Chapter 12: It's War, Again

Rachel dreamed.

In her slumbering mind she found herself looking out over a great desert, an endless expanse that spread like sickness beyond the horizon. High above, the sun cut through a sky that seemed to have been sapped of all colour, while the landscape below was cracked and barren. The desiccated remains of plant life dotted the sands, brown and twisted, and dried-up rivers ran across the ground like scars. There was no life here, not any longer, and what few clouds lingered no longer had the strength to cry.

Here, in the heart of Omega Land, Black Hole had taken everything, and left only death.

Black Hole. That was who they were fighting, Rachel knew. The enemy was advancing over the withered dunes in force, all manner of soldiers and vehicles drawing steadily closer. In her dreaming state Rachel had only a vague awareness of what was happening, but she knew that the Allied Nations line was not ready to meet the attack. She needed to send in their air support to engage the foe while they reformed.

The dream began to shift. Battle copters and jets appeared in the sky, all of them painted in a familiar blue scheme. The sky was alive again, and for a moment there was hope. There was hope, until the air force opened fire, and turned their destructive power upon the Orange Star forces below. Horror flooded Rachel as she realised the battle was lost. Frantic she turned about, searching for Sasha and Colin, searching for some explanation.

Instead she found only a woman bearing a pointed mess of scarlet hair, her face coated in ghostly white makeup. Kindle. Rachel had only the vague intuition that this was her doing, but for her unconscious mind, that was enough. She tried to run towards Kindle, only to find she could barely move. Lifting her feet had become an immense effort, and Rachel did not understand why. She didn't understand any of this at all. With a burst of panic Rachel felt herself sinking, falling towards the ground even as everything else began to fade away. The world swirled around her, turning to shadow, and soon nothing remained but that horrible, false laughter of Kindle's.

Rachel's eyes shot open. As she awoke the instinct to fight back against her enemy persisted, the adrenaline rushing through her body a parting gift from the nightmare. Several seconds passed before her foggy mind realised that she was not in the desert, but in her cot, and above was not the dry Omega Land sky, but the coarse canvas of her tent. Rachel closed her eyes. There was no battle, and Black Hole was not attacking. Little by little, she felt her whole body begin to relax. Everything was safe, at least for now.

Despite telling herself that, Rachel found she could not keep an anxious twist from her lips as she wriggled out of her sleeping bag. Every misleading instinct told her that something was wrong, and for a time she simply sat on the cot, staring straight ahead as she went over the dream again. It was still so vivid, so fresh in her mind. In some ways it felt more real than the world around her, almost as if she had never woken up at all.

Irritation flashed on Rachel's features, and she shot to her feet. It was only a dream, and there was no point in dwelling on it. She began to get dressed, determined to focus on what was here and now instead. Going through the physical motions of pulling her pants and jacket on was a welcome contrast to the surreal imagery of her dreams. Solid, and ordinary. Feeling a little more like herself, Rachel slipped her feet into her shoes and walked over to a bowl of water, set up on an end table next to her cot. She splashed some water on her face, letting the cool shock of the liquid against her skin anchor her in the present. It wasn't nearly enough to wash away the nightmare, but it was a start.

Once she had finished cleaning her face, Rachel drew in a deep breath to settle her nerves. What now? Brushing her hair. That was the next step in her morning routine, and so she lifted her hairbrush from where it sat by a small mirror and began to run it through her strawberry blonde locks. The simple rhythm of the brushstrokes was comforting somehow, a familiar practice in an increasingly unfamiliar world.

After a while she paused to look in the mirror, studying the shape of her hair. Ever since her encounter with Adder she had been making more of an effort to neaten her hair, wearing it straighter and further back. Unlike her sister, Rachel had never been one to spend much time on her hair and make-up, but of late she had tried to make herself just a bit more presentable. Rachel frowned as she examined her reflection. Thus far, her efforts had met with limited success.

She was still frowning at herself when a noise outside the tent startled her. Rachel looked around to see a huge shadow moving on the tent wall, its owner silhouetted against the warm glow of the morning sun.

"Hey," Max's deep voice called out. "You awake?"

"Yeah." She ran the brush through her hair one final time and set it aside. "Yeah, I'm up. Come in."

Rachel turned away from the mirror as Max stooped to enter the tent. He hadn't slept well either, by the look of him; Max's eyes were puffy, and there was a tight set to his broad jaw that spoke of a constant need to stay alert.

"Just got a transmission from your sister," he said with a nod of greeting. "There's a whole lot of activity on the other side of the border. It looks like Blue Moon's getting ready to invade."

For a split second Rachel froze. "How soon?"

Max shrugged. "Soon. Today, maybe tomorrow. Nell thinks within forty-eight hours."

Rachel could only stare at him, mute. Nausea began to creep into her stomach as she processed the news. Up until today, she'd been clinging to the hope that perhaps it wouldn't come to war, but Max's tidings had finally put an end to that. All she could think was that the warning shouldn't have come as this much of a shock. For months now Orange Star and Blue Moon had been set on this slow path towards disaster, unwilling or unable to turn away. The writing had been on the wall all that time, and still Rachel had hoped that something would change, that they could avert a terrible, pointless war. She'd been a complete fool, fixated on a delusional dream of peace when she should have been preparing for the inevitable conflict. Stupid, stupid girl, she thought bitterly. Nell would never have been so naive.

"You okay?" Max asked in a gentler voice.

Rachel started and looked up. Max had moved closer, and he was peering down at her with concern in his eyes. She put a hand to her forehead and with every bit of self-control she had tried to pull herself together. Now more than ever, her focus had to be perfect.

"I'll have to be." She forced an unsteady smile. "It sounds like we've got work to do."

"Ain't that the truth," Max said.

Rachel found she couldn't bear to look him in the eye. The apprehension on Max's face was plain to see, and she didn't want to recognise it. It was too uncomfortable a reminder of all she wanted to ignore, all she needed to ignore. Instead she directed her attention towards the large table beside them. The tent was set up both as Rachel's living quarters and a makeshift command office, and most of the available space was filled by the table. On its surface a map of the border region was spread out beneath an assortment of items including a radio, several pens, and her trusty red cap. Rachel let her eyes follow the contours of the territory as written on the map, reminding herself of the tactical situation. It was a welcome distraction. The tapestry of roads, rivers, and topographical lines was a maze in which she could easily lose her unwanted thoughts.

"Everything's in position," Rachel said, going over all their troop deployments again in her mind. "If they try to cross the bridge, they'll be in for a nasty surprise."

Max nodded in agreement. "Guess you'll take charge of that when the time comes, huh? That kinda thing isn't my strong suit."

"No kidding," she teased him.

In spite of everything, Rachel couldn't hide a playful smile. It was a welcome feeling, even at a time like this. Perhaps most especially at a time like this, it was an important reminder of what they were fighting for. Nevertheless, the feeling could not last. Much as she wished to hold on to it, Rachel's smile soon faded. She was too aware of the situation they were in, and further aware of how much depended on her being ready to face it.

"You've fought Blue Moon before, right?" Rachel asked. "Do you think this will be like last time?"

"I doubt it. Last time was a mess." Max stopped, and his bearing grew more pensive. "For a while there I thought we were getting along better with Blue Moon. The border skirmishes eased off, we were cooperating a bit, and then… then everything happened all at once, you know? Hachi retires and your sister gets the top job, Grit goes AWOL, Olaf takes command over in Blue Moon, and the next thing you know there are tanks rolling across the border."

"Things were really that bad?"

"Yeah. Olaf's invasion came outta nowhere. They were almost to the capital before we really started to push back." Max looked away. "This time, things'll be different. This time we're ready."

There was no denying that. As relations with Blue Moon had steadily worsened, Nell had done everything in her power to prepare for an invasion. If the fights to come did not go well, it would not be for lack of readiness on Orange Star's part. Nell had seen the truth of things, and so had Max. Rachel felt another surge of bitterness. She was the only one who had been blind.

Suddenly furious with herself Rachel turned away from the table. She'd always believed it was important to face one's mistakes, to learn from them, but in that moment she could hardly bear to contemplate just how stupid she'd been.

As she turned to face the tent's entrance, she caught sight of a captain approaching from outside.

"Commander Max, Commander Rachel…" the captain swallowed. "A Blue Moon soldier just crossed the bridge. Says his CO wants to talk face to face."

Max and Rachel exchanged a glance, needing no words to express their shared question. Who exactly wanted to talk to them? Would they find themselves confronting Olaf as he railed and blustered, or would it be Grit or Colin, desperately trying to find a way to avert this disaster? Rachel felt a surge of conflicting emotions. There was one other possibility they needed to consider.

"Max…" Her resolve faltered, but she forced her voice to hold firm. "What if this is a trap?"

He looked at her, the grim lines around his eyes uncomfortably prominent. "You think we're gonna get taken hostage the minute we step out on the bridge?"

"Maybe." Rachel gave a small shrug. "Or worse. I don't know. I don't want to believe Blue Moon would do something like that, but I never thought things would go this far in the first place."

Max shook his head. "They wouldn't risk it, Rachel. Attacking under a flag of truce like that, before a war even started… you start doing that sort of thing and soon there's no way for the fighting to end. Olaf's not a complete fool. He knows pulling a stunt like that would turn half the world against him."

"You're right. You're right!" Rachel rubbed her temples. "Maybe this is just stressing me out so much I can't even think straight."

Max sighed, the sound a great shudder like rumbling stone. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Ever since we got out here, I can't stop thinking about this mess. 'Bout how they could do this. I mean, Olaf I kinda get, but Grit…"

Rachel thought back to the conversation they'd had while she was in the hospital, and what Max had told her about his friendship with Grit. That was another truth Rachel couldn't believe she had missed. She'd noticed how close the pair of them seemed in Omega Land, and yet somehow never thought too deeply about why. She knew first hand how much of a difference it made to face danger alongside someone who understood you, someone you trusted completely. Fighting the person you shared that kind of bond with was almost unthinkable. How much of the stress visibly weighing upon Max was because he might soon be going to war with the man who had once been his best friend?

She forced her thoughts away from that precipice with a wrench of will. If this went badly, they were all going to be fighting former friends. Far greater problems demanded their focus, and there was no room for hesitation or regret.

"So what do you reckon?" Rachel asked. "Should we do this?"

Max let out another long sigh. "I don't think we have much choice."

She nodded, lips pursed tight. "Alright. Then let's go."

Max turned to the captain, who was still waiting by the tent's entrance. "Signal Blue Moon that we agree to the meet. Commander Rachel and I are gonna hear them out. If anything happens to us, stick to the plan."

"Yes sir."

As the captain vanished into the brightness of the morning, Rachel merely stared at the map, the set of her lips growing ever tighter. Coming to a decision felt no better than trying to make one, and the fear of what was to come had only grown. Max stretched his arms and yawned. Rachel looked to him, her attention drawn by the motion, and knew from his troubled frown that he felt the same way. Their eyes met, and as if by some unspoken agreement they began to move, making their way out of the tent and into the valley beyond.

The bright rays of the morning sun were harsh on Rachel's eyes as she stepped into the open air. For one brief moment she was struck by a burst of panic as the sun rising over the mountains reminded her of the pale sun that had hung above the desert in her dreams, but she pushed the feeling away. It was only a dream, she told herself again, and the desert sun was only a memory.

It took almost a minute for her vision to adjust to the light, and take in the scene before her. The border military camp was sprawled around the roadside as it disappeared into the rugged mountains to the west. In the opposite direction, the vast silver arch of the Portal Bridge spanned the width of a great lake, passing over stumbling slopes dusted with scrub growth and wild grass before it soared out across the water. Far below, the stony shore marked the border between Orange Star and Blue Moon. Rachel shivered as she looked to the east. With the morning light behind it, the bridge's pylons cast long shadows like black fingers reaching out to claim their souls.

Max and Rachel walked to the road and boarded a waiting APC. As he prepared to close the hatch, Max slapped a hand on the transport's side and nodded to the driver.

"Let's head out."

The engine rumbled to life, and the vehicle began to shudder and move. Trapped in a small metal box, Rachel felt her heartbeat begin to rise again. Anything could have been happening outside and they'd never even know. She closed her eyes. Why on earth was she so nervous? Military transports had never bothered her before, no matter how cramped or uncomfortable they were. She opened her eyes as a jolt ran through the APC. Maybe it wasn't about the vehicle, but where it was taking her. The thought seemed obvious in hindsight, but somehow the understanding only made Rachel feel worse.

The transport slowed. Rachel looked up in alarm. Even though she'd been fully aware how short a distance the APC had to travel, it still seemed too soon. The thought was almost amusing, in a twisted sort of way. Too soon was the only time there was for situations like this.

"Showtime," Max muttered as they came to a halt.

He opened the hatch and stepped out into the morning sun once more. As she followed him Rachel saw the wide lines of the bridge, the barriers at the side… and there, just in front of their APC, a pale orange line that stretched the width of the road. It marked the border. A few metres beyond that was another line, in blue this time. Two familiar figures in fine uniforms waited not far past the blue line, standing next to an idling car.

Colin and Sasha.

Rachel glanced at Max. He could have been carved from granite, his mouth rigid and his eyes oddly flat. It was the right attitude, she reflected. Times like these called for a display of strength. Rachel just hoped she was up to the task.

"Commander Rachel," Sasha greeted her, voice cool and polite as always. "Commander Max."

The two Blue Moon COs stepped forward, but did not move past the line at their feet.

Max crossed his arms as they moved to stand opposite their counterparts. There were only a scant few metres of tarmac and a series of painted lines between them now, but they might as well have been an entire ocean.

"What the hell do you two want?" Max growled.

Colin flinched. "Max, we– we just want to talk."

"Then talk," Rachel shot back.

"Rachel, please," Sasha said, her eyes giving nothing away. "Surely we can at least be civil."

"Civil?" Max barked. "Civil? Is that what you call this?" He waved a hand at the army massed on the Blue Moon side of the border. "Man, we're so far past civil you can't even see it in the rear mirror."

"Max–"

"Just tell us what you want, Sasha," Rachel snapped.

For a moment Sasha said nothing. She looked away, something odd flickering over her face. Some buried emotion trying to make itself seen, or perhaps it was just a trick of the light.

"As you wish," she said. "First, I must inform you that at 0800 hours this morning, Blue Moon's troops will cross the border and move to liberate the territory that is rightfully ours."

"0800? That's twenty minutes from now," Rachel blurted out.

"Correct." Sasha gave a single, stiff nod. "The reason we're here is to ask you to withdraw before then. Agree to our demands and perhaps we can avoid unnecessary bloodshed."

Sasha's voice was brittle, and she was staring at the line of blue paint at her feet. She sounded like a woman who was being forced to read from a script at gunpoint, Rachel thought. She felt a pang of doubt, and for a moment wondered if perhaps there was more to this than she realised.

The feeling did not last long. Any sympathy Rachel could muster for this ghost of a girl she had once called her friend was fragile at best. All of her anger and sorrow soon rose to smother it. Even if Sasha didn't like what she was saying, she was still making the decision to say it. There were a dozen paths she could have chosen that didn't lead to this moment, and Sasha hadn't taken any of them. She was complicit in this. They both were.

Rachel started at a sudden noise to her left. Max was laughing, a deep, hearty chuckle that seemed completely out of place with what they had just been told. Rachel could barely believe what she was seeing. They were about to face an invasion force, and Max was laughing. He was laughing, but there was no mirth in it. The laughter was somehow wrong. Max was so tense, the muscles in his neck drawn so taut they looked ready to snap, and as Rachel watched him more closely, she could see the anger simmering behind his eyes. She'd never seen him like this before, and she hadn't realised just how much it was hurting him to see their friends and allies betray them.

"You know that's never gonna happen," Max said, still chuckling. "You two are out of your freakin' minds if you think we'll agree to anything like that."

Sasha opened her mouth to speak, then stopped, apparently thinking better of it. Instead it was Colin who broke the silence, grim resolve writ on his awkward features.

"Max… we're not going to back down. We have to do what's right for Blue Moon."

Max snorted and shook his head. "I don't believe it. You're really going along with this, Colin? After everything we've been through together, you're gonna turn on your friends?"

Colin blinked several times, before he drew himself up to his full height. "I'm going to do my duty, and do what's asked of me. I– I serve my country, Max. Same as you."

"You keep telling yourself that, kid," Max said. "Maybe it'll be a comfort when you walk off that cliff you're heading for." His lip curled in contempt. "Coward."

"That's enough!" Sasha's eyes flashed with indignation, and all of a sudden she looked alive again. "I understand you are upset, Max, but I will not allow you to insult my brother."

Max turned on her with a sneer. "You're no better, acting all superior, standing here spouting this crap. I can't believe I ever found you attractive."

Sasha was once again speechless, reduced to staring at Max in dismay. Rachel was more than a little stunned herself, for that matter. She had never seen Max speak to anyone like this, not even Hawke and Lash. The venom in his voice was overwhelming, a volatile fury that coloured every word. Max had always been blunt, but this was a side of him she had not seen before.

"You wanna scrap with us?" Max shouted. "Bring it on! We both know Blue Moon's no match for Orange Star. Last time we went up against each other, you lost. This time won't be any different."

"Don't underestimate our resolve!" Colin said, but his voice sounded shrill rather than strong.

Max's eyes suddenly went ice cold. "Fine," he muttered. "We'll settle this on the battlefield." He started to turn, then stopped and looked back at the siblings. "One other thing. When you see Grit, you give him a message for me. You tell him I'm comin', and this time nothing's gonna stand in my way. This time… no forgiveness."

With that Max walked away. He didn't even wait to see how his parting words had been received. Rachel was about to follow when something made her pause. Her face pinched with emotion as she looked Sasha directly in the eye.

"Jake," she said quietly.

At the sound of the name, Sasha gave an odd twitch.

"He trusted you," Rachel continued. "He– he liked you. How can you betray him like this?"

Sasha did not reply. There was silence as a single tear ran down her cheek. It was the only sign of life that was left in Sasha, for she had grown still and pale as porcelain. Then she turned her back to the border, walking away with Colin in tow, and the moment was past.

It was over. It was done. Their destiny was decided, and no amount of tears could change it. Rachel felt a strange sensation reverberating through her body as she headed back to the APC. A cold stillness, a sort of dizzying numbness, spreading from her heart as the awful truth etched itself deeper with every passing second.

This was the day they went to war with Blue Moon.

Neither of them spoke during the drive back to the camp. Max sat hunched to one side of the transport, alternating between wringing his hands together and clenching them into fists. Rachel couldn't begin to imagine what he must have been feeling anymore than she could decipher her own swirling emotions. It was enough of an effort to keep herself upright as the shock of what had just happened pulsed through her veins. All Rachel could hold onto was the thought that it shouldn't have been this way, that she shouldn't have been so shocked. She should have been prepared for this.

For a second time that morning the APC came to a stop. Max got to his feet, still crouching to fit his massive frame in the cramped transport, and met her eyes at last.

"I'll take charge of things down here," he said. "You good?"

Rachel let out an incredulous snort. "No."

"Yeah, me either."

He went quiet. The anger churning in Max's eyes ebbed just enough for Rachel to glimpse something much heavier beneath before he blinked and looked away.

"Well, we'd better get movin'," he said, getting out of the APC and closing the hatch.

The transport got underway, quickly gathering speed. Alone once again, Rachel kept her mind occupied by going over the plans she and Max had devised. All the preparations had been made well beforehand, and she knew every detail almost by heart. Now it was simply a matter of putting their strategy into action.

The APC lurched sideways, and Rachel felt her weight shift as the vehicle rounded a sharp bend in the road. She had spent so long staring at maps of the area that the turn was like a signpost, telling her exactly how far there was to go. Perhaps a minute more passed before the ride became steadily rougher. Rachel knew that meant they had left the road. Almost there. There had scarcely been enough time for her to process the thought before the APC reduced speed and coasted to a standstill.

Rachel emerged from the APC and stepped into a small clearing, ringed with tall trees that had begun to shed their leaves in earnest. A group of rocket trucks were assembled there, their orange livery hidden beneath all manner of camouflage. They had done everything they could to conceal their movements from Blue Moon. Hopefully it had been enough.

An officer nodded to Rachel as she arrived, jogging over to meet her.

"Everything's ready?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Right. Have all launchers hold their fire until I give the signal."

Rachel glanced at the time. 7:58. On the other side of the lake the ground seemed to ripple and move as the Blue Moon troops went about their own preparations. As she watched the mobilising army, Rachel was reminded of the dream that had haunted her that morning. It was all so similar. She almost could have convinced herself that she was still asleep, and that none of this was real. Almost.

"Incoming signal from the camp," a soldier called out. "Blue Moon tanks are crossing the border."

There it was. The news was not only a declaration of war, but also the final nail in the coffin of the Allied Nations. The slow death of unity was complete. For the space of a single heartbeat, Rachel did not move. In that time it felt as if a whole year was passing before her eyes. Everything they had tried to build had been swept away, and nothing remained except for the simple, brutal reality of war. Blue Moon was nothing more than the enemy now.

Rachel did not hesitate. She knew what she had to do.

"All units, fire!" Rachel shouted.

The distant sounds of gunfire and explosions were already beginning to reach them as she gave the order. All around the mountains there were flashes of fire as her rocket units began firing from their camouflaged positions. Rachel lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the sun and squinted to the east, following the massed volley of rockets as they converged on the silver arch of the Portal Bridge. More explosions echoed out, deeper this time, and black smoke billowed into the sky, but the bridge still stood.

Rachel was about to give the order to reload and fire another volley when she noticed a quiver run through the metal. Even at a distance she could see the convulsions running through the bridge, the pylons beginning to rattle and vibrate. The blue shapes attempting to cross began to swerve erratically as the shaking grew worse, and then the whole structure simply toppled sideways, falling into the lake with a seismic splash. Rachel wasn't sure if she sensed a tremor in the earth as the bridge collapsed, or if the faint shudder was only in her mind. Either way, it made no difference.

The Portal Bridge was gone, along with everything on it.

There was no time to process what had just happened. Any position this close to the border was far too vulnerable to enemy strikes, and by firing on the bridge, they had revealed their locations. They needed to relocate and they needed to do it fast, before Blue Moon could retaliate. Rachel gave the signal to withdraw, ordering the rocket units to pull back to the places she and Max had settled on days beforehand. The difficult terrain was well suited to fighting a defensive battle, and from their fortified positions, they would be able to exact a heavy toll on anyone who tried to violate Orange Star territory. Months of quiet preparation were about to be put to the test. If they could weather the initial assault without giving too much ground, or suffering too many casualties, any momentum Blue Moon had would evaporate. Their main strategy revolved around outlasting the enemy. And if they could manage that...

Rachel inhaled deeply. It was pointless trying to anticipate the course of a war that had only just begun. As of this moment she and Max had one objective, and that was retreating to safer ground. With no small effort Rachel forced herself to concentrate on that task. She knew there was nothing to be done but focus on the mission, and take things one step at a time, but it brought her little solace. The world was changing before her very eyes, and there was no escaping the horrible truth.

This was the day they went to war with Blue Moon.