That night on the planet's surface, Harper and the others were ready to begin.
"It's time." Rommie said.
"Thanks Rommie." Harper said.
Harper stood on Eternity's boarding ramp and studied the small army that stood before him. Army is somewhat of an overstatement.
Since absolute secrecy of their plan was imperative, Brendan had only brought men that he trusted not to speak of it. If word had got out what they were planning, the war would be over before it even began. Due to this, the small force amounted to two hundred men and women, plus Harper, Rick, Gloria, Eternity, and Andromeda's crew.
Brendan did however, inform another member of the resistance, that he trusted, to alert the rest of Boston's resistance fighters of the battle as soon as the battle had started.
As Harper looked at the men and women before him he knew that this day would be remembered by every man, woman, and child of Earth for many, many years.
Trance was standing beside him and she poked him in the side.
"Say something Harper." She whispered to him.
"Oh yeah." Harper replied.
"Friends." Harper said. "What we do today will effect the lives of millions for years to come. For too long we have been subject to the atrocities of living in a land ruled unjustly by Nietzcheans of the Drago-Kasov pride. Now it's time we take a stand! Tonight we take back what is rightfully ours! This isn't just a battle to free Boston. This is the first of many battles to free Earth! And free Earth we shall!"
The soldiers were clearly moved by the words that Harper had spoken, but they had been instructed not to make any loud noises for fear of drawing attention to their actions. Although they were outside of the city and far from any inhabitable structures, it was best to play it safe. Harper's speech was loud, but not as loud as two hundred cheering men and women would have been.
After Harper's speech, the soldiers separated into four squads.
Harper hugged and kissed Trance.
"Be careful Harper." Trance said, as she held him tight.
"Don't worry." Harper said. "There's no way I'm letting them Ubers keep me from coming back to you. If things start to look a little dark, I may just have to show the Ubers the light." Harper said implying that he'd use the powers he possessed as an Avatar of a sun on them.
"Just be careful Harper." Trance said again.
"Don't worry Trance." Becka said. "I'll make sure Harper stays out of trouble."
"Thanks Becka."
Harper looked at the small army one more time and said one more thing. "Let's bring it!"
The teams moved out and made their way to their assigned targets. So as not to draw attention to themselves, they used the tunnels of Boston's sewers. An hour later all teams were in place and ready.
Brendan took five men from his team and set demolition charges in strategic locations of the Uber's barracks. The rest of the team split up into two groups. One group moved to the front of the barracks with Gloria, while the other half found a location in the rear of the barracks where they had a good view of the back exit of the building.
Brendan activated his communicator.
"Gloria, all the charges are in place."
"Both teams are ready." Gloria replied.
"These charges should take down the whole building, but just in case some of them try to make it out, you know what to do."
"Affirmative." Gloria said.
Brendan and his team joined with the team in hiding behind the barracks.
"Five minutes till show time." Brendan said.
Rhade, Shauna, and their squad arrived at the science lab. As they exited the sewers and neared the building, Rhade noticed three guards. Two Guards were walking patrol along the parameter of the building. Each guard walked to the outer edge of the building, then back toward the middle of the grounds. The third guard stood at the lab's main entrance.
Rhade looked at one of his squad members.
"Jason, Shauna and I are going to take out those two guards on patrol. Do you think you can take care of the one at the door?"
"No problem sir." Jason replied.
Any other time it would have made Jason's skin crawl to call an Uber "sir", but the time that he spent with Rhade and the others during their training made him realize that Rhade wasn't like the Dragans. Rhade didn't see them as Kludges, or talk down to them as if they were inferior. In fact Rhade seemed to respect anyone that had the courage to fight for what they believed in. Jason marveled that an Uber,… correction a Nietzchean could respect anyone other than another Nietzchean. The only person that Rhade did refer to as Kludge or talk down to in any way, was Seamus Harper, but Jason assumed that even that was done only in jest, because Harper would then reply saying things that any other Uber would have killed him for saying.
The rest of the squad remained behind, as Rhade, Shauna, and Jason left to deal with the guards.
Rhade was amazed at Jason's stealth. If he didn't know he was out there heading for the guard at the main entrance, he would have never known. Apparently living on Earth brought out such traits.
Rhade and Shauna separated as they proceeded to take care of their prey.
It was over quickly. Rhade slit the guard's throat, while Shauna broke the neck of the guard that was her target. Mere seconds later Jason slit the throat of the guard standing at the entrance.
"It's done." Rhade communicated to the team. "Move in."
Becka, Harper, and their squad took up a position approximately one hundred yards in front of the main entrance to Faneuil Hall. It was better fortified than the lab and barracks. Harper noticed some heavy guns protruding from two of the windows on the second floor as well as an armored transport with several gun ports and a large cannon-like muzzle extending from the front, parked in front of the building. Four guards walked patrol, one for each side of the large building.
Unfortunately for the Uber guards, their patrol area was not well lit. Harper sent four men to take care of the patrolling guards, ordering them to return when they were finished.
A few moments later all four men returned. Mission accomplished.
"What now Shorty?" Becka asked.
"We wait for the big bang." Harper said.
"Big bang?"
Outside the prison, two Nietzchean guards stood talking.
"It was pathetic Darwin. That Kludge actually thought his begging and pleading would make me stop."
The two Ubers laughed.
thump!
"They never learn." The other guard named Darwin said between laughs.
Thump!
"Did you hear something?" Darwin asked.
THUMP!
"We better check it out!"
Before they had the chance to move, a very large metal monster appeared in front of them. They were about to fire at it when they felt the severe pain of their throats being cut. Rommie and Rick had effectively silenced the guards.
Back on board Andromeda, Marcus was sitting in a guest room that had been assigned to him. He then engaged privacy mode.
"Now to let Mephist know what's going on." He said.
Marcus accessed one of Andromeda's computer consoles and bypassed her security lockouts. He then opened a communications frequency to Mephist's main installation.
Mephist's image appeared on the small screen.
"So Marcus." Mephist said. "Have you decided to come back or do I have to send more troops to kill you?"
"There will be no need for that Lord Mephist." Marcus said. "I have found the communications problem."
"I see." Mephist said. "Do you think that makes up for your insubordination?"
"No, but I think what I have to add will. You see, There are two Commonwealth starships in Earth's orbit and two smaller ships have already landed. They're planning a revolt and a rescue of John Styvers."
"You've done well Marcus. I will consider forgiving you for your earlier failures."
Dylan walked in and saw Mephist's image on the viewer.
"It seems we misjudged you Marcus." Dylan said. "Andromeda send some droids to escort Marcus back to the brig before he does anything to jeopardize the mission."
"You're too late captain." Marcus said. "I've already informed Mephist of your little plan."
"You mean him?" Dylan asked pointing at the screen.
The image of Mephist quickly morphed into the likeness of a beautiful woman. The Gates of Glory.
"But,… how?" Marcus asked totally confused.
"We had to find out if we could trust you." Dylan said. "So I let you know how the disruptors worked, and then assigned these quarters to you, giving you the opportunity to try to contact your Nietzchean friends."
"I let you think that you had bypassed my security systems." Andromeda said. "Then I redirected your signal to Glory."
"It was quite easy to access some video files of Mephist from their computer systems." Glory said. "Then I simply altered my image and imitated his voice pattern."
Two droids arrived and took Marcus to his cell. This time it was separate from the one that the other two Nietzchean prisoners occupied.
"Dylan." Andromeda's solid holographic form said. "Mr. Stark is awake."
"Thank you." Dylan said. "Would you like to join me as I question him?"
"Does a wooly zolark eat purple dillydoo eggs?"
"Um,… I… don't… know." Dylan said.
"Yes Dylan." She said. "I'll join you."