Hachiko was used to being up all night; they'd been fighting almost exclusively during the night for weeks. But although it was almost the time she normally went to sleep, she found herself unable to even think of sleeping.
She sat on her bunk, knees tucked up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. Her book of poems sat on her rack, hardly touched in the six hours she'd been in her room. Her tablet sat on the opposite side of her, also barely touched from the mere minutes she'd spent looking at images of beautiful landscapes in an attempt to improve her mood.
For the first time in a long time, she felt truly miserable. Her best and only friend had more or less decided to sever ties with her. She'd all but declared her an enemy, and Hachiko hadn't even seen her since their argument in the hangar.
A voice in her head told her she was being immature, that not all friendships lasted forever, and that she had done nothing wrong, only what was right. That was the voice that normally dominated her thoughts and helped guide her actions, but it had been pushed to the corner of her mind by a much louder, more insistent voice telling her that she needed to make up with Honah, that she was losing her friendship for the sake of the enemy more than anything, and that she was being inflexible.
Hachiko groaned and ran her hands over her face, feeling the sticky remnants of tears on her cheeks. She'd been crying periodically through the night, trying to cope with the feelings running rampant through her soul.
There was a temptation to pick up the tablet again, go through some of the images she'd kept of herself and Honah since they had arrived on Terra, back when they had still been friends, but she knew it would just bring her to tears again.
"I'm tired," she mumbled. But she knew that trying to sleep would be almost pointless. She couldn't sleep with so many thoughts tumbling around in her head, and the ideas she'd tried to come up with to win back Honah's friendship had been too disheartening, either because they wouldn't work or because Hachiko wasn't sure she could live with herself if she followed through with them. Knowing she was even capable of such dark thoughts had been an unpleasant revelation on its own.
She stood up and looked out the picture window facing the east. The sun was rising over the sea and she could see a few cargo ships just beyond the shore, waiting for their turn at the docks. With major supply drops from space temporarily suspended, most of their supplies came via sea transport.
In the distance, Hachiko saw a flash, then something flew fast across her vision. She couldn't see exactly what it was, but it hadn't been in the standard dark-green colours of their Dopp fighters, and they were never allowed to fly over the base at such a high speed. By the time the sirens started blaring, Hachiko was already running out of her room.
Outside, Hachiko could hear the distant sound of explosions and heavy weapons fire coming from the airfield. No aircraft streaked overhead but she could see vehicles burning in every cardinal direction and the sound of missiles being launched from their ground-based defences.
People around her were running in panic. A jeep nearly ran her over as it raced past, fully loaded with passengers heading towards the motor pool. Another jeep came racing the other way, carrying wounded, probably from the initial attack.
Almost out of breath, Hachiko reached the hangar where the techs were working frantically to move equipment out of the way and get the pilots into their mobile suits. She saw Honah riding the lift up to the cockpit of her own mobile suit, and she felt a brief pain in her chest. But she couldn't focus on Honah now, she had her duty. At least by focusing on that, she could keep the pain away and do what was necessary.
"What's happening out there?" One of the techs asked as she got onto her lift.
"Air raid. I saw enemy fighters flying over."
"Air raid?" The tech could hardly believe it. "We haven't had an air raid here almost since we first took over the place. The Federation's Air Force still hadn't adapted to a minovsky battlefield yet."
"Well, they have now."
Hachiko scrambled into the cockpit and began her startup sequence. The second her comms were online she was bombarded with voices.
"What's happening?"
"They've knocked out our radar!"
"The airfield is burning!"
"We need ambulances now!"
Hachiko filtered her comm to only the squadron and team channels, which were considerably quieter. Commander Stovni's stoic calm was a welcome contrast to the panic.
"The situation's confused," she said. "We know there's an air raid in progress but nobody's been able to identify more than a squadron of enemy Fly Mantas and Tin Cods. I've received reports from Control that there were several much larger bogeys detected coming in from the south before they lost contact. They may have been transports."
"So what were they transporting?" Doorguard asked. Her voice wavered slightly, because she was imagining the same thing the rest of them were: the worst case scenario.
"Anyone armed?" Stovni asked.
"I am," Honah replied. "My mounted gun is fully loaded."
"Excellent. Get out there and focus on any enemy aircraft while we make our way to the armouries and get kitted out. If things are as bad as I think they are, we're going to need all the firepower we can get."
Honah wasted no time getting out of the hangar, trampling a battery-powered cart that someone had carelessly left in the entrance. None of the other pilots cared to bring it up, as they too began filing out of the hangar as quickly as possible. Hachiko, as the last to arrive, followed them out.
They should have been getting to the armouries as fast as they could, but the roads around the base were packed with panicking personnel, either trying to do damage control or run to the shelters. They passed a few wrecked trucks that had been carrying weapons and ammunition to the hangars. Hachiko could imagine Stovni grinding her beak in frustration as they tried to work their way through.
Honah occasionally paused to fire her double-barrelled shoulder cannon. When they'd nearly reached the armoury, she managed to clip one of the bombers, sending it racing away back home.
"This would be so much easier if this were a hand-held weapon," she groused.
Stovni said, "not a bad idea. Everyone who doesn't grab a bazooka, grab a shotgun. If they get low enough, they might be more effective than our machine guns."
At the armouries, small teams of Zaku I workers were pulling weapons and ammunition out of the storage bunkers and laying them out on the ground for combat units to pick them up.
As Commander Stovni asked the workers to retrieve some of the new shotguns, Hachiko and the rest of the 128th armed themselves with machine guns and bazookas. Some of the mobile suits outside their squadron were already rushing south.
Stormwave asked, "Ma'am, should the rest of us –."
"No! We stay together or they'll pick us apart. We should still have numbers on our side so let's take advantage of them. They decided to attack our ground; we have to make them pay for it."
Honah fired her weapon again, this time sending a Federation bomber slamming into the ground in ball of fire that quickly spread across the dry grass. A Zaku that had been bending down to pick up its weapons was hit in the back by several missiles, causing it to collapse, disabled.
The shotguns were retrieved quickly, but the ammunition for them took precious minutes to locate. Hachiko grabbed one of them and loaded it as quickly as she could.
"Alright, let's move out one-twenty-eight!"
They advanced southwards towards the airfield. The teams split up to take different routes, the roads no longer as clogged with people, but wrecked vehicles and injured from strafing attacks still littered them.
Almost immediately, the signs of catastrophe on the airfield could be seen. Massive columns of smoke rose from the fuel depots, two HLVs sat burning on their pads, and smoke was rising from all of the aircraft parking aprons. A trio of UC-1E heavy VTOL transports, nicknamed "Fat Uncles" by the troops, had been turned into burning wrecks. And, all over the airfield, gleaming white forms could be seen unleashing carnage, a lot of them.
"There's so many", Ensign Starbreeze gasped. "There's got to be two squadrons of them there."
"But they're not all together. They're spread out around the airfield."
Hachiko winced as a Zaku well ahead of them exploded from a direct hit to its reactor.
"One team of Devils is moving on the docks," Stormwave reported. "We're close to them, Ma'am."
"You can't take them on by yourself. Hold your position and try to stay hidden. Everyone else will form up on you."
Doorguard asked, "Ma'am, what about the airfield?"
The Devils who weren't advancing on the docks were now on the northern edge of the airfield, smashing through some of the hangar and workshop buildings, scything through rows of service vehicles with streams of bullets from their chest-mounted guns.
"The airfield is already lost and they're too close together there. The team at the docks is more isolated. We'll charge in on them and take them out before the rest of them can support."
The 128th moved east and formed up near the edge of the docks. They found Team 02 already engaged by multiple flying targets. Honah's shoulder cannon was doing good work, knocking three of them out of the sky while Stormwave knocked out another with her shotgun.
On the other side of the port, a crane suddenly fell over, crashing on top of the ship it had been trying to unload. The crane next to it quickly suffered the same fate. Between them, warehouses and stacks of shipping containers, blocked line of sight to the enemy mobile suits.
"Team Two, remain here and hit them if they try to escape. Team Three and Four, advance straight through and flank. Team One, we'll head around to the north side."
Hachiko glanced at Honah and had to remind herself that she had been transferred to Team 02. Honah didn't appear to notice her presence, her Zaku's eye focused on the sky as enemy aircraft swarmed above them. It seemed, as long as there were targets to shoot, she was content with her orders.
Team 03 moved through the shipping containers while Team 04 worked their way through the warehouses. The gaps between the buildings were just wide enough to allow her Zaku through.
Ahead of her, she found a knocked out Magella, it's top hatch opened, showing it had been abandoned. It's right track had been blown apart, and its hull holed through. Hachiko was forced to push the tank forward in order to get by. She did so cautiously, wary that she would be giving away her presence.
As she pushed, she held up her shotgun, waiting for shots to come at her from around the corner. When the tank was about halfway out, she did see shots, but not directed at her.
Ensign Master's excited voice filled the comm. "They're retreating! They're moving south back toward the airfield."
"Understood. Team Two, cut them off; everyone else, move together and try to force them into close combat. Get close and try to take them out. We know our heat hawks work just fine."
With one last shove, Hachiko forced the tank out of the way and broke into a run. Her armoured feet crunched over the remains of ravaged vehicles and miscellaneous debris. She realized that both of the warehouses she'd been squeezing through had large fires burning on the inside, their fire suppression systems struggling to try and put out the blazes.
She found her squadron pouring machine gun fire through a gap between a damaged warehouse and one of the docked ships. The left shoulder pauldron on Ensign Temple's Zaku had been reduced to perforated shreds, barely clinging on to the shoulder joint.
"Turfer, cover me!"
Hachiko went up to the corner and leaned around it, stretching out her right arm to expose as little of herself as possible. She saw a team of five Devils, the numeral "04" on their shields. They all showed signs of earlier damage, but they were far from out of action.
Remembering her conversation with the remnants of Kalisha's squadron, she observed how they moved. Their movements seemed oddly stiff. They would have benefited from crouching lower or leaning as they retreated from cover to cover, but they moved as if their machines' upper bodies were turrets on a pair of legs. Was that a sign of damage? A limitation of the machines? Or perhaps an indication of the kind of pilots they were?
One of them reacted quickly to her presence and opened fire with their machine gun barely a millisecond after she had. Their shells sparked off of her shoulder shield but failed to perforate it, all the while she tried to aim for the head, but the Devil ducked behind its shield.
Temple emerged from behind her and fired her bazooka. Again, the Devil showed remarkable swiftness of action, swivelling to the right and firing firing their machine gun from the hip, again more like a turret, moving the whole torso while moving the arm only slightly.
Temple's shoulder was shredded again, this time costing her the left arm completely, but her bazooka shot was true and it impacted the Devil's shield, crating a massive crater in its surface and sending the machine sprawling onto it's back.
Two of its fellows moved to cover it with their own shields, coming under heavy fire from other members of the 128th as they caught up. Large clouds of smoke burst in front of them, but the Zakus fired into the cloud regardless.
Another shot from a bazooka flew into the smoke and the resulting explosion blew much of the cloud away, revealing that the Devils had moved.
"Where did they go?" Stovni demanded. "Don't just stand there, after them, before they regroup!"
Despite her damage, Temple lead the way for Hachiko and the two of them advanced on their former position. The other members of the squadron did as well. Team 02 was still further to the west, trying to cut off the enemy's line of retreat, but they were continually being harassed by enemy aircraft, slowing them down.
Hachiko briefly saw the back of one of the Devil's and fired a hasty shot, but her target disappeared around the corner of the concrete defence wall.
"They're in the open!" Stormwave reported. "Enga–."
Stormwave's reply died and her icon on Hachiko's map vanished. A trio of Fly Mantas streaked past, a fourth one was on fire and turning lazily on its way to the ground. The pilot ejected barely two seconds before the aircraft became a burning streak of fire on the tarmac.
The parachute opened and the ejection seat beneath it swung like a pendulum as it fell. A second before it would have hit the ground, the pilot and the seat were turned into puffs of blue mist and scraps of metal.
Hachiko's throat tightened. Honah had fired those shots from her anti-aircraft cannon. Glancing right, she saw Honah's Zaku looking in her direction, no doubt expecting her to say something. Hachiko's stomach tightened, her inc sac felt like it was being twisted by icy fingers, but she said nothing. Now was not the time to think about it anyway.
The 128th emerged from the port, hot on the heels of the retreating Devils, but they were hardly beaten.
One of them had a weapon Hachiko had never seen before. She was wondering what it was when a missile suddenly burst out from it, flew along the ground, and slammed into the guts of Ensign Temple's Zaku. The mobile suit staggered drunkenly for a moment then fell flat on its face.
Hachiko ran forward to retrieve Temple's bazooka. She reached out her left arm, then a bright pink beam crossed right in front of her eyes. A sound like a high speed train bursting out of a tunnel rattled her cockpit and her machine shuddered.
She shook her head to try and clear the spots on her vision from the beam and glanced at her damage readout. Her left arm was completely gone. She saw it lying on the ground next to the bazooka, the end of it glowing hot as dribbles of liquid metal fell to the ground. What had hit her?
"It's Three Scars!" Ensign Masters yelled. "The one that defeated The Lioness!"
Startled, Hachiko looked up and saw another team of Devils advancing on their position, all bearing the numeral "05" on their shields, and one of them had three deep rents across their chest. It was them.
The 04 team hadn't lost their fight either. The one with the missile launcher fired again, this time sending a missile at Ensign Doori. Doori sidestepped the missile and returned fire, trying to knock out the missile launcher, only to get hit with the follow up missile, which ripped a large hole in her Zaku's right torso, spinning the machine and causing it to fall hard on its left shoulder.
Hachiko managed to get to her feet and gave chase with the rest of her squadron. Without her other arm she couldn't steady the heavy bazooka enough to take an accurate shot. She would just have to do the best she could with her machine gun.
Although the 04 Devils were putting up a good fight, even their impressive armour was not invincible, and as a company of tanks joined them in pushing the enemy back, the accumulated damage was starting to tell.
A bazooka shell from Ensign Masters, hit one of the Devils in the arm, completely blowing it off beneath the shoulder, and stripping the armour from the right side. One of them lost their machine gun under a hail of bullets, the useless weapon falling to the ground along with chunks of mechanical fingers.
Another bright pink beam screamed out and Hachiko saw it hit Ensign Master's left knee, liquefying the joint and causing the machine to collapse. Her eyes snapped back to the 05 team and saw one of them place a weapon into its back pack before withdrawing the familiar machine gun. She belatedly realized that one of them had a Zaku's head. What was the bizarre purpose behind that?
In addition to the tanks, other mobile suit units were rapidly advancing on the airfield and the White Devils were quickly finding themselves outnumbered. Even the worker mobile suits had picked up bazookas and began firing.
"We've got them!" Stovni declared. "Hold out for just a bit longer and then we can nail them!"
"Ma'am, a huge formation of aircraft approaching from the South!"
Honah's call startled all of them, and Hachiko looked up, seeing a huge formation of low-flying aircraft, and some of them were huge!
"More transports?" Someone asked.
"Heavy bombers," Stovni said, as if cursing. "They're going after the runways. Everyone stay off the runways!"
Almost before she'd given her order, scores of aircraft split off from the oncoming armada and streaked down towards them. Honah managed to nail one of them but they came on undaunted.
"Defend!"
Hachiko dropped her machine gun and grabbed the shotgun on her back, firing into the air at anything that came close. She saw one go down, but she quickly had to start evading as missiles streaked towards her like vengeful falcons, but from the steep angle which they were fired, gravity worked in Hachiko's favour, causing them to crater the ground around her as she danced.
Commander Stovni suffered multiple missile hits to the front, before taking two more to the back. Somehow, her Zaku remained standing. Ensign Octree was not so fortunate, their Zaku being hit from almost directly above, the missiles raining down upon it like exploding drops of rain, causing the machine to sag to its knees before its head was blown off and the machine fell.
The clusters of tanks behind the 128th began popping off rapidly as well. One of them detached its turret to fly to safety only to collide with one of the low flying bombers.
As if things couldn't get worse, a line of rapid-fire explosions travelled up the two south-facing runways, burrowing deep before sending eruptions of earth and thick chunks of concrete tumbling through the air.
"Meadows, no! Fall back!"
Hachiko's blood ran cold and she looked up to see Honah not stopping to defend herself and the squadron, but running after the Devils as they tried to break contact under the cover of the aerial assault.
"Meadows, fall back! That's an order!"
Instead of heeding the Commander's order, Honah began broadcasting on open frequency.
"Three Scars! Come and face me!"
Hachiko's jaw fell. Was she challenging Kalisha's killer to a duel? If she was, the Devil's didn't appear to notice or care. Of course not, most inklings couldn't understand Octese.
"Honah, no! Fall back!"
Hachiko tried to stand up but was immediately set upon by multiple Fly Mantas. Hachiko, ignited her boosters, thrusting herself up into the air and catching the bombers by surprise. She fired her shotgun into their midst, taking down two with her first shot and then three more with her next two. She managed to land safely back on the ground but was now further from Honah than before.
"Honah! Fall back!"
Again, she was ignored.
One of the Devils seemed to stumble and fall. It was one of the 05 Team. Had they been hit or was it the result of earlier damage? From this distance she couldn't tell, but whatever the case, Honah clearly saw an opportunity. While the rest of the 05 Team tried to help their comrade back up, Honah ignited her boosters and rocketed towards them.
Two of the fives were trying to help up their comrade by carrying it under its arms, just like two people would do normally, but it was a tricky manoeuvre to do in a mobile suit, especially under fire. The other two, including Three Scars, covered them, and they saw Honah coming.
Honah fired her weak but accurate AA cannon, getting a good hit on the machine gun of Three Scars' partner, destroying it. Three Scars fired up at Honah, but the shot went slightly wide as Honah pushed herself sideways by deflecting her foot against the ground, losing chunks of armour from her left side but otherwise getting away freely.
Honah tossed a grenade towards the cluster of three mobile suits and Three Scars' partner dove on it with their shield. The explosion lifted the mobile suit into the air, blowing the shield to pieces, before it landed back on the ground, roughly, the pilot undoubtedly jarred. That left Honah and Three Scars.
Hachiko tried to move. If they could catch them together, they might be able to fell at least one of the Devils, but she was soon foiled again by a flight of bombers. She managed to shoot down one before her shotgun ran out of shells, and a missile slammed into her left foot, giving her Zaku an awkward limp.
"No! No, no, no, no, no!"
Hachiko wrestled with her controls, trying desperately to stay alive under the merciless aerial assault, wanting to support Honah, but all she could do was watch.
Honah attacked Three Scars with her heat hawk while the Devil tried to fire point blank with her machine gun but Honah's strike knocked the machine gun away. Hachiko watched as Three Scars counter attacked, their movement much more fluid than the 04 Team she'd seen before, jamming the narrow end of their shield into Honah's torso, causing her to stagger backward, her armour crumpled and broken, but she still stood.
Three Scars was bent at the knees in front of Honah, their right arm, falling to their thigh and something pink flashed to life in that hand.
Honah recovered quickly, and raised her heat hawk, only for the bright pink light to strike across the body of Honah's mobile suit and up through her right arm, carving a deep molten rent in her torso and severing the arm halfway to the elbow.
Flames erupted from the gash in the Zaku as internal components ruptured and failed. The mobile suit fell backwards, Honah firing her shoulder cannon even as it did, in the vain hope that a shell would somehow find its way to her foe.
Three Scars tossed a large, cylindrical object away. It struck the ground and bounced twice before it vanished in a bright flash like a low-powered grenade.
Hachiko preyed that would be the end of it. Three Scars comrades were moving again, breaking contact, as tank shells fell around them and Honah was disabled, no longer a threat. But Three Scars wasn't finished.
Honah struggled, trying to use her remaining arm to tilt her Zaku in such a way aim her cannon, only for Three Scars to step on her torso, reach down and wrench one of the cannon barrels off its mount, bending the other one in the process. It exploded as Honah tried to fire it anyway, destroying the weapon utterly and creating another small secondary explosion that blew out a few armoured panels in the shoulder.
Hachiko could only watch in horror as the Devil lifted the cannon barrel like a ceremonial blade before plunging it down into Honah's cockpit. The Zaku seemed to jerk once, as if in reflex, and then went limp, its monoeye fading out to black.
Hachko's senses seemed to stop working all at once. She couldn't hear the sounds of battle around her, couldn't taste or smell the acrid air of her cockpit; couldn't feel the controls in her hands or how uncomfortably hot her body was, she could only see Honah's Zaku lying limply, the bent cannon barrel sticking out of its chest like a flagpole.
Her Zaku suddenly bucked violently and she had a sense of falling before everything went totally black.
Hachiko woke with a start. She was… in her bed. She looked around the room, confirming it was indeed her quarters, recognizing the pattern of dents and small paint chips in the wall, and the presence of her duffle in the locker under her bunk.
Removing her covers, Hachiko sat up and swung her feet out over the side. She still had her socks on, her boots in their customary place by the door. She rubbed her face with her hands and let out a weary groan, wondering if she'd fallen asleep worrying about how to deal with Honah.
She checked her watch, which indicated 15:15, about the right time she normally woke up. She would have time to check in, do her wake up calisthenics and then have dinner. Maybe then she would take Commander Stovni's advice and try socializing with the other squadron members. It would be difficult for her, as indicated by the bubble of anxiety already welling up within her at the very idea, but surely worth a try.
Hachiko put on her boots and tried to smooth out the rumples in her clothes using the small, wall-mounted mirror. She would have to try and have a nice, cold shower before dinner too. She looked as weary as she felt and could use a little freshening up. There was no point worrying about what to do with Honah right now, it would take her a while to cool off anyway. She could use that time to come up with a decently thought out plan.
Feeling better about her situation, she reached out to the door handle, opened the door, stepped out of her quarters… and immediately froze.
Along both sides of the hallway, almost head to foot, were wounded, sleeping or quietly suffering as medics checked and changed bandages or applied further disinfectant. The air smelled of iodine and blood, and the scene all served to tell Hachiko one thing: that she had not been dreaming.
Hachiko ran down the hall and down the stairs, ignoring the angry shouts of the medics for her to be careful. The bottom floor was covered with even more wounded, some sleeping in sitting positions on the couches while some slept on tables, or on the floor in the hallways. Outside, Hachiko beheld a scene of devastation.
Columns of smoke still climbed into the sky, the ground was littered with dirt and shattered bits of glass and concrete. One of the barracks at the far end of the block looked like a giant monster had come and taken a bite out of it.
Trying to avoid stepping on any of the dangerous rubble, Hachiko made her way to the centre of the base where the medical division was. Her path was impaired by large bomb craters, rubble piles from broken buildings, and the charred hulks of wrecked vehicles.
As she neared the hospital, things became more grim. She found bodies piled up like firewood in the shadow of one of the ambulance depots, and scores more bodies lying about the lawn as medics identified them, checked that they were actually dead, then added them to the stack.
Wounded sat around the hospital, some crying, others looked like empty shells, some even giggled hysterically to themselves. Hachiko found her nerves fraying more and more by the second.
As she neared the hospital, one of the wounded called out to her. "Go see your CO first."
Hachiko paused and looked at the old petty officer, her arm in a sling, and a bloody blue bandage over one eye, chewing on a piece of grass. She addressed her again.
"Go see your CO if you're looking for a wounded friend. They get the reports of their wounded. Don't bother the medics and doctors when they're busy trying to save the ones who aren't dead yet."
Hachiko looked between the NCO and the hospital doors. A burn victim rolled past her in a gurney and she took a step back before nodding to her and walking away.
The administration building housing Commander Stovni's office was almost as busy as the rest. Messengers darted back and forth, officers coordinated rescues, others were working to try and get communications back up and running. Eventually, she reached Commander Stovni's office and found it crowded with some of the squadron's other members. Lieutenant Doorguard was giving a report.
"…Lost a lot of blood, but her injuries weren't too severe, all things considered. Doctor said she'll be up and about in about two weeks, but not combat ready for at least three."
"Understood. Well, I'm happy to have her alive in any case."
"Who?"
Everyone turned and saw Hachiko standing in the doorway. The mood immediately shifted, and Hachiko couldn't shake the feeling that her presence had soured the mood.
"Ensign Temple," Stovni told her. She looked and sounded incredibly tired. Hachiko doubted she'd gotten any sleep since yesterday afternoon. "She's recovering in the hospital after surgery."
"Oh…" Hachiko hoped she didn't sound disappointed. She was glad to know Temple was alive.
"Unfortunately, that means you're basically the only one left on Team Four, so I'm transferring you and Ensign Doori to Team Two, under Lieutenant Doorguard. Is that clear?"
Hachiko frowned in puzzlement and glanced at Doori, who had her arm in a sling. Doorguard was leader of Team 03. Why was she saying she was part of Team 02 unless… She bit her lip and dared not ask. The looks on everyone's faces told her she didn't need to. Stormwave was dead, and Doorguard was now second in command.
"Ensign." Stovni's voice took on an unusually gentle tone. She beckoned Hachiko towards her with her tentacle and she obeyed, walking up to the desk, afraid of what she was going to say, yet knowing all the same.
Stovni pulled something out of one of her desk drawers and handed it to her. Hachiko held out her hands and gently grasped the battered and twisted metal disks, crusted blue with blood, Honah's name was stamped into their surface.
She'd already known, she'd known the moment it happened. She'd done everything to deny it, done everything to hope that she had somehow survived, but there was no denying it anymore, she could only cry onto her commanding officer's desk as she was forced to accept the truth.
Honah was dead.
Author's Notes:
Well, most of you probably saw it coming. Honah's dead, Hachiko has lost her best friend, and the Federation was able to hit the local Octarian forces where it hurts. It was a pretty brutal fight on both sides and the repercussions of this battle will be felt for some time.
What did you think of the battle and the tactics each side employed? What do you think of Sahna's moniker? How do you feel about Honah's death? Was it justified or does it leave a sour taste in your mouth? What do you think will happen to Hachiko from here?
