The deadly war in the space was a lie.
Jonah and Vanessa were focused on the dangerous battle, and they did not know what was going on yet. To them, the hundreds of deadly Syndicate drones that were attacking them from all sides were the only enemy that mattered.
As they fought with the drones, a strange, glowing wave of energy hit Nomad. It didn’t do any damage. It was a gentle pulse, almost like a sonar ping from a submarine.
A low chime came from Vanessa’s console. A message she didn’t expect came up on her screen. It was not a danger alert. It was a complete analysis of the Damocles station. She quickly read the data and was instantly terrified by what she saw.
"Jonah," she said, and voice was low and tight with strain when she spoke. "Project Damocles is activating."
He quickly steered Nomad sharply to the left and the Progeny dodged a volley of bright, hot plasma fire. "Activating? But we’re nowhere near it! It should be targeting us!"
"It’s not," she said, and her voice was now shaking because of a horrible thing she had just realized. "Its energy output... it’s at less than one percent. It’s not a weapon. It’s not powerful enough to be a weapon."
"It’s a decoy," she whispered, and her eyes were wide with horror. She looked at the huge, scary space station that was on their main viewer. They had thought it was the one, final danger. Now, she finally understood what it was really for.
"The weapon was never meant to destroy anything," she said, talking in a rush, unable to stop the words from coming out fast. "Its only job was to make that dead area in the ocean. It was just meant to get everyone’s notice. To bring us all the way up here to space. Jonah... it’s a distraction. That’s all it is. It’s a trick to keep us occupied."
At that same moment, Jonah felt a sudden psychic shock.
Something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Down on the planet, everything had already gone wrong.
The enemy had Seraph and Draven surrounded. Julian Sterling’s smiling suddenly went off all the screens in the room. This left them alone in the weak, flashing red light from the emergency lamps.
"We need to move now," Seraph said, her voice was a low, urgent command. "We are trapped in this building. Let’s get out, meet up somewhere safe, and find out what’s really happening."
But right as she spoke, a noise came from the main radio. It was a faint, broken sound of static. Something, somewhere, was attempting to get a signal past the electronic blocking.
Seraph turned quickly. She focused her eyes on her personal Academy radio. It was a small, backup comm device that she only used for the most terrible emergencies. It used a hidden, secret channel connected straight to the headmaster’s private network. It was their last and only way to connect with the world that was now gone.
She quickly pulled the small device off her belt. "...zzzk... Ironwood... zzzk... has fallen..."
The voice was rough and unclear because of the strong static and how far away it was, but it was definitely the Headmaster’s.
"...the capital... zzzk... is lost..."
Draven and the other scared soldiers gathered around her. They looked serious and worried. They were trying hard to understand the unclear words from the radio.
"...ASTF-Omega is... zzzk... now designated a rogue unit..."
The Headmaster’s voice sounded exhausted in a way that was much deeper than normal tiredness. It sounded like someone who had just lost everything. He was about to give them their final command.
"...Evade... and... resist..."
The static crackled one last time, and then the channel went completely dead. For real this time.
Rogue unit. Fugitives. Traitors.
That’s what they were now. They were being hunted in their own country, by their own government, which was now just controlled by the smiling, winning Julian Sterling.
One of the young, scared soldiers looked at Seraph, and his eyes were wide with fear and confusion. "Captain? What are our orders?"
Seraph didn’t even answer him. She just stood there, frozen. The dead comm unit was still in her hand. She kept hearing the headmaster’s last message over and over in her mind. Evade and resist. Run and hide. Live to fight another day. It was the smart, logical, and military thing to do. Follow current novᴇls on novel fire.net
Draven looked at her, and his face was looking serious and tough. He had seen how fast, brutal, and effective Sterling’s powerful forces were. He had seen their advanced, new technology. He knew what "evade" really meant. It meant running until they were caught. It meant dying in a dark, forgotten alley, all alone.
"So, what’s the plan, Captain?" he asked, and his voice was a low rumble that cut through the silence in the room. "Do we run?"
Seraph slowly raised her head. The fear and shock that had been in her eyes were gone. They had been replaced by something much stronger and far more dangerous. A burning anger.
She had followed orders her entire life. She was a soldier. But the nation that she had sworn to protect was now gone. The leaders that she had sworn to obey were now dead or captured. All that was left was the mission. All that was left was her team.
She looked at the faces of the scared, but determined, soldiers that were all around her. She looked at Draven, whose eyes held the same burning, angry fire as her own. They were all that was left. They were the last line.
She put away the comm unit that was now pointless. With a sharp, metal shiiiing sound, she pulled out her high-frequency energy sword. Its bright, blue blade came to life in the weak, red light.
"No," she said, her voice not much more than a whisper, but it held the powerful meaning of a completely sacred vow. "We hunt."