“All teams, report,” Rani said into the radio.

The response came crackled, but there was no helping that with how far the others were away. It wasn’t as though it had ever worked perfectly anyway. “Alpha Team here, we’ve taken down the bridge. No-one or nothing’s coming through that way.”

“Beta Team, took some doing but the canyon road is out. Sudden landslide.”

A few more reports, all small parts of their operation that had gone off swimmingly. Good. It was a bit difficult to make out parts of them because of the noise outside, but there was no helping that.

Finally, another voice came through, the faintest of them all. “Rick - oh, Zeta Team here, Commander. The Governor has surrendered. Barely put up a fight at all, actually,” the young-sounding voice added, briefly tinged with venom. “We’re in control of the city now. How’s everything on your end?”

Rani paused at another noise from outside. “Just fine. That herd won’t be bothering you.”

“Ha, shouldn’t have worried. When can we expect you all back?”

Rani’s gaze swept across the cockpit - the sparking parts of the console, and the error messages on the screens still functioning. “You shouldn’t. I won’t be walking away from this one.”

Someone audibly cursed as Ricky replied. “What’s your location, Commander? We can be there in-”

“No, you won’t,” Rani cut him off, calm as a frozen lake. “Even if you weren’t too late, the sound of your engines would just get you swarmed. We knew the risks.”

It was easy to imagine him, in whatever room he was in right now, freezing up the way he often did. “I can’t just leave you behind, Commander. None of this could have happened without you.”

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Another noise, this one right outside. “Ricky,” Rani began. “Do you remember what I told you when all this began?”

“‘If you want to change things, you’ll need to make a hard decision sooner or later,’”. Ricky said, the words sounding brittle coming from his mouth.

“I’ve made one of those decisions for you today, and now you have another,” Rani murmured. “Which is more important: a city where people don’t have to be afraid of the people ruling it, or me? I think you know the answer.”

They’d often had these kinds of discussions, and they always seemed to go longer than was necessary. Not this time. “I’m sorry, Rani. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. This is better than how I would have gone, if not for you. A lot of others felt the same. Remember that, always.” Rani reached over and shut off her radio. Nobody needed to hear what was about to happen.

Something struck the outside of the cockpit. Weakly by their standards, which meant it only shook violently instead of being caved in. Rani turned to the only screen still functional, flipping open a keypad below. They’d disabled the city’s ability to send override commands remotely, but doing them manually was still an option.

Another blow came as Rani typed, followed by a creaking noise. Sunlight entered the cockpit as it was peeled open a crack, along with a far less pleasant sight. It had a lost a few eyes and was bleeding heavily, but regrettably, it could still move.

Rani continued typing, while it wedged two pincers into the opening it had made and spread them. The hole opened, slowly. It really was on its last legs if it was taking that long. You almost had to admire it wanting a last meal this badly.

It was strange not to feel afraid, especially when this was something they’d lived under the threat of for so long in one way or another. Maybe it was the hope Ricky had helped stir up, or maybe it had just been so long there was no longer any point to being afraid. Either way, Rani finished the command and confirmed it.

The effect was immediate; the people who’d designed this function had had only one thing in mind, and it certainly wasn’t the pilot’s safety. A sensation of heat came from below her, increasing from second to second. The creature outside the cockpit stopped just before lunging, perplexed at the suddenly hot metal beneath it.

“Sorry,” Rani murmured, “it’s just not either of our days.”

Then there was light, followed by darkness.