[Jackson Sanders]

They had done it, that ridiculous idea had actually worked, and now, floating all around them between Earth and an invading army was almost a million ships.

Once Mia had returned after the battle, screaming about Daron kidnapping them, about an army on the way to Earth. They hadn’t slept or rested. A 'borrowed' campus ship had taken them through the portals back to Earth's system, and then a tow from Jasper had hurried them back to Earth. All the while they spread the word to their superior officers, both those from real life and those in The Dream. But when they arrived they had been dismayed by the size of Earth's unified defence.

Less than two hundred large navy ships were ready and waiting. That was until some low-level grunt had the best idea of her life. She ran it past her superiors who said they were willing to try anything. Then it started on forums, and social media, pushed by every military person in the world. Streamers got on board, recruiting their viewers to help until it spread faster than any viral announcement had before.

They advertised it as a world level event, a Raid, with loot, growth and credits to be won in the millions. With humanity's proclivity for games, it sparked interest immediately. There had been a literal flood of ships from the Earth's surface. Individuals, guilds, friends and family. All springing out of the atmosphere.

They weren't large or powerful ships. Mostly X27’s and X28 platforms, the entry point into the market for personal ships, but they arrived in such staggering numbers that it had sparked hope. Hope that no matter what Daron could bring against them, they could win. Jack leant on the back of Mia’s pilot seat as she manoeuvred their Nerion craft through the masses of small civilian ships toward the centre of their forces. Where the larger of the navy vessels were floating in wait. Everyone had been arranged as best they could, military and navy R.T.O’s had been working overtime, furiously coordinating on multiple local and net channels to direct people, but there was only so much you could do with this many armed civilians present.

Jack didn’t think it would matter, really, his biggest concern was that as soon as any fighting started it would turn into a cluster fuck of unorganised, uncoordinated single fighters who would do more damage with blue on blue contact than anything else. “Fucking Civies,” Jack muttered as Keg flicked through the comms channels at a side console and a mixture of racial slurs and adolescent jokes were exchanged between the ships around them. There was even someone singling Wheatus’s ‘Teenage dirtbag’

“… and two socks, She doesn’t know who I am….”

“I think the line is actually ‘Keds and tube socks,” Keg pointed out. “I had a girlfriend that wore Keds, like poor mans Vans.”

“Keg, Shutup and tell them to do the same. These idiots need to be quiet. We don’t need someone singing when this shit kicks off,”

“You think they will listen to me!? They will just start talking shit about my mum,” Keg said, continuing to flick through the channels.

Jack sighed and looked down at his foot as it tapped on the steel grated floor of the cockpit with a frown. He was growing impatient. He stopped his foot and looked at the exposed wires under the grate momentarily lost in his own thoughts. He worried about the kind of fight they were about to have, worried about Erick. Worried that he would do something stupid.

Jack ran through his training. Through the procedures for space combat. They would have to break any shielding and armour on the enemy vessels, taking out any mounted defence guns next. Then they could bind and breach. The ship they had ‘borrowed’ from Nerion was equipped with the bare essentials they would need for forced boarding. They even had a vacuum seal.

“We have incoming,” Sam said from the navigation console.

“Oh!Oh! From where?” Keg called out, louder than was necessary considering they were all packed into the small cockpit.

“Our ten o'clock,” Sam noted.

“Mia can you bring us around, We're not going to get any closer, to command,” Jack said, wanting to be able to face the incoming force head-on. Mia squeezed their ship between two others until Jack could see a clear view of the mining asteroid that had been abandoned in empty space. It created perfect cover. Jack could just make out the asteroid in the distance, only its left side illuminated. Over its peak came a tiny four man ship. It was painted with a florescent green tip and it skimmed the surface of the asteroid with its thrusters flicking up a rooster tail of dust into space.

“They’re shifting. Must be someone on their ass,” Jack noted.

No soon had he spoken and more ships came into view, rising up from behind the asteroid. First, one row of thirty large battleships, then another forty behind them. More and more became visible as they approached, It must have been close to a thousand. The sight made Jack visibly twitch. One thousand battleships, versus a million smaller personal vessels. This would be like a million soldiers taking on a thousand tanks on a battlefield. Not impossible, but certainly not an easy feat. Daron's forces would be better armed, better organised and carry better defences. Jack hoped people had insurance that covered wars.

“If they hold their vector, we will be in range in a couple minutes.” Sam called out.

“And if we accelerate towards them?” Jack asked. He could only see their best shot at winning this fight being if they moved into the space between Daron's ships, taking their longer-range weapons out of the equation and increasing their chance of friendly fire. But covering the distance through the current no man's land would lose Earth thousands of ships. But they had ships to spare.

“Mia, You need to gun it as soon as we get the order, or they start firing. I want you to get out ahead by a small margin, then cut down below our ranks so we can come from their belly side and out of view of their captains. We’ll still be on their scanners but let's not be their first target,” Jack ordered as more of their ships came out into no man's land. "As soon as we break shields you need to get us attached. Once we’re boarded you will be on your own.”

It was crucial that Jack, Sam and Keg get into one of their ships first. Preferably their center front vessel. This would likely be Darons Command, where he would coordinate the attack. Where he would be holding Erick. They needed to be the first onboard because with the bulk of Earth's special forces still on Nerion or other training planets, the four of them would have to spearhead their assault and pave the way to take Daron’s command.

“Jack! Look at this!” Sam called out, sending an image from her console to the main heads up display above the cockpits windows. There was an enhanced image of one of Daron's ships, dark and identical to the others. Except this one had just popped. There was a tiny flash of light and the windows on the ship's bridge exploded out into space. Bodies were ripped out of the gap as the inside would have depressurised in an instant.

“Sam, can you zoom in?”

“Hold on,” Sam tapped on her console and the image magnified further, becoming slightly more grainy. One of the bodies floating into space caught Jack's eyes. The hair was the right length and colour, the uniform familiar. It was hard to make out against the black backdrop but still lit by the sun's rays.

“Is that…”

“That’s Erick!” Mia shouted, craning her neck up to look at the screen.

“Are we going after him?”

“No! He will already be dead. Go for the ship. That will be Daron's command ship! I think Erick just gave us a head start. Take it!” Jack ordered. Jack was glad of the tight grip on the back of Mia’s seat because even with the artificial gravity and motion dampeners, the acceleration could have knocked him off his feet. They shot from earth's lines, alone at first until, like a domino effect, those around them shot after in a wave that would eventually reach the end of their line.

Daron's forces were slow to respond, with their flagship currently disabled. Jack had no doubt that people on board that bridge and the ship in general woud not be out of the fight completely. Erick may have caused confusion and created a delay, but ships that size always had a secondary protected bridge. Normally close to the captain's respawn and buried deep in the centre of the ship. If Erick had managed to take out Daron by venting their bridge, then he would be back, but so would Erick. But back in the cell Mia had described.

Jack's eyes scanned the enemy ships as Mia pulled them below their sight line, waiting for the signs of incoming fire. “Have they given the command yet Keg?” Jack asked.

Keg threw his hands up in response, “Not yet, What the fuck are they waiting for?!” He questioned.

“They want all attention on us. There will be confusion right now, the more we can create the better."

“Jack, we have three civie ships with us. They’re painted bright yellow, Idiots are going to draw so much attention.” Sam said, showing the rest of the cockpit the view from a rear camera. Three yellow ships flying in tight formation as they trailed behind. The rest of earth’s ships could be seen streaming towards the enemy.

“Yeah… They’re trying to connect on comms, Jack.”

“Fuck sake, just wave them off.”

“They’re mentioning you by name,”

“Who the fuck…. Okay, put them through the main link.” Jack said, curious. “This is Arrow Two four,” Jack shook his head at the stupid designation, “Go ahead for comms,”

“Jackson? Jack is that you?” Came the civilian reply.

“Sorry, who the fuck is this?”

“Jack, It's Cam. Erick’s friend. We saw you jump the gun on the assault,”

Jack took a moment to remember. Cam… Erick's friend from the real world who had started off The Dream with Rose. The one who had gotten pretty big as a Dream streamer. He couldn’t be completely useless, or he wouldn’t be able to get viewers, right? Jack though.

“Cam, We’re dropping then coming up belly side of their flag ship, the one that had the explosion.”

“Okay, we’re with you. What’s the plan?”

“Break defences and breach. We’ll lead the way, you can dock in behind us and follow.”

“Copy that! We’re right behind…”

Cameron was cut off by Sam as she called out to the cockpit, "They’re firing,”

“Took them long enough." Jack muttered, "Cameron, try to keep up, I’ll have Mia keep a line open for you.”

Keg killed the main connection as Mia started flying more erratically. All along Earth's advancing line, ships began exploding in quick flashes of light as others took off towards the enemy, all the internal oxygen burning up in an instant and only the force of the bombs let to rip metal apart. Vented bodies dash against the ships behind.

Smaller rockets battered the ship's defences, but Mia masterfully deployed flairs and decoys while twisting to avoid direct hits. She flew out into no man's land adjusting speed to not get too far ahead of the rest of Earth's ships. Mia pressed across the empty space before changing direction.

They were crossing the distance with fewer losses than Jack could have hoped for. Likely because, when Daron’s flag ship had blown from the inside, there had been a delay in applying their reverse thrusters. Leaving them to drift closer to earth. Not wanting to leave their commander to be overly exposed, the rest of the fleet had advanced alongside it.

Just as they were about to finish their hazardous crossing of no man's land when Keg called out, “Finally, They gave the order!”

Finally! Jack thought, looking at the monitor as Sam flicked to their best view of the asteroid somewhere under their feet. The shadows on its unlit face, the cracks, cavities and craters looked to be shifting. Then like a fallen beehive, it sprang to life with thousands of single and double man ships. Everything Earth's navies had to offer. They had been lying in wait, within the asteroid itself. With the engines powered off and cold, they would have been undetectable to Daron’s forces. It was the only true piece of planning that Earth's forces had been able to organise. Unlike the civilian ships that moved in completely random order, The navy ships were organised chaos. Created specifically to decrease casualties through unpredictable movements and patterns.

The navy swarmed the unsuspecting battleships from behind while the largest of Earth's fleet opened fire from the front, lobbing curvature missiles up and over Earth's smaller advancing ships.

They all collided seconds after the missiles hit Daron’s defences. What wasn’t caught by their outer parameter flairs and intercept shots, splashed against the shields. Mia took them spinning in between two of the battleships that created a four hundred meters wide alleyway. Her fingers were wrapped tight around the controls with her thump intermittently pressing on the trigger.

The fire was coming on thick. Mia was laying down rapid fire from their smaller cannons while Sam sent out precision-guided missiles, one after another. Cameron had moved up with his two other bright yellow ships to fly in tandem with them, firing on whatever targets Mia picked. Their pilots weren’t doing a half-bad job at keeping up with Mia as she paved the way, weaving around exploding short-range missiles and cannon fire. All while dodging the chaos of civilian ships.

Jack could only sit back and listen to the whining of their engines as they pounded the defences on Daron’s ship. People around them were dropping like flies. Jack twitched as a missile zipped past the window, missing them by what must have been inches. He tracked it on the console as It headed over the top of a ship painted like an old American hotrod and straight into the side of the adjacent enemy battleship.

“We’re taking heavy losses, but they can't avoid the friendly fire this close together!” Jack called out. He was ignored as the others concentrated on the fight. How are you meant to lead a team when they already know what they’re doing? Jack wondered and pushed off from the back of Mia’s chair. Jack moved to the back of the cockpit where there was a rack against the wall, loaded with weapons and ammo.

The other three were seated uncomfortably, already completely kitted out for combat. Magazines, pistols and knives pressed into their backs and legs. The large sword Erick had picked out for him rested across Jack's back, while Kegs rested beside his seat. Jack checked over the rifles that were against the wall. They were all clean, oiled and ready for a battle. He already knew they were, having checked them over three times on the flight from Nerion and twice more while they waited outside Earth's orbit.

Jack grabbed the wall as the ship shuddered aggressively. “Are we hit!?” He called out, rushing back to the others.

“Not by fire! Fucking Civies can't fly for shit! Someone knocked our engine,” Mia swore. “We’re losing power on the left side. We need to dock ASAP.”

Mia spun the ship counterclockwise, pulling up and heading directly for the hull of the Flagship. “Sam, follow my shots!” She yelled, pressing her thumbs down on the trigger until the skin under her nail turned white. The cannons hammered rounds. Followed by missiles launched by Sam. They hit the same spot over and over as she rushed after.

“Mia! This is not a suicide mission!” Jack yelled.

“Shut up.” Mia hissed. The missiles were being caught by the hull's flairs while the bullets splashed against the shield. Jack understood what Mia was trying to do. She was risking them being an easy target, to concentrate fire on a single spot. The shielding and flairs were localised. Distributed and powered by units dotted along the exterior of the hull. Mia was trying to break a single unit. Two if she could, creating a gap in the defences big enough to dock and breach the hull. But she was going too fast. Jack was pretty sure Mia knew the correct breaching technique didn’t involve ramming into the target.

Jack gripped the back of Mia’s seat tighter, unblinking as he watched one missile explode in front of the target, then a second. The collective breath in the room caught when the third splashed against the shield, light blooming along the hull, and then a fourth missile cracked on the side of Daron's flagship, right in front of their faces. With less than an inch to spare, Mia jerked the controls and flipped three switches at once. The view spun and tumbled, the bottom of the small stolen ship skimming the hull and slowing to a stop.

“Mia! Start breaching. Set autopilot to suicide once we're through the seal! This thing is fucked anyway.” Jacked called, leaping to the weapons rack and handing Keg a rifle as he stepped away from the comms console.

“Our new friends will dock after us.” Keg said. Strapping his sword to his back and clipping the rifle to his armoured Grey Scarred Uniform. Jack nodded, handing Sam a rifle also. As a deep grinding sound vibrated through the ship from the back.

Cameron and his group would be able to dock as soon as they were done. Either from luck or Mia’s genius, the ship they had taken from Nerion was perfectly designed for breaching an enemy vessel. It had a low profile and a built-in hole press that automatically installed an airlock that would remain when their ship left, leaving an unlocked doorway for their friendlies to follow.

“Let's go! Jack ordered when the grinding stopped and Mia pulled herself from the captain's chair. He grabbed a rifle from the rack, slamming a magazine into the base and flicking on the night vision sight. In the next room, where the cargo would normally have been kept, there was a closed hatched in the centre of the floor. Jack pulled a flash grenade from his chest while the others did the same. “Everyone ready?” he asked watching the concentrated nods, “Standard breaching technique, Keg on point. Let's go find Erick,” Jack said, stomping on a control button beside the hatch and throwing his grenade into the hole as it opened.