Chapter 22: "Priority: The Crown Prince"

-World building fact-

Before the United Nations of Earth was formed and humanity took to the stars, their entire history was filled with wars and conflicts against their own species while causing extinction for other species on their planet. For this very reason, the galactic community view humanity as a chaotic race, unpredictable, greedy, untrustworthy and warmongering.

In politics and diplomacy, other races in the galaxy deal with humans in a weary manner as it is said that the Earth's politicians are cunning and would spare no chance to obtain political advantage. While few races have respect for humanity's ability to thrive, many see them as a potential threat to the galaxy and few others keep an open mind but remain cautious. However, the UNE enjoy an uneasy peace with the galactic community because of their vastly superior technology, military and human ingenuity in war.

It is agreed among the scholars of every race in the galaxy that it would take the combined might of every major race in the galaxy to stand a chance of winning a war against the UNE, but such a conflict would be so devastating to the galaxy that there would be nothing left for the winning side. The winner would eventually succumb and collapse. A war that no one would win.

-Icia keep, Icia-

Lynk's students are standing in a circle with him in the center as they're performing the spell. Each of them is carrying a baby on their left arm while holding their staff on their right. All their staffs are glowing purple as Lynk's and his staff is elevated off the ground. The babies are crying as their life force is being drained away and with each moment pass, they're getting closer to death. All the other babies and children are kept nearby by the guards who witness their soon-to-be fate in horror.

Zoral watch as the Topaz mages do their spell then he turns away and looks down at the city mumble "It's for the good of the Empire" as he closes his fists tight.

One of the GS-12s is approaching the source of the dark cloud and its video feed is being relayed back to Alnus Command.

"This is Ying 2-2 to Alnus Command, I have hostile magic wielders insight and coming in to engage. Over" The pilot of the GS-12 reports as his sight fix on the Topaz mages.

"Roger that Ying 2-2. Over" Alnus Command replies.

Ying 2-2 unleash one of the SWARM pods sending hundreds of missiles the side of a 2L coke bottle at the mages. One of the mages turns around and erects a purple energy shield wall to stop the missiles. The shield collapses but it managed to stop all the missiles before they could hit their target and the baby on the mage's arm dried up and die. He throws the baby's corpse to the ground and uses telekinesis to take another baby into his arm and then perform a new spell. The dark fog around the GS-12 getting darker but the pilot could not make the gunship move. The holoscreen shows that they're going at Mach 2 but, in reality, the gunships is being held still.

"This is Ying 2-2 to Alnus Command, missiles did not connect. I repeat, missiles did not connect" the pilot reports as the cloud darkens around his craft killing his shield then collapses on the hull causing a fire in the engines and sending the gunship free fall to the ground "Mayday, mayday, mayday, Ying 2-2 is going d…".

An explosion could be heard over the radio, General Nguyen immediately order recon drones to give them a visual of the crash site. It shows that the pilot is trying to get out of the burning GS-12 as hostiles are closing in.

"Ying 2-2, this is Alnus Command, come in. Over" General Nguyen says.

"This is Ying 2-2 to Alnus Command, the GS-12 is FUBAR" the pilot pause for a second as he checks the replicator "replicator is non-operational, TAC suit mass is at 40%, shield is down, thrusters are out, requesting evac. Over" the pilot replies.

"Roger that Ying 2-2, air evac is a negative in light the recent event. There's a SIF unit operating near your location, we'll send them to extract you. Their comms are now connected with yours. Over" General Nguyen replies.

The pilot looks around him and sees an army of the death mixed with legionnaires heading for him "Tell them to be quickly sir, I'm about to TARFU. Over". He then runs back to the GS-12 cockpit and opens a compartment behind his seat to take out 2 sentries guns and set them up in facing the 2 ways of the street.

The mage witness the strange flying beast fall onto the ground dead, he throws the baby's corpse and picks up another to rejoin his fellow mages in the circle.

General Nguyen contacts Ava "Commander, we have a downed bird near your AO. Your order is to take Robber 5 and leave Robber 9 to extract the cube then proceed to extract our pilot. Coordinate uploaded to TACNet. Over"

"This is Robber 5 lead, new objective acknowledged. We're Oscar Mike. Over" Ava replies.

Ava looks through the drone's vision to plan a path and identify hostile forces, but before she could give the order to move out, General Nguyen contacts her again.

"Belay the last order, commander, we've identified a high value target inside the keep. He's the crown prince of the Sadera Empire, if we can capture him we could use him as political leverage to end this war. Since you're in the field, we'll leave you to judge which is the best course of action. Either divide your unit to go after the crown prince, kill the mages and rescue the pilot or keep your unit at one and go for the prince. Zoral is your new priority. Over" General Nguyen orders.

After receiving the order, Ava knows she doesn't have much time. Every second she delays is equal to a greater chance of losing the pilot and Zoral to escape. However, if she judges to quickly and her judgment is wrong, it's going to result in mission failure and cost the lives of her entire unit. Quickly but carefully evaluating her assets, she turns to Rory.

"Rory, how fast can you go? And can you carry 2 men?" Ava asks.

"Faster than you think, and 2 men? I can carry 20 men if I have enough arms" Rory replies with a laugh.

"Good, take Rob with you and go rescue the pilot. Rob is going to show you the way, once you got him take him back to the marines and stay with them" Ava replies, remaining cold and serious, ignoring Rory's laugh.

Rory nods then grab Rob's armor and jumps up through the opening then leaps through the roofs towards the crash site at an incredible speed.

"Robber 5-1 to Robber 5-2, regroup in the square we're going after the prince" Ava orders then she turns back and looks at Rene "Don't die ok?".

Rene is now back on his feet and his pains are gone, however, he still only has 1 arm left and it will remain so until he can get back to a proper medical facility to grow back the lost arm "Hey, I still have 1 arm so I can shoot. I got things here covered, you go get that bastard".

"Copy that" Ava nods then jumps up to the square where Ashley and the second squad is waiting for her.

While there's no direct path to the keep from the temple, the temple does attach to the keep which means that the SIFs could use their thrusters to jump up to the 3rd level of the keep. By doing so, they bypassed most of the keep's defense and only have to deal with the guards inside of the keep. Landing on a small balcony, Ava head straight in as the SIFs behind her land and follow their leader. They move through the stone hallway killing any legionnaires that get in their way.

At the crash site of Ying 2-2, the pilot's PAS-5 ran out of ammo and he only has 1 clip of ammo for his pistol which is only 30 rounds and 2 plasma grenades. Both of the sentries guns are out of ammo and there's no replicator to feed them more so they become useless. As the enemy legionnaires and the death are closing in, he decided to retreat into one of the houses and make his final stand there.

"This is Ying 2-2 to Robber unit, where the hell are you guys?" the pilot calls as he barricades the stair that leads up to the second floor of the house.

"We're coming, what's your situation?" Rob replies.

The pilots fire a few rounds at the legionnaires that are trying to go up the stairs then replies "About to get my ass killed, please be hurry" he manages to keep his calm.

He kills another 2 of the deaths as he runs out of ammo and reabsorbs the pistol into his suit. After tossing 1 of the grenade outside of the house, so the explosion doesn't make the house collapse, he runs into a room and locks the door then block it with a chair and looks around. It's a bedroom so he found nothing useful.

Standing at ready to fight behind the door with the last grenade in case rescue does not arrive he'll blow himself up to prevent being turned "Alright, bring it in!". He shouts as the door bursts open and the enemy pours in.

Rory lets go of Rob once they're at the house and he drops through the roof and land right in front of the pilot while Rory lands outside of the room. Not wasting a single moment, Rory starts swinging her halberd killing legionnaires and the death. Her swift movements and skills make it looks like the halberd is weightless and she is dancing.

In the room, Rob shoots off a legionnaire's head as soon as he lands and punches through the shield of another legionnaire then pull his armor and throw him at another. He then shoots a bullet that penetrates through both of the legionnaires killing them. A dead corpse approach to strike but Rob holds both its arms out and kicks it in the stomach throwing it away while tearing both its arm out. Before the corpse hit the ground, Rob shoots off both its legs and head to kill it completely.

Witnessing a SIF in action up close for the first time, the pilot is impressed by the fighting skill and the precision of Rob "Woa…thanks".

Rob nods and then reports "Commander, I got the pilot. We're heading to the evac zone on the lower level. Over".

"Roger that, we're closing in on the HVT. You and Rory help with the marines after the pilot is secure. Over" Ava replies over the radio.

"Copy that. Over" Rob then set up a charge on the floor and recall Rory "Rory, we gotta go, now!".

Rory rushes back into the room and grabs the armor of both soldiers "Hang tight" she says, then jumps out of the window heading for the lower level of the city.

Occasion explosions kick the dust off the ceiling or shake the wall as Robber 5 continues down the hallway that lead to the upper level. Turning the corner, Ava sees an indication of a blast zone covering the trebuchet on the yard outside and part of the hallway through her TACNet, she holds up a fist signaling the unit to stop. A few seconds later a large explosion happens as a missile from one of the SF-40s completely destroys the trebuchet along with its crew, making part of the hallway in front of Ava's unit collapse.

Moving into the yard, Ava sees there's a ledge on the wall that they could use to jump to the balcony above where Zoral and the mages are. Ava jumps up as the rest follow her onto the balcony. In front of them is a sight of horror that would make any untrained person to throw up. The dried corpse of babies and young children are pilled up next to a group of mages that create the dark cloud. There are some children and teenagers who are tightened up on the ground near the wall, by the guards and is crying as they witness the horror that no kids should ever see.

Throughout their career of running special operations across the galaxy, there is no small amount of time that the SIFs witnessed the unspeakable atrocities caused by their enemy. However, no amount of training and experience could ease the pain and the anger when they see those, only help them control their emotion better so they can complete their objective.

"The heck? They're using the kids as magic battery. That's fuck up" Ashley says.

"Take cover!" Ava shouts as one of the mages turns around and shoots a lightning bolt at them.

The SIFs run over and take cover behind the columns and the large room inside as they kill the guards. For every guard that they kill, the fog quickly covers their dead body and turns them into walking corpses. Ammo is being spent faster than the 4 SAT8s could replicate but as skilled as they are in marksmanship, the SIFs are also well versed in melee combat. While some of the SIFs still be able to use their gun as the SAT8s replicate ammo for them, others get into melee combat and tear the enemy apart with ease.

The mage that shot a lightning bolt at them now performs the same spell that they used to take down Ying 2-2. It's a powerful spell but requires a lot of life force to use as mana and can only attack 1 target at a time. A dark cloud covers one of the SAT8s as the mage identifies them as more dangerous than the SIFs. The SAT8 is immobilized and just like the gunship, its shield starts weakening and eventually collapse as the cloud ignores its KEL armor and destroys its internal circuitry then its power core causing it to explode.

"Take that mage down now!" Ava orders.

One of the SIFs shoots the mage in the head and kill him, his corpse is also turned into a walking death but is quickly disassembled.

Lynk is enraged by the death of his student "Noooo! Kill them!" he orders the remaining students to focus on the SIFs.

One of the students uses a barrier as the other uses telekinesis to shoot rubbles, rocks, swords, spears and arrows at the SIFs. Ava orders her unit to try and break the shield barrier but as they focus their fire on the barrier, the child's life force on the mage's arm is drained out.

"Cease fire!" Ava orders as she looks around trying to find a way to bypass the shield.

She remembers that the shield of some races in the galaxy that only stop objects that traveling faster than a certain speed, while objects that move slower could pass through. With that in mind, Ava takes control of a SAT8s and send it at the mages. The bot run incredibly fast but as soon as it hit the shield, it's bounced back and couldn't get through. Lynk uses the same spell that took out Ying 2-2 on this SAT8 and take it out as well.

2 SAT8s down and another life was taken because she judged wrong, Ava looks up and see a window above that's behind the shield barrier. She immediately thinks that the SIFs could use that to flank them. Through TACNet, Ashley receive the order and immediately take the 2nd squad to rush up stair and look for that window.

Ava and the rest of the SIFs is now in a peculiar situation, they cannot assault the mages as that would only cause more death for the kids and staying in the room they have to fight legionnaires that are still coming up from the stair and the door behind the mages' shield. Air strike is out of the question because the balcony is not that wide so a close air support run would most likely kill the kids as well as Zoral. All they can really do now is hold long enough for Ashley and her squad to flank the enemy's position.

One of the SIFs is hit by an energy bolt shot by a mage and is knocked against the wall. His shield is intact but before he could get up 2 more bolts hit him and make the shield fluctuate. 3 death legionnaires rush at him and repeatedly hit him with their swords and disable his shield. Another SIF shoots one of the deaths while he kills the other 2 using his PAS-5 as a blunt weapon to smash the other 2. Before he could regain balance, another death stabs him in the stomach and slide the shadow sword all the way up over his head. Jimmy kills the death and check on the SIF.

"Man down!" Jimmy shouts as he kneels next to the lifeless body of his fellow SIF "Commander, he was slide in half in his suit! Kenny is KIA" he reports.

"Fuck! Ash, you need to be faster!" Ava calls.

"As fast as I can, commander" Ashley reports as she and her squad clearing their way to the window, killing anyone that gets in their way.

"Use that fancy spell of yours and kill them all!" Zoral shouts.

"That spell can only use on 1 of them at a time and we're running out of life force to use" Lynk replies while pointing at the 8 kids sitting against the wall. All the babies have been killed "If we use them all to kill the enemies then those flying beasts of theirs are going to kill us. For now, those kids are the only thing that keeps us alive".

Zoral realizes the situation and become desperate, he counts 10 enemies and 2 metal beasts among them after the other 10 left the scene. Although he could not guess where they went, he knows that trading 8 kids for 8 enemies would leave 4 of them and would open his position up for enemy's flying beasts to attack them "Well then do something!" he says.

"There's nothing we can do now, Your Highness, Icia is lost. I suggest we leave this place and come up with another plan" Lynk replies.

Zoral is now facing a conflicting set of emotions within him. Part of him refuses to believe that his plan failed and his ego shattered, the other part see the desperate situation that he's in and want to run for his life. Zoral walks to the balcony's handrail and look down to the front of the keep. UNE forces is now approaching and his legionnaires are being cut down like paper, he sees that Crispus leads a group of cavalry in a charge against the enemy and they are annihilated before they could get anywhere close to their targets. Even their corpses get obliterated and vanished into the air by a blue explosion cause by one of the enemy's metal wagon to make sure they won't come back.

With sadness and discontent in his heart, Zoral turns to Lynk "Take me to the Dead Border" he says "It's for the good of the Empire".

Lynk nods and grabs another child then walk over to his students with Zoral to start performing the teleportation spell.

"Ash, where are you? I think they're leaving!" Ava shouts over the radio "Ash, come in!".

The window breaks open as Ashley jump out of it, followed by her squad. She lands and starts rushing at Zoral but as she jumps to tackle him, the mages and Zoral disappear in a flash and only a dried child corpse remains.

"I'm sorry, commander" Ashley says.

"Alnus Command, this is Robber 5, we've failed the objective. I repeat the mission is failed, HVT is gone, destination is unknown. One SIF KIA, over" Ava reports as she stares, emotionless, at the pile of babies corpses while her unit cleans up the remaining enemy.

"Copy that, Robber 5. Evac is on their way to your location, ETA 1min. General Nguyen orders you to RTB, we'll get him next time, commander. Over" Chris says over the radio.

"Did we get the cube? Over" Ava asks.

"Positive, the cube is secured and Robber 9 is on their way back to Fort Alnus. Over" Chris replies.

"That's good, that's good" Ava replies in a disappointed tone. She had a chance to capture a Crown Prince to help end the war quickly, which would increase the chance of the enemy releasing her mother. At the very least, shorten the time that the enemy could torture her, but she fails that, she fails her mother. Ava stare at the sun set as the D-20Bs and a D-20 with a red cross pulled up next to the balcony and continue "D-20Bs are here, we're going RTB. Over".