportunity to see the full army assembled before she gave us her report.

"Master Harpuia, it appears that the Resistance is retreating," Falcon informed me, pausing to hover at my side. Magnion moved to my other side and stared back at the battlefield.

"We have driven them off," the phoenix muttered, "but we did not deliver as crippling a blow as I thought you intended. We must find out why the rest of the Rekku forces did not join us."

"You have a talent for stating the obvious," I muttered, scowling slightly. "Go check on the rest of the forces; I'm going to down to the Jin'en army to see what to make of the situation."

Magnion nodded curtly and flapped away. He's loyal enough, I sighed to myself, unfortunately, loyalty to the dead doesn't get one very far, and he doesn't think much of me. Frankly, he's driving me crazy; I think I need to find something for him to do away from the base.

"What would you have me do, master?" Falcon queried, breaking into my thoughts.

"Help Magnion," I answered. "There may be injured, and they will need to be taken to the med-center." I frowned. "We need to recover from this quickly; I won't have Neo-Arcadia be a sitting-duck."

He nodded in acknowledgement, and I allowed myself to freefall most of the way back to the ground, since my fuel tank was probably getting low. I stopped about ten feet from the ground and then deactivated my thrusters, dropping down to land heavily on my feet. The fighting here, too, had ended, and I quickly found Fefnir and Leviathan, who were having a heated discussion that I did not bother to listen to. Cerussite was standing nearby, watching the exchange impassively.

"Fefnir," I interrupted, in no mood to wait out their argument. "Give me the situation down here."

He and Leviathan both jumped just a tiny bit at my humorless voice, although they tried to hide their vague surprise. Fefnir crossed his arms and looked sour. "You probably noticed that some of the Rekku forces didn't make it; that's 'cause there was another group Mayu didn't know about sneakin' in the back of the second hanger. They'd managed to ground most of the jets before we realized what was going on and stopped them.

Leviathan sniffed. "You mean Cerussite and I stopped them. You weren't there."

Fefnir grunted an acknowledgement. "I'm speakin' general terms here, Fairy. Yeah, you did fine. Me an' my men had to stay in the other hanger so that we could protect those jets" He grinned. "Which didn't get touched, by the way."

I crossed my arms and scowled. "You mean to tell me that almost half of my aircraft were destroyed before they even left the ground?"

"Most look like they can be repaired, and the pilots are fine, still standing by." His grin faded. "C'mon, Harpuia, lighten up. We didn't lose that much, and they did retreat."

I looked at him darkly. "Fefnir, since when does the Resistance have a force that size?" I shook my head. "We have a real problem here." More than one, I added mentally. We still have this mysterious third party to deal with, and I'm still in the dark; I have no idea where they could be coming from. With the Resistance posing a threat as well, Neo-Arcadia could be in more trouble than we realize. My lip was bleeding, I realized, because I was biting it so hard.