Chapter 1:

As the ship warmed up its main batteries, bolts of blue flame fizzled through the sky and destroyed the void pad the Iron Glave was stationed on. The hard engines tried to cushion its fall as it quickly descended into the lava pits of the planet. The machine spirits squealed as the bubbling heat started to melt the exterior of the ship as it got closer to the lake of fire. The ship finally crashed into the pit, and was instantaneously enveloped by the lava. Balice switched the comm bead to the cogitator room and interrogated the chief of the section. He responded over the shouting that the hard light was not getting the sufficient oxygen to breathe correctly, and to create fusion to power the machine spirits. "The damage from the torpedoes destroyed many of the emergency power cells to power the anti-gravity drives. We believe that the ship can survive for two hours, but the pressure from the lava will decrease that time severely Mistress." As Balice heard this, Amira pointed to the sky and yelled, "Their coming Mistress, we should consolidate our position." Then sniper fire started to chatter around them, and scouts started moving around while the whine of jump engines was looming closer to their position every second. "Mistress, we are being surrounded," Amira said, and then a loud scream emanated from Selma as her face exploded from a hellfire bullet. Balice rushed to her side, and prayed for her soul. A bullet riddled all around their position as it was compromised. The sonic booms were heard around, and Emily yelled to Balice "Mistress, they have landed, we must get inside…" and she was cut off as ten combat terminators broke through the clearing, their thunder hammers buzzing with energy. One charged towards Balice's position, hammer raised with fury. It smashed Kala aside, and she flew over the edge onto the hull of the crashed ship in the lava pit. Emily fumbled with the flamer, trying to protect her mistress from the assault. The terminator was inches away from Balice, and raised its hammer to deliver the killing blow.