Chapter Sixty-Five: No One Left Behind
PRINCE
WAKE UP
Gino Caiazzo took a deep breath, shaking his head as he lay in bed, blinking the bleariness out of his eyes. His dreams had been dark, chaotic...full of voices… The voices still echoed in his mind after he woke up.
Ever since his revival as his dream self after the incident on Tami's planet, Gino had been living on Derse's moon full time. It wasn't all bad… Aside from the fact that, due to Derse's incredible distance from Skaia, it was in an almost perpetual state of night, and the fact that it was ruled by an equally-incredible bitch who wanted Gino dead…
Aside from that, and a few other things, it wasn't so bad-
Oh, who was Gino kidding? He hated it here. He missed home.
He missed his Dad. Where the hell had his Dad disappeared off to?
YOUR FATHER IS DEAD
"Shut up," Gino muttered to the Voices, swinging himself up out of bed.
That was perhaps the worst part of his new life on the Obsidian Moon. Ever since dying on Tami's planet and reviving as a full-time dream self, Gino had been plagued by the Voices. He referred to the Voices in the plural because they sounded like thousands of people whispering in unison rather than a single voice. They were very difficult to ignore.
YOU WANT TO HEAR US
"I said shut up." Gino shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He stood up and pulled on his purple shirt and pants. They were his Dersite pajamas. However, despite them technically being 'pajamas', Gino had chosen to continue wearing them. What could he say - they never got dirty or stinky, and they were just so damn comfy.
Gino's heart fluttered in his chest, sweat breaking out across his brow and on the back of his neck. Last time he'd had a feeling like this was at Cruz's house, back before Day One, when his friend had handed him a pair of Sburb game discs. Several hours later, meteors started falling from the sky. Were the others okay? Was Gwen okay?
THE WITCH WILL DIE AND WE WILL BE ALL YOU HAVE LEFT
"Shut the fuck up!" Gino exploded, punching his pillow several times before hurling it against the door. He then closed his eyes to breathe deeply for a moment, and even though the anger subsided, the anxiety did not.
It was settled, then. Time to bother the Veteran about it.
Gino grabbed his sunglasses off the nightstand and headed straight for the door, leaving his bedroom. Rather than heading for the stairs, Gino went left down the upstairs hallway and pounded on the door at the very end. "Open up! Yo, I'm not fuckin' around, open up!"
"The door is not locked," said the Veteran from behind the door.
"Something's up," Gino declared, opening the door and entering the Veteran's sleeping quarters.
The Wrathful Veteran yawned as he switched on his lamp, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes. "Much as I enjoy our little talks, Prince, I'm afraid you'll need something a little more informative than 'something's up' to justify waking me at this hour."
"I woke up from a dream where Gwen's tower got lit the fuck up like mine," Gino informed the Veteran. "Now I can't sleep, and it sucks."
"We are all anxious," assured the Veteran, who pulled on his boots and laced them up. "Tensions here are at the highest they've ever been. Active military units have not been deployed here at home since our last major uprising, two thousand years ago. And before that? The War of the Nobles, ten thousand years ago."
"I know, it's a tense situation, but I really think something bad is about to happen."
The Veteran finished tying his boots and stood up, crossing to the door and opening it. "After you, then. Accompany me to the radio room, and we will see what is happening on the surface."
"Thanks." Gino stepped out into the hallway.
The Veteran closed his door and led Gino downstairs all the way to the headquarters house's basement, which was a small room occupied by two guards standing in front of a sealed metal doorway. The guards stepped aside for the Veteran, for whom the metal door automatically unsealed, revealing the command center beyond.
The command center was abuzz with activity. Technicians monitored the communication stations, ensuring the equipment was not malfunctioning while the radio operators maintained communication between the Onyx and its network of remote observation posts scattered throughout Derse and the Obsidian Moon.
"You're early," remarked the officer on watch, snapping the Veteran a quick salute.
"No saluting, Ironsides, how many times must I tell you?" The Wrathful Veteran gestured for the officer on watch to relax. "We are not the military."
Ironsides dropped his salute. "Old habits."
"Alright," said Gino, "what the hell is going on topside? We need to know, and we need to know now."
Ironsides glanced at the Veteran.
"Do as the Prince requests," the Veteran ordered. "Check with the observation posts and give me a status report."
Ironsides got to work, coordinating with his staff to ping the dissenter observation posts. The radio stations lit up with activity as the dissenter operatives in the field reported back, and Gino was disappointed by what he heard. No significant troop movements were reported. Ever since the Queen declared martial law, things had grown very quiet on the surface, as if the Obsidian Moon was holding its breath.
"Doesn't look like anything yet," Ironsides reported. "I'll keep you posted."
"I could have sworn…" Gino still did not sound convinced, but he was losing steam. "The Voices said we were in danger. They said Gwen-"
"Voices? What voices?" interrupted the Wrathful Veteran. "You did not mention that there were voices. Describe them."
"Um…" Gino felt self-conscious for a moment. He did not want to talk about the Voices, was afraid that everyone would think he was crazy. But it was too late - whether it was intended or unintended, he had still brought them up. And the Veteran had taken an extreme interest. "Well, ever since I started living here full time, I've been hearing these Voices in my head. They sound like a million people whispering at the same time, and when I woke up just now, they told me that we were all in danger."
"Ironsides!" One of the radio operators called for the officer on watch. "Recon-72 reports movement in the Derse fleet. Two battleships are leaving formation."
"Confirm that," Ironsides ordered the other operators.
"Recon-118 confirms," reported another operator. "Two battleships are leaving the home fleet and plotting a course for the Obsidian Moon."
"Confirmed!" said a third operator. "Recon-65 reports the two ships are on course to link up with the battleship already over Eastvale District."
"Ironsides, give the order to dispatch the rapid response teams," commanded the Wrathful Veteran. "Do it now."
"What is happening?" asked Gino.
"The Queen's retaliation is imminent," said the Veteran. "We need to get your friends to safety."
Gwen had been awake for barely a minute before the first sounds of gunfire echoed through the air.
She had been glad to wake up as her dream self on the Obsidian Moon - on the Land of Shores and Prisms, Gwen was in the middle of a riveting planetary quest with her consorts. And by 'riveting planetary quest', she meant that she was sitting in a jail cell underneath the capital city of her consorts, along with a one-eyed turtle pirate named Aristophanes, bored out of her mind. Derse, even with all its assassination attempts and sudden bombings, was a goddamn vacation compared to that.
Then the gunfire broke out.
Gwen rushed over to her window peered outside...and swore. Less than two miles away, holding position at an altitude not much higher than her tower, was the Dersite battleship, the one at the head of the naval battlegroup that had arrived the day the Queen declared martial law and disbanded Lunar Sector Enforcement.
There were smaller dropships moving back and forth between the battleship and the streets below. Every time the dropships came in for a landing, heavily-armed soldiers clad entirely in black would come rushing out.
The gunfire was coming from the main boulevard leading straight to the base of Gwen's dream tower. When the first dropship landed, deploying a full squad of commandos, gunfire started to hit the soldiers from nearby windows. It would appear the dissenters had prepared themselves for this...whatever 'this' was.
More dropships landed, deploying reinforcements. Seeking cover, those first commandos to make landfall shattered the windows of empty houses and ducked inside, trading fire with the dissenters until they were bolstered by the reinforcements. Any civilians who had been on the streets promptly fled when they saw platoons of commandos pouring in. Alarms started to go off all throughout the district.
There was a loud explosion, a plume of smoke and fire rising from the cityscape below. Gwen got a good look at the location of that explosion, realized that it had been the former Nocturne District Enforcement Headquarters - recently taken over by the military. A second explosion went off - this one further away, sending chunks of masonry and debris flying high into the sky.
Gwen's eyes followed the path of the airborne debris, which directed her gaze to the two Dersite battleships that were moving into high orbit up above, slowly shedding altitude as they advanced on their targets. One of them was heading straight for Gwen's tower, and she did not need a telescope to see its massive frontal energy cannons heating up.
The battleship opened fire, sending a salvo of white energy bolts crackling downwards through the air.
Instinct pushed Gwen to soar out her window. Without thinking or even taking the time to swear, she propelled herself forward.
The explosion was deafening. Gwen probably would have been blinded if she'd looked directly at it - thankfully, she was flying away from it. The shockwave from the explosion threw her forward, almost causing her to spin out of control. Fighting to regain control, Gwen spared a glance over her shoulder. The top of her dream tower had been blown to pieces. More debris could still be seen falling from the sky to the streets below.
Gwen unconsciously changed direction and started flying towards the giant purple chain that anchored the Obsidian Moon to Derse. As she glanced down below, Gwen could see commandos shouting orders, pointing up at the sky towards her. Before long, the air was filled with energy bolts as the Dersite soldiers started taking shots at her. At first, there weren't all that many shooters to deal with, but the closer Gwen got to her destination…
Gwen caught several close glimpses of the battle raging below as she flew past overhead.
A heavy machinegun clattered from a third-story window in what appeared to be a derelict office building. Several commandos lay dead in the street from the work of this machinegun, while their surviving comrades remained pinned under cover. Then the machinegun was blown up, suddenly, along with half the house it was deployed in. A pair of Dersite tanks trundled up the street, their main cannons still smoking. The commandos broke cover and started moving towards the next pocket of resistance.
Three streets over, Gwen watched a guerilla on the rooftop fire a heavy, tubular weapon that appeared to be like a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The energy blast from the heavy weapon struck an advancing tank, causing the Dersite armored vehicle to brew up in flames. The commandos who had been accompanying the tank dropped to their knees and returned fire, gunning the dissenter down before the he could take cover.
Gwen had to look back up. She was beginning to feel queasy. Cass's tower was fast approaching, and Gwen did everything she could to increase her speed, knowing full well it was only a matter of time before the Dersite battleship opened fire. Upon reaching the tower, Gwen sailed through one of the open windows and immediately flew over to the bed where Cass Galavis's dream self lay sleeping.
"Cass! Wake the fuck up!" Gwen yelled in Dream Cass's face. When that proved ineffective, Gwen seized Dream Cass by the shoulder and slapped her.
Dream Cass's eyes flew open, her hands flying to her face. "Ow, what the...Gwen? Wha…? Did you just-"
"No time, we gotta move!" Gwen pulled Cass out of bed and leaped out the closest window, dragging Cass behind her, just in time to witness the Dersite battleship firing its frontal cannons. "FUCKING FUCK!" Gwen swerved sharply to avoid a sudden and premature death, narrowly escaping the fiery explosion which consumed Cass's dream tower and sent deadly debris fragments spearing through the sky.
Cass started flying on her own, now, having sufficiently recovered from the shock of waking up into a warzone. "Gwen!" Cass had to shout to be heard over the din of battle. "What is happening?!"
"Look, I understand you're confused, but we really can't talk right—augh! FUCK!" Profanity burst from Gwen's mouth a second time as white-hot pain tore through her left side. An energy bolt had grazed her, leaving a charred wound just above her hip. Immediately, Gwen started to lose altitude, no longer able to fly quite so fast. "Shit! God fucking damn it, that hurts," Gwen gasped, clasping a hand to her side as she grabbed Cass's wrist and threw herself into a steep descent. "We gotta get outta the sky, we're sitting ducks up here! Sorry for yelling, I'm not mad, but we don't have time to be polite with each other!"
Cass and Gwen shot straight down into the street that was directly below, fleeing the sky before another Dersite soldier got in a lucky hit. Gwen was still fighting tears from the pain of her wound. Even the piece of wooden shrapnel that had burrowed into Gwen's shoulder, during the battle with the marauders, had not hurt as badly as the wound in her left side. The energy bolt had burned her, blackening the skin where it had impacted. The flesh around the third-degree burn had become puckered and raw.
Gwen had to bite her lip and shove the pain into a dark corner of her mind when she made landfall. She and Cass landed right in the path of an advancing tank, so they were forced to hit the ground running. Gwen led the way off the street and into an alleyway before the tank could draw a bead on them.
The alleyway zigzagged its way deep into a residential sector, where no major streets lay, and therefore no surges of Dersite commandos. Gunfire was roaring on all sides, interspersed now with louder, heavier blasts that sounded like artillery of some sort. Sometimes Cass and Gwen would run past dissenters emerging from the backs of buildings, many of them carrying or dragging bloodied comrades.
Some of the louder artillery blasts caused Gwen to unconsciously grit her teeth, memories of the Viridian Wind's gun decks flashing through her mind.
"It's finally happening, isn't it!" Cass managed to exclaim as they moved towards the next street, flinching as a mortar round bit off a sizeable chunk of a nearby rooftop. "What the Veteran said the Queen would do…?"
"Looks like it!" Gwen hollered back, shouting to be heard. "My tower got roasted just like yours!"
Gwen and Cass burst out onto the next street over just as a group of fleeing dissenters was cut down by a spray of energy bolts from a mounted machinegun. A pair of tanks was rumbling down the street, reinforced by no less than a platoon of Dersite commandos. This time, Gwen and Cass were spotted. The leading tank commander shouted an order, prompting all the soldiers to open fire while the barrels of the two tanks swiveled around to acquire Gwen and Cass as targets.
"Move!" Gwen screamed. She grabbed Cass's hand and leaped up into the air, hurtling over the nearest block of houses and touching back down on the next street.
"Where are we going?" Cass exclaimed as Gwen led her across the street and down a back alley. "I have no idea where we are."
"Yeah, neither do I, but we can't stop moving."
Gwen and Cass emerged from the alley onto the neighboring street, only to find themselves face-to-face with no less than half a dozen Dersite commandos. The Dersite commandos had just executed a group of captured dissenters, and if they were surprised to see Cass and Gwen, they did not show it. As the com piling up the bodies in the side alley. If they were surprised by Cass and Gwen's sudden appearance, they did not show it.
As the commandos took aim at Cass and Gwen, a sudden burst of hurricane-force wind howled down the street, powerful enough to knock everyone off their feet.
"C'mon!" Theo Gibbons descended from the sky, landing on the sidewalk next to Cass and Gwen, producing a captchalogue card from his sylladex. "C'mon, guys, move it! I got us a getaway vehicle!"
While the disoriented commandos picked themselves up off the asphalt, Theo tossed his captchalogue card, and the card vanished in a flash of blue light which quickly morphed into the shape of a car, revealing a blue 2001 Ford Focus.
Cass frowned, recognizing the vehicle. "Is that Adam's car?"
Theo was already climbing into the driver's seat, blasting the commandos with another gust of wind. "Yeah, it's cool, just get in!"
Cass hopped into the backseat while Gwen took shotgun, by which time Theo started the engine and stomped on the gas pedal. He wrenched the steering wheel all the way to the left, sending Little Blue into a one-eighty spin before accelerating away from the dazed squad of commandos before they had a chance to start shooting.
Theo turned the car right, rocketing out onto a wide, open road that appeared to be a primary boulevard. These were the roads that connected all the important places and landmarks of the Obsidian Moon to one another. This road was full of burning metallic husks - other automobiles that had gotten in the way of the ongoing battle, as well as disabled Dersite tanks. There were pockmarks and craters scattered throughout the road, as well, forcing Theo to drive with extra care.
Now it was Gwen's turn to ask, "Where are we going?!"
"Eastvale!" Theo shouted back, wrenching the wheel to the left to avoid plowing into a newly-made crater, sending all the car's occupants hurling to the right until restrained by their seatbelts. When he straightened back up and recovered, Theo went on. "The neighborhood by Gino's tower! Friends are waiting for us there!"
"Theo!" Cass pointed through her open car window at the sky. "Ship!"
The Dersite commandos must have gotten word to their superiors that three Heroes were loose in a small blue car, because one of the massive violet battleships in the sky was bearing down on us, frontal cannons glowing white-hot.
As the battleship opened fire, sending a volley of deadly white energy bolts searing towards Little Blue, Gwen reached over and grabbed the steering wheel, wrenching it to the left. The car's wheels screeched as they drifted sideways across the asphalt. Theo gripped the wheel so tightly his knuckles were beginning to turn white - after five solid seconds of wrestling, he got the car back under control, fleeing down a smaller intersecting road.
The boulevard behind them was lit up in a fiery haze as the battleship's salvo made impact. Theo didn't get to look at the whole thing, but he saw more than enough from the rearview mirror. In that moment, although Theo was concentrating very hard on the road ahead of him, he had a very clear thought: Why couldn't I have been a Prospit dreamer?
The drive to Eastvale took nearly fifteen minutes. During this time, the naval battlegroup hovering in the sky was joined by several more ships - a fourth battleship, and a handful of smaller destroyers. The small fleet wasted no time. They moved into formation and started raining fire down onto the Obsidian Moon. Wherever there were still dissenters shooting at commandos, the Dersite Navy would blanket the area with salvos of energy torpedos.
Cass felt almost numb as she watched the destruction through the rear window of the car. "This is crazy," she murmured. "They're blowing up their own home! This is crazy! How can the Dersites stand for this?"
"Simple," Gwen grunted. "If they complain about the Queen, they get thrown into the Silent Dungeon. If they band together and complain to the Queen en masse, then they get shot. Better to lay low."
"But nothing ever changes when everyone just lays low," Cass argued.
"Yeah." Gwen nodded in agreement. "That's what the dissenters realized."
"Eastvale!" Theo cried out, interrupting the conversation. "We're here-"
The explosion that cut Theo off midsentence blanked out the entire road on which he was driving. Theo could see the run-down, dilapidated sprawl of Lower Eastvale less than half a mile up ahead, separated from the neighboring district by several blocks of rubble, piled as high as small mountains. Remnants from a rebellion long-past. Then, suddenly, the road was plunged into shadow, followed by a giant bolt of white energy slamming down into the asphalt up ahead…then a flash of fiery light that was very painful to look at directly. Theo slammed on the brakes, squeezing his eyes shut until the tears came and the pain abated. The car screeched to a stop, throwing its occupants forward into their seatbelts. Gwen let out a sharp cry, clutching at her chest. "God damn it, Theo, that just crushed my fucking-
"Sorry!" Theo exclaimed. "Thought it'd be preferable to that." He gestured up ahead to the wall of flames that had consumed the road into Lower Eastvale. Had Theo not slammed the brakes, the Ford Focus would have careened right into the fire. As the light died down, the dark shape of a Dersite naval vessel - a destroyer - became visible, plunging the entire surrounding area into shadow. The smaller ship's frontal cannons were already recharging for a new salvo.
Theo unbuckled his seatbelt, reaching over and doing the same for Gwen. "C'mon, there's less soldiers in Eastvale, we can fly the rest of the way!"
Gwen and Cass both scrambled out of the car, leaping into the air and flying up to the level of the third-story rooftops. Theo paused as he got out of the car. As the destroyer opened fire once again, Theo whipped out his wallet. The Ford Focus vanished in a haze of blue light, a lone captchalogue card resting on the ground where it had once stood. Theo snatched it up and took to the skies after Cass and Gwen.
The second salvo made impact. Theo barely escaped in one piece - he felt the intense heat burning away at his back for a brief moment before he picked up speed and put the flames behind him. As it was, the back of his neck and parts of his arms felt slightly singed, as if he'd gotten light sunburn.
"What the hell was that?" Gwen shouted at Theo as he flew up to join her. "Are you trying to get yourself roasted?"
"Adam's car!" Theo replied. "He'd fucking murder me if I got his car blown up!"
"I think he cares more about you than his goddamn car!"
Theo, Gwen, and Cass continued deeper into Eastvale airspace, flying low, hugging the rooftops while dodging chimneys and clock towers.
Eastvale District was divided into two distinct parts - Lower and Upper Eastvale, respectively. Lower Eastvale had been a poorer neighborhood even before the uprising that had reduced it to rubble. It comprised primarily of apartment complexes, old factories, and entertainment hubs. Eastvale, in its entirety, was neatly bisected by a high escarpment. Upper Eastvale was the part of the neighborhood that hugged the upper edge of the escarpment. This part of the neighborhood had once been a well-off community, much more residential in nature than Lower Eastvale.
Gwen, Theo, and Cass made a break for the escarpment, heading straight for Upper Eastvale. Theo led the way - he had been told by the Wrathful Veteran, via radio, to rendezvous in Upper Eastvale, at a mansion which contained a dissenter transportalizer pad.
"Ship!" Cass yelled again to her two friends. "That ship is coming back around!"
Theo glanced over his shoulder. Sure enough, the Dersite battleship was making a wide arc in the sky, intending on making another attack. When he looked back ahead, he noticed a much smaller Dersite military gunship landing on the escarpment not far from the dissenter mansion, offloading a squad of commandos to attack the mansion from the ground.
Gwen, Theo, and Cass pushed their speed as fast as they possibly could without passing out, making it even harder to hear each other. Theo pointed ahead to the dissenter mansion - a smaller, abandoned estate that rested about two blocks in from the edge of the escarpment - and made sure Gwen and Cass knew where they were headed.
As the Dersite battleship moved into position for its next attack, its frontal cannons began to heat up, and Theo realized the battleship was taking aim at the dissenter mansion, intending on cutting off their escape. "We're not gonna make it," he murmured. Out of reflex, Theo spread both his arms out wide and took a deep breath, feeling the electrifying tingle of his Aspect surging up his spine and throughout his body.
Theo released his breath and generated another massive blast of hurricane-force wind, propelling himself forward along with Gwen and Cass. Within seconds, heart palpitations and intense dizziness forced Theo to release the massive energy drain required to maintain such a powerful wind, but it had been enough.
One of the mansion's windows was swung open, and Theo could see two figures within, and one of them wore purple pajamas identical to his own. Theo sailed through the open window first, tumbling to the floor of the room inside.
"Holy goddamn shit, you look like you've been through the fuckin' wringer!" Gino flashed Theo a grin, helping him up from the floor.
"I've been through half a dozen wringers, I'll have you know," Theo grunted, steadying himself against a wall and dusting himself off. The room was small and perfectly square, with a lone transportalizer pad set up in the center. Theo glanced back up, trading nods with the Wrathful Veteran, who was standing next to Gino. "Good to see you again."
"Likewise, though I wish it were under better circumstances," said the Veteran. "Wait on the transportalizer pad."
Gwen reached the mansion next, Cass trailing behind her. Commandos on the ground opened fire, peppering the window with suppressing fire, but Gwen managed to get through unscathed.
"Woo, yeah! Gwen, you fly like a fuckin' champ!" Gino whooped, grabbing Gwen's arm and hauling her safely inside. "Fuck, you're amazing."
Without thinking, Gwen seized Gino by the collar of his pajamas and kissed him before joining Theo on the transportalizer pad, leaving Gino in a blissful state of shock.
Gino blinked, snapping out of it and turning back to the window, hiding the color blossoming in his face. He leaned out the window, extending a hand to receive Cass, only to watch in horror as an energy bolt, fired from a commando on the ground, tore through Cass's stomach, spraying him with blood.
In the moment she had before unconsciousness claimed her, surprise registered on Cass's face as she realized she'd been shot.
Gino screamed as Cass plummeted from the sky without a word, and he even started to jump out the window, only to be restrained by the Wrathful Veteran. He fought against the Veteran's grip, prompting the Veteran to pull out a small black object with a luminous electric-blue tip, touching it to the back of Gino's neck. The device buzzed like a taser, and Gino immediately lost consciousness, allowing the Veteran to sling Gino's body over his shoulder.
Outside, the looming Dersite battleship opened fire with its frontal cannons, filling the window with blazing fiery white light which promised to reduce the entire mansion to cinders.
In a heartbeat, the Wrathful Veteran joined Theo and Gwen on the transportalizer and stomped his foot down on the activation switch.
There was a bright flash of light, accompanied by a very strange sensation that felt like one was being pulled through a vortex. It was enough to make Theo's stomach do flip-flops. He was still shouting Cass's name even as he materialized in a different room, far away from Eastvale.
The new room opened up into a giant warehouse, filled to the bursting point with foodstuffs, weapons, and omnicrystal power cells. It was a huge supply depot. Theo took a moment to get his bearings, taking in the sight of the supply depot, before rounding on the Wrathful Veteran. "Take us back."
"Thane-" the Veteran tried to explain, but Theo was having none of it.
"No, shut up!" Theo growled. "We left our friend back there, and we're going to get her. Take us! Now!"
"I'm afraid that is not possible."
Theo's breathing grew shallow and he began to hyperventilate. "Fuck." A choked sob escaped from Theo's throat. "...the fuck was that…?" Theo murmured, struggling to speak over the lump in his throat. "...what just…? What the fuck just happened…? Cass…we need to go back."
"We can't go back," Gwen replied, sharing a nod with the Wrathful Veteran. "The transportalizer in the mansion is destroyed. We have no way to get to Eastvale in time. Cass is gone. It's not our fault."
"This is so fucked up, Gwen. All of this."
"I know."
Theo wiped his nose, sniffed again, and stood back up, glancing at the Veteran, who was surprised by how exhausted Theo looked.
"Come with me." the Veteran picked up Gino and gestured for Theo and Gwen to follow. He led them through the supply depot, issuing quiet orders to the four armed guards outside the room containing the Hub transportalizer pad.
Communication travelled fast among the dissenters. There was already a group of fighters waiting for the Wrathful Veteran at the supply depot's entrance. They knew better than to salute the Veteran. The ranking fighter stepped forward. "I'll take the Prince off your hands, sir."
"Thank you." The Veteran handed the Prince off to the dissenter. He then turned to Theo. "These comrades will escort you to your quarters. We will speak again after you have gotten some rest."
Theo wordlessly trudged after the dissenters, who led him away from the supply depot.
Gwen watched him go. She took a moment to take in the sight of the world beyond the supply depot. It appeared to be a giant cavern, giant enough to host several city blocks. It was lit by an array of omnicrystal-powered tube-lights, bright enough to mimic daytime. There were a mix of military and civilian buildings contained within the cavern - some of them supply depots like the one containing the Hub, others domiciles that housed this core group of dissenters.
Hundreds of Dersites appeared to live here - those on-duty were drilling in the brick 'fields' outside town or practicing marksmanship on targets painted onto the cavern walls, while those off-duty were enjoying leisure time in the town with the non-combatant dissenters.
"Welcome to the Onyx," the Wrathful Veteran said to Gwen, noticing that she was admiring the underground town. "It is certainly no garden, but it has provided the haven we need to survive the Queen's grudges. You need rest, too, but first you will need medical attention for your burns. Come with me to the infirmary."
"Gino won't take this well when he wakes up," Gwen murmured.
The martini glass shattered as it hit the wall, splattering vodka against the violet bricks. The sole survivor of the martini's destruction, a lone martini olive, rolled across the floor for a few moments before being stopped by a shard of broken glass.
"Now we have no chance at tracing their transportalizer jump," the Black Queen seethed, her gaze still fixed upon her fenestrated windows, which displayed an image of the remains of a mansion in Eastvale District, recently incinerated in the ongoing operation on the Obsidian Moon. "Who ordered that battleship to fire?"
"The decisions seems to have been made unilaterally by the ship's captain," said the Draconian Dignitary from the Queen's personal communications station, where he sat holding half a set of headphones to one of his ears.
"I want that captain's head," declared the Queen. "Jack, see to it."
"There a deadline on when you want that head?" asked Jack Noir. "End of the week sound good? Can't promise anything before the end of the week."
"Do not test me. "Now is not a wise time to try my patience."
"Ground units have arrived onsite in Eastvale District," reported the Draconian Dignitary. "We have the Sylph."
"Dead?" the Black Queen asked.
"Barely alive, actually," the Dignitary replied, pulling the mic close to his mouth, preparing to issue orders. "The ground teams are requesting instructions. Shall they terminate the Sylph?"
The Black Queen was silent for a moment before making her decision. "No. Get her to the nearest medical facility and stabilize her. The Sylph lives, for now. And when you're finished with that, get me another martini."