I goofed. It was pointed out to me in a recent review that the Pax isn't even a moonBreaker at all. Since this is the last chapter of Part 3, I'm going to go back and fix those mistakes before I start on Part 4.

1/30/18: Minor updates to account for Tactus' presence and explain why he won't be there for the EMP scene.

Chapter 29: At the Wall:

Edge of the Valles Marineris

Mars

February 22nd, 2841

In retrospect, Shiro should have expected that bombshell. Darrow had explained that he'd allowed Aja to escape from Europa, so they could track her back to the Sovereign via the radiation signature of the landmine spikes. It made sense, after all. She was Octavia's personal killer. It was both obvious and inevitable that she would return to the Sovereign's side. Shiro had been one of five people trusted with that part of the plan to prevent it from being leaked to the enemy. He just hadn't known she'd been in Agea all along. Shiro forced himself to focus on the task at hand as he looked beyond the mountain range. The vanguard of Darrow's ground forces made landfall in the canyon ahead while Blues in space laid down cover fire on Agea itself.

The Martian capital sat at the bottom of the Valles Marineris, the canyon system that stretched nearly a quarter of the planet's circumference along its equator. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Shiro couldn't help but grin. Galaxy Garrison had sent a few manned missions to Mars before his fateful trip to Kerberos, but, according to Pidge and Lance, there had yet to be an expedition where human beings had set foot in the canyons themselves even after his capture. While it had already been colonized for centuries by this point, the Black Paladin felt a surge of pride at being the first Galaxy Garrison astronaut to set foot in one of the deepest canyons in the solar system. A bright flash forced him to blink the spots out of his eyes and return his focus to the task at hand.

The force field protecting Mars' capital city pulsed opaque under the deluge of orbital bombardment. Shiro felt somewhat grateful that they were approaching the city at ground level from the bottom of the hundred-kilometer-wide canyon that ran north and south of the capital, slipping under the two-hundred-meter gap that all the shields had to maintain above the soil to avoid triggering seismic activity. Once everyone had geared up for their assault on Agea, Darrow Mustang, Shiro, Tactus, and Sevro were the next ones off the mountain, with the rest of their battalion following behind them. With the aid of their gravBoots, they jumped between mountain peaks and lower foothills, taking fire from Bellona ground forces as they went.

As they travelled towards their next meeting point, Shiro processed the ramifications of what Darrow had told him, aware that the young warlord was likely doing the same. With Octavia captured or killed, the Society would fracture. Without the iron will of the Sovereign to hold everything together, senators and governors would all attempt to seize power for themselves, fracturing the cohesion of humanity's empire. And amid the chaos, the Sons of Ares would rise from the dying remnants of Gold civilization and rebuild society into a social system that didn't rely on the oppression of the masses to function. Shiro had to admit that the plan stood a fair chance of succeeding. He just wished that there would be less risk of innocent civilian casualties. He was jolted out of his thoughts once again by the sound of a private com channel opening.

"We're over the Institute now," Mustang told him and gestured downward. The Black Paladin gazed at the view that passed beneath them as they glided down into the canyons from the northern edge. While Shiro disliked the idea of a school where teens were forced to go Lord of the Flies on each other as "education", the sight of the empty grounds felt almost haunting. The students had all been evacuated as soon as the invasion began, another grim reminder to the paladin of the fact that he was in the middle of a war. After a few minutes of gliding, they landed atop the floating island of Olympus, which as Shiro understood, was basically the Institute's equivalent of a faculty lounge. Shiro took note of the corpses littering the slopes of the mountain while Darrow and Mustang rendezvoused with Ragnar and the Jupiter instructor on one of the white spires of the island's fortress. A few minutes later, the four returned to the group, where Darrow told the rest of his small council that the Sovereign was here on Mars.

After making sure everyone was on the same page, that they were not to engage Cassius, Karnus, or Aja if they encountered any of them, the group set off once more as friendly ripWings roared overhead to clear their path. Once all their forces were marshaled, they moved quickly through the green canyon between the Institute and Agea itself. They weren't a slow, creeping column anymore, though. This time, they moved fast. Grays on speederbikes and spiders tore ahead after the dropships that glided down to deposit troops closer to the walls. On the opposite side of the canyon, Lorn's battalion would be taking the same approach from the south. Up ahead, a series of flashes briefly illuminated the stormy skies, an indication of either mines detonating or mine killers doing their job. It was impossible to tell from this far away.

A squad worth of flying Obsidians was shredded by drone fire before the Howlers could take out the capital's automated defenses. Small towns, resorts, estates, and farms passed beneath as the fast-moving army skimmed over buildings on the outskirts of Agea. At last, they came within sight of the capital city's defensive wall. While living on Luna had desensitized him to the scale of everything by now, Shiro still felt awed at the massive barrier. From their current position in the canyon, it stood ninety kilometers across, and rose almost two hundred meters into the air, stopping just below the shields. Shiro knew from tactical readouts that rivers and lakes ran beneath the wall through a network of thick durosteel grates that were as strong as starship hulls had dismissed the possibility of entering the city that way after determining that it would take too long to drill through the bars, even with a hundred soldiers working for ten hours straight.

As they approached the wall, Shiro watched in awe as fire rippled over stell along the defensive barrier. Two feint assaults were being carried out to the left and right of their own formation. ripWings fired railguns at the wall as they slid through the sky. Armored Grays swarmed forward like ants, while rocket teams deployed and sent slithering death into the Agean defenders. Like the space battle up in orbit, the battle on the ground was a dizzying puzzle made up of layers and layers of activity and counter-activity. The only difference was that the ground battle had sound. Landmines blew holes in their force while Bellona kill squads slipped out of the wall a hundred meters up, flying out to attack in their full regalia, with banners waving in the wind and gold glistening on their armor.

The Bellona shields shimmered as weapons fire from the attackers lanced their foes with weapons fire. I wonder if Cassius is here, Shiro thought to himself as he spotted the silver eagle of House Bellona's banner amid the enemy forces. Darrow had the same thought and looked ready to charge forward at the possibility of facing the Bellona again before Mustang grabbed his arm. Shiro couldn't hear what she told him, but her gesturing to the river made her point clear. So instead of charging ahead at the Bellona kill squads, the Reaper of Mars ran to the side and dove into the river. Without hesitation, Mustang, Jupiter, the Howlers, and the Obsidians sprinted forward and followed him beneath the way.

Confused, the Black Paladin raced ahead and dove into the river after the rest of the group, the remaining troops not far behind him. He felt the current speed him again towards where the rest of the group is already swimming downward, fish scattering out of his way as he kicked his legs to catch up. When he saw that the grates that allowed the river to flow through the wall beneath the water's surface had been cut away, Shiro's first thought was that it was a trap. But Darrow didn't appear to be surprised by it in the slightest, which tipped him off to the fact that his initial assumption was incorrect. He must have finally managed to contact the Sons of Ares, Shiro realized, remembering that the young warlord had mentioned trying to get in touch with the resistance movement for assistance. He had them cut the greats open in advance so that we could bypass it with minimal casualties. Brilliant!

A few minutes later, the rest of their cadre regrouped on the opposite side of the wall. Shiro followed Mustang, Sevro, and the remaining Howlers through the breach. Fifty more Golden legionnaires came through behind him, trailed by three times that many Obsidians and Grays. Shiro bumped armored fists with Mustang, Sevro, and Darrow as the young warlord reminded everyone of their orders. Ragnar saluted, balling his fist against his heart while Proctor Jupiter yawned into his com. Clown, Pebble, and Weed riled up the remaining Howlers for the next fight, kicking up dirt and silt at the bottom of the river. Shiro took the brief respite as a chance to catch his breath, letting the echo of his inhaling and exhaling create a soothing rhythm as he waited for the next chapter of chaos and death to begin.

As they waited in the inky darkness of the riverbed, Mustang departed downriver, taking her troops as she began following the river until she would reach a park near the shield generators. Tactus went with her. Darrow was clearly nervous watching her go, knowing that there was a high chance she could die today, and though he tried to keep the thought out of his mind, Shiro was nervous for Tactus as well. Still, he and Sevro each put a hand on the Reaper's shoulder to reassure him. Darrow closed his eyes and nodded his thanks as Sevro floated upwards to collect the probe he'd sent out above and informed everyone that they were clear. There was nobody above them except for a girl playing in the mud. Shiro was immediately suspicious but decided to hold his comments until he actually saw the situation above water for himself.

"Fight for each other," Darrow said over the com to those still by his side. "Or me." And with that, everyone in the group activated their gravBoots and rocketed out of the water, breaking through the surface of the river like inky monsters. Everyone's black starShells dripped water as they flew up over the riverbank, covered in mud from the rain that had fallen before the shields went up. A single, unarmored Brown girl stood below, ankle deep in the mud. Shiro's brow furrowed in confusion, danger senses screaming at him that something was wrong. Why isn't she hiding with her family? He wondered. What possessed her to come out into the middle of a warzone completely unprotected? Realization dawned on his as the girl looked up at the strike team, but it was already too late. Lightning illuminated her as she snatched a device that resembled a small sphere from the basket at her feet.

"Shoot her!" Sevro snarled. But Darrow knocked the Howler's hand aside, and a tree exploded into splinters instead. Meanwhile Shiro looked above, where Bellona knights and their Obsidian retinue were perched atop the wall, out of range of Sevro's probe and just beyond the blast radius of the EMP globe the girl was carrying. She pressed a button on the device, and Darrow's forces began to die.

Three quarters of the way through, now. Things are going to start going a bit differently in the next several chapters. We'll start to see more changes to the story of Golden Son as a result of Shiro's presence, and book fans can probably guess where that's going to start next chapter.