Leaning on the transport shuttle's frame, Airo gazed at the horizon. Craggy mountains towered to the west. Waves lashed the coast of a primeval sea to the north. To the south, an endless expanse of barren tundra. Finally, the Shard's anomalous energy pillar, its violet-white radiance dominating the east. The frozen landscapes of Terra Para always looked distant and harsh, no matter their topological appearance. The presence of the Reality Vortex lent them an ominous quality.
Airo shifted his vision to his immediate surroundings. Besides him, Veralla, and Zuckeroff, there was also Captain Riley with a squad of soldiers, all waiting around the shuttle.
"How come a Consortium Paladin became the head of the Radiant Order?" Riley broke the silence. Airo had told him the cover story he had presented before to Kiana and Zuckeroff.
"Circumstances, mostly. The Revenant hit the Knights first, and devastated them. When I made contact with them, we entered in an agreement – their resources in exchange for my influence."
"With respect, Commander, but I find this an unlikely story. None of my business, though." Riley shook his head. "Damn, it's the Starblaze all over again. I didn't survive that fubar hell just to be plunged into another one." He sighed. "So it's true the Radiant Knights still keep dragons around?"
"Yes," Airo said.
"A few dragons would've been mighty useful at the moment. We would've not taken any losses, even. No offense to the little one here, but she's a whelp. I don't think she can make any difference once the fight starts."
"It was her choice to come," Airo said, and the conversation died down. He checked again the heavy rifle in his hands. It was a particle bolter, a powerful beam weapon with near-zero recoil, which served as the standard armament to modern infantry. Airo's crystal-bladed katana and veronite blaster – both more potent weapons – were poor choices in protracted combat, the former being unusable at range, while the latter had limited rate of fire and ammunition, so he had decided to rely on more conventional arms in the coming battle.
Once the Radiant Knights had departed, Airo and Captain Riley had formulated a plan how to assault the Union blockade. Both agreed it would be best to load the shuttle with a strike team, then make landfall at the enemy's position, creating a diversion while the rest of the Consortium troops stormed the front. This required both forces to time their arrival on the battlefield. In the case of the strike team, that meant waiting.
The hours passed slowly. The twin suns went low on the horizon. Gradually, purple afterglow deepened to twilight. All small talk had ceased long ago. Tension rose and with it, anticipation.
And then, an encrypted commlink signal came in. It was a short text message. The ground forces had arrived. Captain Riley gave the order and the strike team boarded the transport shuttle. Airo, Veralla, and Zuckeroff followed.
Yeoman Cloud took control and the shuttle ascended on its powerful thrusters. The flight to the mountain lasted another half hour. By then night had fallen. The shuttle's interior was dark, only the helm's screens emitting a muted cyan glow.
As the shuttle approached its destination, Yeoman Cloud asked, "How do you want to proceed, Commander?"
Airo examined the telemetry. The mountain pass was very large, surrounded by high, steep cliffs. A long strip of heat and electronic signatures came from the southern side, marking the outlines of a bunker complex carved along the length of the cliff. A small artificial plateau rested above, where a mobile communication array was placed – and still enough place was left for several medium-sized aircraft to land.
"Go in hard and fast," Airo ordered. "They probably have anti-air weaponry. We take out the comm array first. Then we pin them down until the wizardry arrives."
"Acknowledged, Commander!"
A short, piercing alarm came from the helm. "Contact!" Yeoman Cloud boomed jovially over the speakers. "Micromissiles detected!"
The transport shuttle veered sharply to the side, lurching everyone in their seats. Down at the plateau several glowing dots appeared, sensors identifying hostile targets.
"It begins," Zuckeroff said with a strained voice. He wore only a light combat armor.
The shuttle rattled as dozens of projectiles smashed into its frame. It dived straight at the plateau, arresting its inertia in the last moment, and landed with a heavy, bone-rattling impact.
"Tactical network deployed!" Yeoman Cloud announced. "Opening all hatches!" The shuttle's side and aft panels variformed away and cold wind rushed inside.
"GO, GO, GO!" Captain Riley shouted. The Consortium strike team surged out of the shuttle, guns blazing. Zuckeroff went after them, aiming his sniper rifle on the run. Airo followed, slowing only for a second to warn Veralla.
"Keep your head low and stay in cover!" he told her, and dashed out into the fray. He caught a glimpse of her terrified expression before the battle engulfed him.
The shuttle had half-landed, half-crashed into the cliff at the upper part of the plateau. Enemy soldiers were already saturating their position with concentrated fire. Airo dived to the ground, scrambling to perceive the situation via the tacnet. The Consortium strike team had positional advantage in height, but there was no cover in the vicinity. The commlink was a frenzy of noise, Riley barking orders while soldiers yelled status reports or screamed with bloodlust. Split-second calls chose who lived and who died.
Airo rose and sprinted to the nearest large rock, firing his weapon in full auto. Something rammed him hard, twice, and he stumbled, barely reaching the rock. The power armor notified him he had been hit, but its shields had absorbed the main impact. He pressed tight against his cover, breathing hard from adrenaline. The tacnet reported an approaching hostile. Airo leaned out of cover, firing a long burst at the target. The power-armored Union soldier fell down. Airo's particle bolter beeped empty. He inserted a fresh MEM cell and paused to gather his bearings.
The initial attack was going well. The strike team cleared the lightly-guarded plateau, taking only one casualty. Several grenades later the communication array was destroyed. The strike team moved forward, where Yeoman Cloud had detected the primary entrances to the bunker. More enemy soldiers came out of the bunker to stop their advance. Zuckeroff immediately shot two of them down. Airo found a favorable position, where he had a clear view at nearly the whole battlefield. The rest of the strike team took similar points and kept the bunker entrances suppressed, to prevent the Union soldiers from counterattacking.
Now they only had to hold position while the rest of the Consortium troops joined the battle, and then crush the enemy between two fronts.
Airo felt a tingling sensation in his mind, and glanced back to check where was Veralla. He caught sight of a Union soldier sneaking behind him. He ducked, dodging the incoming burst of fire, and shot back, eliminating his opponent with three fast bursts of his own.
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Veralla was nearby, her whole body trembling.
"Are you all right?" Airo asked her. She looked at him with wide eyes, her slitted pupils completely round. Shell shock, he thought, surprised to see the catatonic reaction in a dragon.
He scanned around, wondering how somebody was able to get the drop on him, and found several Union soldiers coming from a hidden exit hatch. He strafed at the soldiers to force them into cover, and called Zuckeroff over the commlink. The astrior provided covering fire, while Airo moved closer and dispatched the soldiers with his veronite blaster. He rematerialized explosive charges from his virtualizer, blew off the hatch, and began dropping grenades to halt further reinforcements from coming through this accessway.
***
As the transport shuttle landed on the plateau, fear rose everywhere around Veralla, washing over her in a nauseous wave. She tumbled forward, disoriented by the sensation and the sudden stop of the shuttle. Immediately, piercing blasts of gunfire assaulted her webbed ears.
Then the deaths started.
They were muted, drowned by the sound of battle, yet her keen senses could pick up anguished cries and shouts of suffering. She felt the horror, surprise, and terminal serenity of the dying soldiers as their souls departed their broken bodies. It all overwhelmed her and she let out an involuntary sob. She flailed, trying to rise while people stormed off the transport shuttle. She looked for Airo desperately, wanting to tell him not to go out there. Too late; he was already dashing past.
"Keep your head low and stay in cover!" he yelled over his shoulder, and disappeared into the terrible fight outside.
Veralla sunk to the floor of the empty shuttle, and lay there coiled around herself. She had seen some terrible sights when the Revenant attacked Dragon Retreat, yet then she had been far from the actual combat. Back then, people's auras had been more difficult to be felt.
Now, at the heart of the battlefield, she was assailed with the full intensity of everyone's emotions. She almost blacked-out. And Airo again was somewhere out there, his life in peril.
She whimpered, scared and alone. The thought of Airo being injured again – or killed – filled her twin hearts with terror. She could not do anything to help him. She remembered how powerless she felt before Ferrtau, when he was about to kill Airo.
But she also remembered how she stood her ground then, determined to not let Ferrtau harm Airo.
The memory galvanized her. She found the strength to rise, and cautiously left the transport shuttle.
The night enveloped her, yet its darkness was not a hindrance to her draconic sight. Gunfire and explosions kept assaulting her ears, but from further away. She scurried across the plateau, her void-black body invisible in the gloom. She tried to not look at the armored, still forms lying around, and searched for Airo.
The fighting had moved at the plateau's edge, yet scattered projectiles still flew from all sides, so she kept low to the ground. She sensed Airo's aura ahead at a rocky outcropping. Suddenly, she was anxious to approach him, fearing the intensity of his emotions. But as she neared nonetheless, she felt nothing, only the cold sadness which always pervaded his soul.
Then she saw the Union soldier.
She moved like a shadow, despite her armored frame. She was meters away from Airo, closing in silently to eliminate him and take his position. Airo was facing the other direction, his attention focused on the raging battle in front of him.
Veralla froze in place. The soldier had not noticed her, weapon aimed squarely at Airo's back. Veralla watched in terror as the scene unfolded.
Airo! No! Airo!
Abruptly, bluish haze filled her vision. A strange, roaring feeling overwhelmed her. Her fangs bared, her wings unfurled, her whole body tensed. She was ready to tear, to maul, to kill. She fixed the soldier with a predatory stare. She would take the life of this human who dared threaten Airo. Filled with fury, she raised her claw, talons curved wickedly, and prepared to pounce.
In that moment Airo turned and noticed the danger. He dropped low, evading a panicked attack, and fired his weapon, doing the killing himself. The human soldier fell on the ground with a dull thud.
The overwhelming feeling rushed out of Veralla as abruptly as it had appeared. She collapsed on all fours, shaking and confused. She heard Airo's voice.
"Are you all right?" he shouted to her over the din of battle.
She lifted her eyes toward him. She felt alone, lost, empty. Right now, she wanted nothing more than somebody to comfort her. She wanted Airo to come and hug her, and tell her everything was all right. She looked at him, unable to express her thoughts, struggling to find kinship behind his grim, grey eyes, hidden somewhere beneath the cold indifference of his armored helm.
But then Airo turned away, and rushed forward, killing more people, his sadness as much a part of his arsenal as the weapons in his hands. Veralla stayed back, huddled between the rocks, alone, with only the stars above to make her company in her misery.
***
The battle took a lot of time and blood. Even with their successful airborne assault, Airo and the Consortium troops fought over the bunker more than two hours. They lost nearly fifty people. The Union forces defended their base fanatically, going down to the last person. In the end, Airo was bitter he had agreed to waste so many good soldiers, which could've been used against the Revenant instead. Captain Riley also seemed grim by the combat's resolution, with casualties amounting to a quarter of his company. Nonetheless, he held to his word.
"A deal's a deal," he said. "We're going to resupply at the first outpost we find, and after that we'll be ready for your future instructions, Commander Airo."
"I appreciate it, Captain," Airo said, looking at two Consortium soldiers who were unloading crates of veronite from the transport shuttle. "I would also be thankful if you do whatever you can to avoid future clashes with the Union."
"As long as it doesn't go against my direct orders, I'll do so," Riley nodded. "Anything else?"
"Yes. Try to inform other field officers about the Radiant Order's proposition. We are building up our anti-Revenant stockpiles, and will setup regular shipments at pre-set locations. Also, while out in the wasteland, keep an eye for any Union patrols marching through Revenant territory. I want to recruit them too."
"Understood," Riley said. He inspected his troops. "Well, it's time to move. By the way, what'll be our communication protocol?"
Airo was prepared for that. "There is a low-capacity quantum-entangled communicator inside," he said, motioning at the transport shuttle. "Take it. Use it only in text-based mode, and it should last for around a year."
Captain Riley nodded again and offered his hand. "Thank you for helping us, Commander Airo."
Airo took Riley's hand with a blank expression. "Thank me when this war is over," he said.
***
There was no conversation while the transport shuttle slowly made its way back to Ilsorin. Veralla lay quietly in the back of the cockpit. Her tail twitched now and again restlessly, the only lingering sign of the stress she was under. She felt exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She listened to the constant thrum of the shuttle's engines, her eyes closing on their own.
She woke with a start. The shuttle was just landing. They had returned to Ilsorin. Veralla felt a gnawing hunger in her belly, meaning quite a lot of time had passed. Yet something else bothered her, on a much deeper level than mere starvation. She followed Airo and Zuckeroff as they rose from their seats and disembarked the shuttle.
It was morning, and the sky above the stronghold was clear and brilliant. But Veralla was blind to its beauty. For the first time ever, she did not want to be close to anyone. She did not go toward her room, neither to the dining hall, despite her hunger. Instead, she wandered around the stronghold's many battlements.
She used this quiet walk to reflect on recent events. Almost immediately, the battle in the mountain pass came fresh to her mind, and she relived the harrowing experience. She shuddered at the memories, yet found herself strangely torn. She was terrified, and she was also... something else. Tensed. Relentless. Angry. It was an all-consuming tide of feeling, which made her whole being vibrate with primal energy.
She recognized what that was. Bloodlust. It made her wanting to tear out throats with her jaws, to disembowel bodies with her claws, to shatter bones with her tail. It made her blood boil, darkening her vision, clouding her mind to all reason except one – to slay those who dared to hurt her or her kin.
Veralla shook her head vigorously, trying to free herself from the sensation. She realized she had been growling, body bent low and wings mantling in aggressive posture. As she regained control, her bloodlust subsided, leaving behind only her misery and sorrow. Misery and sorrow, which she had experienced because she had gone to the outside world, where she had found only war and tragedy so far. She thought the missions Airo organized were supposed to save people. And they did, true. Yet they also resulted in the death of people. Airo had told her that was how war was. Yet if this was also true, then one thing was certain – she did not like war at all.
Maybe she should not go on future missions.