Behind us, there were people falling from the sky. The Photon Cannons were still sending me reports, through the Psifield. Most of the data was on their targets acquisitions, and their hit ratios. Usually 75%. If I hadn't spent a day covering the hills with a stupid number of defenses, or if the fire rate of the cannons was slower, more of the invaders might have survived to hit the ground.

Honestly, at the rate they were dying it might have been better if we had stood our ground. However, once Arasaka had committed to a path, even a failing one, only oceans of blood could sway them to change course. Mostly because they were unaccustomed to failure.

So far, there had been no AV's in the Cannons' detection range. Which begged the question, how did they get above us? Then I remembered an article I read once, about certain high risk military operations. The US had needed a way to get troop into areas that were heavily covered by anti-air defense. While a lot of money and research went into stealth technology, it just wouldn't work for the bigger transport planes. There had been a simpler solution, just drop the troop from a higher altitude. HALO (High Altitude, Low Open) jumps, it had to be. They were jumping from AV's so high up they might as well be in low orbit. Or maybe even from one of the rumored orbital stations that all the Corps had up there..

Either way that's fucking insane. What kind of crazy fools would do that? Without highly specialized equipment, and even more specialized training, this approach was just an elaborate form of suicide.

Still this had to be an opening gambit, with more heavily armed and numerous ground forces moving in. It was a winning strategy, provided you could afford to waste some resources. Between having to target both forces, the cannons could soon be overwhelmed one by one. And from everything I'd managed to gather the Corpo bastards could just keep pouring more units into the fight. Hell, they'd probably send bots in first to absorb the heaviest damage. No, us running had been the best of our options. Even I could see that there was no victory to be had here.

Our discovery was our defeat. I should have waited...grrr, not the time.

I ordered the cannons to target the Khalai buildings and then the Moon Wells in turns. I left only the first two Pylons and the Cannons themselves, which would fight to the end. I couldn't allow any Corp to get their hands on any Khalai tech, that could be avoided. Even the scraps that they were going to inevitably have access to were going to cause trouble in the future. The Moon Wells had to be destroyed to prevent the Corps from gaining any hint of magic. It was my only real advantage, and I meant to keep it that way.

I winced as the buildings were swiftly detonated, and the resulting explosions were massive. Large clouds of blue flames, that rapidly burned any remnants to ash. The worse part was that I could feel each building being destroyed. Inside my mind. It felt like nails being driven into my eyes and ears.

I forced my focus to return to driving as fast as I could. In the dark and over uneven terrain, driving was a task that required all my attention. Avoiding the worst areas and the largest obstacles soon consumed my entire attention.

A report from the Cannons came through, the first ground forces had begun coming in. So far everything was as expected. I ignored the report and kept driving, desperately trying to get even a mile further away, before the Arasaka troops started to sweep the area and search for us. The darkness had become both my ally and my enemy, it shielded us from a cursory glance but would make us stand out on any thermal scanning. I had no doubts that the Corpo scum would have all the toys they needed to find us in the night.

It was only a few minutes later, that two AVs caught my tail and began a dogged pursuit. They kept firing at us. But whether they were just warning shots or I'd somehow gotten lucky, I'd avoided everything so far. I heard the Probes communicating above me but I couldn't focus on it enough to understand the rapid messaging between them. Having to juke and weave, over a particular rough section of ground, meant that I didn't notice two more AVs trying to cut off my path.

I tried to get them tangle up with each others paths, by circling around for a while. I had noticed that the AV the Arasaka forces were using had poor turn radii. So I cut several sharp turns before flooring it, sadly it didn't work. The AVs were just too fast. Soon they had adjusted their tactics to keep me boxed in. Soon after that their shots got more accurate, and my poor Galena started to take damage. Thankfully the Probes' shielding spared us the worst of it, but even that was only a stop gap.

They were going to get me. It was only a matter of time, now. No. I couldn't allow that, even if I had to do the unthinkable. I knew it was inevitable that they would managed to extract my secrets. Then they would, at best, monopolize the resources I could generate for them. The balance of power would fall into their hands completely and soon they would no longer bother with the illusion of choice they had allowed the people of the world. All would be Arasaka's. Everyone would live or die at their whim. The worst they might do, was beyond my experience to plot out.

Their plans should never be allowed to happen.

I'd begun to tire, and my concentration was slipping, which was why they managed to force me into a large boulder. I was soon hanging by my seatbelt upside down, I could feel terrible injures inside myself. Bones grating against each other in new and horrible ways. I started trying desperately to heal myself. However, crash had jarred my thoughts, and the pain of my injures further scrambled my mind. I had only gotten the worst of the bleeding stopped, before all the ideas of Arasaka controlling everything blurred together with the images of all the waste that had been happening back on my own version of Earth. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't accept it. My thoughts started to fill with green. I could feel my mana stirring, and not of my own volition. Soon my efforts at healing stopped, as some part of me realized it was better to cease the struggle against death.

I don't know why, but I managed to cut myself free and somehow I slowly crawled out of my ruined car. One of my eyes couldn't see, even though I knew the eyelids were open. Still I started looking around the area. All my movement were glacially slow and extremely painful. The remains of my baby were on fire, and I wept at the sight. The poor car had done nothing wrong. This was all my fault.

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I pulled my Omaha not knowing why, I couldn't exactly hope to achieve much with it. Maybe some core reflex, trying whatever it could to keep me alive even a minute longer. Even against my own will. It would take all of my effort to lift it, never mind fire it, but instincts rarely cared about ability.

Spot lights covered me up from four different directions. I could barely make out aggressive voices over the AVs' loudspeakers, "Stand down! Put the weapon down and lay on the ground, we promise you won't be harmed further." Of course, I wouldn't be hurt, at first. When I refused to cooperate, my life would probably become endless torment.

Everything in my head was too valuable, I couldn't let them take me. I was pretty sure I'd never last under any kind of torture. I didn't want to die, but I didn't want to live if all I would face was endless agony. I put the barrel of the Omaha against my temple. It felt wrong, but it was the rational choice. The best choice for everyone.

The Probes beeped furiously, "Executor, no!" Their communication in the Psifield had reached a consensus. "We have this. You must go on." My mind could sense their confidence, and I chose to trust them. They radiated something I'd never would have expected from robots, not matter how advanced. It was Faith, they had faith in me. They believed in a better future. The Omaha fell to my side.

"That right. Toss the iron on the ground." The Authoritative voice from before growled out. "Let's end all of this trouble, we just want to talk to you." Fuck you, Corpo Slave. I tried to yell it out, my my throat wouldn't form the sounds. It couldn't, something was wrong with my vocal cords.

I felt that the Probes had scattered. One Probe approached each AV. What were they doing? Were they going to try to fight? That wouldn't work, there were too many Troops in each AV. I couldn't see their plan. Then they latched onto their chosen AVs. What were they... I felt the Psifield ripple. They had somehow began pulling more power from it.

They all reached out to my mind, 'It has been an honor, Executor Ryan!' I felt their resolve. Resolve for what? Their Beeps rang out in harmony, four voices as one. "MY LIFE FOR EARTH!"

A purity of purpose flooded the Psifield. I felt my little Robo-Buddies die. Their end resonated in my mind. All of the energy they had gathered was suddenly dumped through their cores into the world. A hammer made of blue light and heat drove me into the ground, and darkness was waiting to grab me with open arms.

When my eyes opened again the sun burned into the one that still worked. The daystar had just peeked over the horizon revealing the tragic remains of the events of the night. Moments passed while I my brain struggled to comprehend the scene before me. My heart burned with pain at the memories of the last moments of my friends. What? Why? Barry, Chuck, Fix and Scuff were gone. My little robo buddies were gone. It was my fault. If only I had been smarter, or had prepared more. Now, the Corpo scum had cost me my friends.

{They would pay.}

At the end, I'd felt how alive they were. Their drives and purpose, and their hopes and dreams had been made clear to me. They were simple, little things, but they had meant everything to my Robo-Buddies. How could a robot have dreams? I didn't understand, but I couldn't deny that they were real. That their feelings were as real as my own.

Somehow at the end my buddies had calculated the best way to direct their final act. The AVs had been blown away from me, and spared me the worst of the resulting shrapnel. I stared at the twisted and mangled husks that remained. Certainty filled me that there had been no survivors. No one to take the rage I felt out on. Except myself. I noticed that as I cast Regrowth, trying to return to mobility, I left scars. It wasn't a conscious choice, but once I noticed them I couldn't stand the thought of erasing them either.

As good as I could get for now. I picked my sorry ass up, and grabbed my gun. I spent a moment saying good bye to my Robo-Buddies and my car, then started marching in the direction of those cursed towers. I pushed myself hard, my hatred driving forward as much as any need.

At some point, other assholes would be coming to search the area, and I needed to be gone before they did. I was honestly shocked they hadn't arrived before now. Something must have delayed them, and I didn't dare speculate what that might have been.

Eventually, I made it to the Sunset Motel. I saw that the Supron had made it, with it's precious cargo of Probes still intact. I looked at the bar with my one good eye and for a second, I thought about going inside to get a drink or maybe get a room and just resting for a while. Instead, I got in the Supron after patting each of the six unnamed Probes. They beeped greetings, "En Taro Adun, Executor." Their cheerfulness brought a pall of sadness over me.

Meadran had tried to contact me several time on the trek here. I hadn't responded, because I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to be rude but my heart wasn't ready to discuss what had happened yet.

Then my mind finally started working properly again. Meadran could be trying to tell me something important. Either way avoiding the conversation would just make my pain fester. Besides, this would be last chance to talk to him before heading back into the cesspit of NC.

'Meadran.' I tried to stay calm.

'Young One. I am sorry.' His words weren't the important part, it was the accompanying ages of loss. He had watched his people burning, felt their deaths. The ending of his friends and siblings, then finally of his parent trees. Centuries of war and death encapsulated into a few words. It meant that he understood and that was a kindness. One I didn't think that I deserved.

'Any word of the others?' Focus on other things for now.

'Nothing definitive. The defenses of the outpost still hold for now, but a few gaps have been opened and the enemy has begun pushing harder.' He paused. 'No word of the Nomads has passed through the local Arasaka servers.' That was probably good news, and if the defenses still held, the Corpo units would be too tied up to chase anyone. Also, I now had an answer for why no other Arasaka forces had found me yet.

'All communications indicate that they had a lack of understanding of our full capabilities. Also any Khalai structure that wasn't fully formed was invisible to them. Alina says that this means they lack the ability to detect certain kinds of energies.' Best news possible out of this mess.

I sighed. 'Alright, I'm going to go hide in the city for a while and I'll return as quickly as I think will be safe. Once I return, we'll need to formulate a different approach to our expansion.' A way to undercut them to destroy everything they own.

'Revenge can be a tricky thing, Young One.' That was another one of his statements that implied so much more. His mind was so vast that I could barely catch the edges of his thoughts.

'I know. I'll take it slow, and dig our roots in deep. We'll wait, for years if we have to, for the right moment to strike.' I would practice patience. I would practice restraint. Until the day I no longer had to hide anymore. 'See you as soon as possible, Meadran.' I started the Supron, but I found none of my usual joy at revving the engine.

'Be careful, Young One.' I felt his mind turn inward, ending our contact.

Once again I headed toward Night City, with a burning rage. What terrible crap would I see this time?