Tal'hasir looked towards the computer screen that lay in front of him. It had been an hour since the defences went offline. Pyrrha was still inside that accursed facility, and Ironwood was nowhere to be found. He had to act, and fast.

He prepared his weapons and ran towards his ship that lay at the entrance of the cave. He opened up the doors of the ship and climbed inside. He sat down in the cockpit that lay at the front of the vessel. He made a few system checks, turned on the engines, and took off.

His ship went straight through the entrance of the cave. Ash fell from the sky and lava flowed below along the charred surface as his ship rose to the sky. He flew his ship straight towards the facility that the young woman

He was going to save his comrade, whatever it took.

Pyrrha walked back and forth around the cell she was locked in. It had been an hour since she'd been captured. She saw soldiers walk past her cell on occasion, but she didn't see any other prisoners. A small bit of light came Into the cell that she was in from a small window. She briefly considered finding a way to break the window, but the last time she went outside without anything to block out the ashes she nearly died.

She heard a door open from the far side of the prison block. She walked to her cell door and looked outside. She saw a faunus woman walking along with a tray in her hand. A bowl and a cup lay on top of it. The woman reached Pyrrha's cell and a guard opened the door.

The faunus women placed the tray on the floor and looked up towards Pyrrha. She looked puzzled for a second, probably because Pyrrha wasn't a faunus like herself.

"Thanks." Pyrrha said. The faunus women simply nodded and walked away. The guard locked the door behind her, leaving Pyrrha alone in the room once more.

She sat down, pulled over the tray and looked towards the skylight. She weighed her options. She could try to escape through the door when the women she saw returns with another batch of food. She had no weapons, and the guards could easily catch her… or shoot her. She could just wait and see what happens. All things considered, it was her best option.

She began to eat the food in front of her.

She would wait for as long as she had to.

He was tired of this shit. The generator was fucked. The defences were fucked. Everything was fucked. Men shouted around him as they ran around the generator room, trying their best to keep the massive machine that lay in the middle from exploding. Fires occasionally popped up, and men rushed to put them out.

Sparks flew out of the generator and more fires popped up. The room shook violently with every outburst from the now waning generator.

"GODDAMMIT!" He shouted out aloud. He slammed his fist on the smashed up console that sat in front of him. Some of the men that were working nearby heard the noise and ran up to him.

"What's the problem, sir?" The man in front of the group of workers asked.

"Everything is the damn problem! A single girl waltzed in here and managed to destroy the one thing powering this fucking shithole! I thought the fuckers that built the damn thing would put some sort of safety in place! Instead, they built it at the lowest fucking bidder and now were fucked. FUCKED!" He slammed his fist on the console again. Blood came spewing out of his hand as the glass shards from the console inserted themselves into his hand. His other hand was already mangled, and now he screwed up his other hand as well. He ignored the pain. There were bigger problems at hand.

"How long until we can get this piece of shit operational?"

"All things considered? Well… two months, at least."

"Two months?" The man looked at the engineer for a second. "Ha...HAHAHAHHAHAHA!" He begin to laugh. "TWO FUCKING MONTHS!" Every person working in the room looked up towards him. He had everyone's attention now. "IF I HAD A FREE HAND I'D FUCKING SHOOT YOU! I'D SHOOT EVERYONE IN THIS FUCKING ROOM! I EXPECT THIS THING OPERATIONAL WITHIN THE WEEK!" Every soldier in the room looked in shock towards him."Get back to fucking work!" Everyone in the room immediately got back to their duties.

Oscar hadn't been this pissed since the last facility he worked at was destroyed. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of his job. He walked back to his office, pushing past everyone that got in his way.

He walked down the hallway and arrived at his office. He took out his key card and used it to open the door to his office. It was a fairly large room. His table and chair sat towards the back. Behind It was a large window that gave him a view of the charred landscape that he inhabited. He looked out the window for a moment. Everything had gone to shit. His refinery didn't work. His defences were gone. And no doubt the creatures that swarmed this hellish landscape would soon swarm his facility.

He sat down on his chair and opened up the small cupboard that was built directly into his chair. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a small glass cup. He popped open the drink and poured it into the cup. As soon as it was full, he lifted up the cup, drank it all in one big swig, and put back down.

Once more, he looked out the window behind him. In the distance, he saw aircraft fly by. He may hate this planet, but the sights he saw were enough to calm him down a little.

That was, of course, until he saw another ship approach.

It was different from the rest of the ships that flew overhead. It had golden armour, and it's engines glowed a bright blue. Oscar stared at it for a moment in awe. He quickly snapped out of it and reached for the intercom on his desk. He tried to use it, but it didn't work. It dawned on him that the generator also powered the communications array and the intercom as well.

"...Fuck." Oscar said. The craft flew closer and closer to the base. He looked below the craft and saw a large group of creatures following it. Oscar jumped out of his chair and left the room. He ran straight for the barracks. Most of the men were off duty but if he ran fast enough, he could get them straight into gear. He found his way there, and opened up the door. A large group of soldiers were in the barracks on break. Some wore the standard uniforms that the Schnee Dust Company provided, while others wore the power armour that the Terran Confederacy issued to its troops.

"Listen up, men! We have an unidentified ship incoming, and a large swarm of Zerg following it. Get your asses in gear and move out!"

Every soldier in the room complied. They geared up and brought whatever ammo they could with them. Oscar went straight back to his office. This was going to be a long fight.

He could only hope that his soldiers would win.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of the shouting outside. Soldiers rushed by her cell, most of them clearly in a panic. She could also hear gunfire coming from outside the window. There was clearly a battle going on outside, but she didn't know who the soldiers were fighting.

"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked the guard outside her door.

"Shut up." The guard responded.

It was safe to say she wasn't getting anything from him. Most of the guards outside had left for the battle outside, and it was only her and a single soldier in the cellblock. She heard the door open from the other end of the cellblock. She looked outside her cell and saw the faunus woman from earlier approach. She was carrying another tray in her hand. She approached the door and the guard opened it. He turned his back to the her.

Suddenly, the woman lifted the tray and bashed the guards head in with it. He fell to the ground with a thud. Pyrrha stepped towards him and knocked him out. She picked up his rifle and gave his pistol to the faunus woman.

"Thanks for rescuing me." Pyrrha said.

"Your welcome. I heard about what you did down in the mines. Somebody has to return the favour."

"Alright then. Tell me where the rest of your people are being kept."

"Follow me!"

Pyrrha followed the faunus woman through the facility. Gunfire echoed through the hallways as they made their way towards the worker's quarters. Soldiers ran past them, giving little attention to the two as they ran.

Suddenly, a small swarm of creatures approached from a hole in the facility's walls. They had breached the defences of the outside perimeter, and had slaughtered all the guards that stood in their way. They noticed Pyrrha and the other woman and charged towards them.

"Quick, this way!"

Pyrrha followed the woman once more. A group of soldiers engaged the small horde of creatures, giving little attention to the two woman that ran through the base. More gunfire sounded from outside and inside the base.

"Come on, their in here!"

They came upon the quarters that the workers inhabited. There was a large group of faunus in the room, and they all stared towards the two woman that barged in. A man locked the door behind them as they rushed in.

"Everyone, listen up!" The young woman spoke. Everyone in the room turned towards her with intrigue. "We have to find a way out of here. There should be a bunch of ships in the docking bay upstairs."

"But how a we supposed to get up there? Those creatures are still roaming outside." Someone in the crowd said.

"Then I guess we'll have to find another way out."

Pyrrha looked around the room. Everyone was in a state of panic. No one knew what to do. In the crowd she spotted a familiar face.

It was the little girl that Pyrrha had met in the cave. They both looked at each other for a brief moment before the young girl came up to Pyrrha.

"Are you alright?" Pyrrha spoke.

"...Yes." The young girl responded in a rather timid way. Pyrrha hugged the little girl to comfort her.

"We're going to make it out of this alive."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"I think you dropped these." A woman spoke, pointing towards a small crate. Pyrrha opened it up and found her weapon and her shield inside. She picked both of them up and put both of them on her back. She looked back towards the child.

Pyrrha gave a smile. The child did the same back. Pyrrha got up and went back to the door. She could hear the creatures roaming around outside. Gunfire came from outside as well, but It was far away.

She heard a weird noise from outside. She couldn't tell what it was… until she heard the screams. One by one the creatures outside began to scream. She heard what must have been a good few dozen die outside. She stepped back from the door as soon as she heard footsteps approach.

Suddenly, a long energy blade cut through the door. Everyone looked at it in horror. They all stepped back as the door opened up. Someone came through the door. Pyrrha looked at the figure that came through in shock.

"Pyrrha, it's good to see your safe." The stranger spoke.

"It's good to see you too, Tal."

Tal'hasir looked around the room. Everyone stared at him in shock. He retracted his blade and looked towards the crowd.

"I'm sorry for giving you all a scare. I am Tal'hasir, and I'm here to rescue you. All of you." Everyone in the room relaxed a little after he spoke. "I need you all to remain calm. There's a hanger bay upstairs. Sadly, there's only one dropship left."

"I thought you said that everyone here was being rescued?" A voice spoke up. Right after he spoke, a loud noise came from outside the facility. A massive shock wave hit the base. Another loud noise came, and another shock wave came with it. There was a sense of panic among the people in the room.

"That was the sound of your rescue. They may be one dropship in the hanger bay right now, but there will be a lot more coming in a few moments. Follow me!"

Everyone followed Tal as he exited the room.

Shouts came from across the hanger bay. Soldiers readied themselves. Terran and Atlesian soldiers alike prepared themselves for the battle to come. Pilots made the last checks on there ships. Soldiers loaded themselves into the dropships that littered the bay.

Raynor made one last check of his weapon and walked towards one of the dropships. A few soldiers joined in tow. He knew this was going to be a tough fight. The Zerg had already breached the defences of the facility, and roamed freely across the complex. He already briefed his soldiers on the situation. They were all ready to fight through hell itself.

As Raynor loaded onto the dropship, a familiar voice came from behind him.

"I'm heading out with you." A man spoke. Raynor looked back towards the man.

"That's not a good idea, Ironwood. Can't have the brains of this whole thing dropping into hell itself."

"There's someone there I need to meet. I'm sure you can cover me."

"It's your grave, not mine!" Raynor shouted over the sound of the dropships engines. Everyone took a seat and prepared themselves.

"Buckle your seatbelts, boys! We're heading out!" The pilot spoke. She shouted over the sound of the engines.

Every ship in the bay flew off, heading straight towards the facility that lay below. Fighters led the way, clearing out the flying Zerg that blocked the way. The two battlecruisers that had brought them here provided covering fire, sending volley after volley of shots into the flying creatures.

"Alright men, listen up! We're gonna try and land in the landing bay on top of the facility. It's probably crawling with Zerg. We're gonna clear them out and evacuate any prisoners we find. The generator inside is already fucked, so we don't need to worry about it. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The soldiers responded.

The dropship made it's way into the hanger. A nearby fighter provided covering fire as more dropships made their way towards the bay. The dropship landed, and the men jumped out. The creatures in the bay spotted them and charged towards them. The soldiers readied their weapons and fired towards the hordes of incoming creatures. More and more of them swarmed into the bay, but their were meet with more soldiers coming in and gunning them down.

Raynor commanded his men to focus their fire on the bigger Zerg that begin to rush in. They were instantly mowed down by the concentrated fire of the marines weapons. Ironwood fired his own weapon, killing every creature that he hit. A fighter came right into the bay and provided covering fire. The creatures numbers were thinned out, and soon the horde dissipated. The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief as the creatures stopped coming.

From one end of the hanger another group came. Two people led in front, and Ironwood instantly recognised one of them.

"Good to you, Tal'hasir." Ironwood said.

"En Taro Adun, Ironwood. I assume you've brought enough transports?"

"Indeed I have. The comprised generator can finish off this place. Load these people into the transports, we're moving out!"

Ironwood looked around the room. The marines began to load people into the transports. Someone he didn't recognise approached him.

"Your James Ironwood, right?" A young woman asked.

"In the flesh. You must be the person Tal told me about."

"Yep. Pyrrha Nikos, pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Follow me, we have a lot to discuss."

Ironwood walked back to his transport. Tal left, heading for his ship. Pyrrha and Raynor followed Ironwood into the ship.

They had a hell of a lot to talk about.