Location: Aeris Defense Alliance, GDF Fort Archlight
Sector: 4-Greyson, Columbia
★ ★ ★
The morning at Fort Archlight was quiet. Too quiet. The kind where you could hear a boot scrape on concrete from fifty meters out.
In the motor pool, three GDF soldiers leaned against an idling APC, steam curling from their cups.
Sergeant Lenon Briggs slapped the APC's armor. "…and I'm tellin' you, two XN alphas. Just me, a knife, and these hands. Dropped 'em both before they even blinked."
Private Wayne stared with wide eyes. "No way."
"Kid, "Briggs said, puffing out his chest, "when you've been in the GDF as long as I have—"
"—don't believe a word he says," another sergeant called from the fuel racks. "Last week he said he arm-wrestled a G08."
Wayne snorted. Private Keller just shook his head.
Lenon held up a finger. "Hey. That roach was malfunctioning. And drunk."
They laughed.
Then the alarms tore the quiet apart.
A piercing wail. Red lights flashed. Klaxons howled.
Lenon's grin vanished. "…ah, hell."
The yard exploded into motion. Soldiers sprinted for rifles, helmets, vehicles. Helicopter blades whined to life on the pads.
Major Alfonso Rodriguez strode into the chaos, coat half-done, jaw tight. "Talk to me!"
A comms specialist shoved a tablet at him. "Multiple bogeys inbound, sir! XN-G11s—ten, maybe fifteen!"
Rodriguez's face hardened. "Tanks to the north wall! Helos live! Get those birds in the air!"
"Yes, sir!"
Engines roared. A line of ADA tanks rolled out, cannons swiveling toward the ridge. Helicopters clawed upward, searchlights cutting the morning gloom.
Lenon yanked a rocket launcher off a rack—an ADA T-14—and slammed a tube in.
Wayne swallowed beside him."You ever seen this many G11s?"
"Nope. "Lenon cracked his neck. "But I'm glad you're here. Makes the story better."
Over the ridge, shapes moved. Huge, insectoid shadows in the morning light.
XN-G11s.
Searchlights locked on. Tanks fired and the ridge lit up with orange flashes.
The fight was on.
One Ant broke formation, charging down the slope.
Lenon braced the launcher. "Watch this, kid."
FWOOOM—
The rocket hit the thing's thorax dead center.
BOOM.
The Ant flipped, crashed, and lay smoking.
Lenon lowered the tube. "Bull's-eye."
Wayne looked at him like he'd just split an atom.
For a minute, it looked good. Shells hit. Choppers strafed. Then—
On Valkyr Ridge, Rizok watched the smoke and flashes below. Vorkin stood beside him.
"Now?"
Rizok's mandibles flexed. A smile, if you could call it that. "Now."
The sky shuddered.
Something dropped behind them with a metallic shriek—an XN-A03. It landed, wings folding. Rizok stepped onto its back like mounting a steed. The creature's plates locked around him.
More of them landed. XN-∆ soldiers climbed onto their backs, locking into harnesses. Their rifles whined to life, a harmonic charge like gathering lightning.
Vorkin raised a fist. "TAKE THE FORT!"
The A03s launched. Not with a roar, with a violent shove of air. They dove off the ridge in a spear-tip formation, a falling constellation of chitin and rage.
Down in the fort, the soldiers looked up, and for the first time that day, they knew they were outmatched.
Fort Archlight's real fight had just begun.
★ —. —. —. ★
Location: Atlantic Defense Corridor, ACI HQ
Pilot Bunks
★ ★ ★
I was awake. Couldn't sleep. I kept seeing it—the Talon moving before I thought, the HUD climbing percentages like a countdown to something I didn't understand.
Muscle memory? No. That wasn't it.
Then what?
I was still trying to figure it out when the red alert hit.
The klaxon felt like it was inside my skull. My HUD flickered on, painting my room with useless data.
The PA voice cut through the noise.
{Priority Alert. Fort Archlight is under heavy aerial and ground assault. Rapid Response Wing, Blackbird-9 and Kestrel-14 are designated primary response. Squadrons, scramble immediately. All other units, stand by.}
I was already moving before the echo died.
By the time I got to Briefing Room Delta, it was already packed. Blackbird-9 was there, plus Kestrel-14 in their blue-trimmed suits. They all looked like they'd been thrown out of bed.
Holt stood at the front, the holomap behind him a mess of red sigs over Fort Archlight.
"Listen up," he said, no warmth. "Fort Archlight is being hit. G11s on the ground, A03s in the air. We're sending Blackbird-9 and Kestrel-14. Eleven birds."
He paused. His eyes found Sophia. "Commander Alvarez will not be flying. Orders from Command Director."
The room went dead quiet.
Sophia's jaw clenched. Her hands were fists at her sides. She didn't say a word. She didn't have to.
Holt kept going like he hadn't seen it. "Mission is Fort defense. Priority one: eliminate XN-A03 air threats. Priority two: suppress XN-G11 ground swarms. Hold the line until reinforcements from Fort Bastion arrive. Blackbird-9, you're spearhead. Kestrel-14, provide high cover and watch for ground fire. Move."
We saluted and filed out.
Eze slowed beside Sophia. "Sorry, Alvarez."
She didn't look at him, the anger coming off her was heat you could feel.
I caught Holt watching me as I left. Just a glance, like he was checking if I was still in one piece. Then he turned away.
★ —. —. —. ★
The hangar smelled like fuel and panic. Our Talons waited in a line, gleaming.
Jae nudged me. "First real run as a member of Blackbird-9. Don't slow us down."
Hana scoffed. "After that training run? I should be asking if you can keep up."
Jae grinned. "One lucky run and he's ace now?"
It was a joke, but my chest felt tight. I looked at my Talon. The last time I touched it, it moved on its own. Or I did. I still didn't know.
"Gear up," Enzo said.
We suited up. Helmets on. Seals checked.
Then I heard boots. Sharp, fast.
Sophia walked into the hangar, already in full gear, helmet under her arm. Her eyes were burning.
Eze blinked. "Oh, damn. Your dad's gonna lose it."
She pulled her gloves tight. "Fight first. Worry later." She looked at me, then at the Talon. "I'm a soldier, not an ornament."
I almost smiled. Didn't.
Just gave a nod. She nodded back.
I climbed in. The cockpit sealed.
The HUD woke up.
[Primary Vessel: ACI F-7X Aeris Talon]
[Systems: Nominal]
[Weapons: Armed]
Everything had a tag. Everything was logged. The Talon hummed under me, a familiar vibration.
But the familiarity was a lie. Last time, this thing moved before I did. I still had no idea what I was flying, or what was flying me. The nerves weren't about the mission alone, they were also about the machine I was strapped into.
A crackle in the comms dragged me out of my head.
"Kestrel-14 Actual, Lieutenant Commander Quill Bennet, call sign, Hammer. We'll be on your six, Blackbird-9."
Enzo's voice came back, light but clear. "Copy that Hammer, just don't shoot us in the back."
A few tense chuckles cut through the comms, then died as Control's voice sliced in.
{All units, maintain formation. Weapons tight. Launch in thirty seconds.}
"Blackbird-9, ready," Enzo called.
"Kestrel-14, ready." Quill called.
I took one slow breath. My thumb found the comms switch, but I didn't press it.
"Frost, ready," I whispered, the words just for myself.
The catapults fired, the world blurred, and the sky waited for whatever the day would throw at us.
★★ .—. ★★