“Ko is going to get those daggers off our back, get Angie and the Traes, I’ll get the exit done for you!” Paba’s voice was fast, frantic, but deliberate. Meno knew that they didn't have much time before the Pillar would regain its scanners. They needed to move fast now. He felt the ache run over his body.

  He caught Angie’s eyes as she got up from the floor. She looked like she had been tortured, one eye was nearly closed, and her nose was clearly broken. His heart sank. The momentary glance shared so much.

  “I’ll get the Traes,” she said, the words carrying to Meno perfectly amidst the chaos, before rushing to his right towards two soldiers that were firing at the Kryptea Archon in the centre of the room. Meno had seen Ko scatter the grenades, and he was glad that Angie had paid attention to where they were going as well. He stepped forward to cover her as the Dorlec Commander watched her move away.

  He looked down at Sheppard, holding his nose as it bled. His hair, which was previously so well kept, now lay with strands hanging over his pale forehead. His eyes fixed on Meno, not afraid, not like the man behind him who was trying to pick him up. He stepped toward the Commander. He was tired but somehow heightened. It was just this, just get this done, and then they could get out of there.

  Time slowed for him, the chaos coalescing into moments. He felt each and every one brushing against his skin like an air pocket from a closing door. He allowed himself to feel it, to feel the actions of everyone in the room against him, like ripples on water as his eyes focused on the Commander. An unexpected anger filled him as he looked into his eyes. He gazed up at Meno with anger, with irritation as he held his nose, and Meno couldn't help but feel his temperature rise.

  This man. This Dorlec had been the reason that he had needed to leave Gol, he had been the reason Gol had then been burned, he had been the one that had led to Mr. Dimitri having to give the last of his few days. He bore the blame for all of them being there in the first place. First on Gol under some twisted experiment, and then for Yeley. For Grasci, for the destruction of Yeley. For holding Angie’s neck.

  The room erupted, sound echoed throughout the room, a deafening clinking and cracking filled the air and Meno felt himself pulled and pushed from all directions, but it was just sound to him now. Like an echo in a tunnel as his vision narrowed on the Commander whose eyes did not leave his own. He didn't flinch as the room around him became engulfed in fire, like a red wind in a hurricane as it pulled and tore through, the acrid stench of burning metal filling the room with smoke and sparks, and screams and gunfire.

  Meno didn't know why he felt so calm. No, it wasn't calm. It was containment. He felt something in himself, like bottled lightning of everything that had happened, everything that he had felt, everything that he did not know, everything that had been kept from him in this game of theirs. It collided together in a fury, bending the world around him, flowing like oxygen through his blood, burning in his muscles.

  “Who is backing you?!” the Commander spat out, blood following as he dropped his hands from his nose, his eyes darting around the room as he spoke. He was getting himself up, and holding himself tall, regaining the look of his rank. Meno didn't answer him, and he saw irritation rise on the Commander's face, “Do you even know?” he spat again. “Do you even know why the Dorlec are interested in you? You don’t, do you?” he laughed as chaos enveloped their surroundings. “You are a product, from a moon where we poisoned everything” he added emphasis on the final word, his face twisting into a horrid smile.

  “Doesn't matter,” Meno said quietly. Meno’s thoughts drowned out anything this man could say.

  “It was a farm. Did they ever tell you that?” he said, twisting his neck to click it. “A stockpile of the most toxic people in the galaxy, that could be thrown into ships, cities, countries…you get the idea” he said, his smile twisting again.

  Meno momentarily looked across to Angie with a half glance but could only see two Dorlec fighting. His eyes scanned the room, and he saw her beneath the shield in the far right-hand corner, where the Traes and Shilu had been, firing a rifle. Sheppard followed his eyes,

  “Ah, yes, she knew. Who do you think pulled out and prepped your precious friends, before they were sent to kill all in their path, by simply being around them? Weapons of presence”

  Meno didn't answer the commander, he just took another step and watched the man behind the Commander shrink. He took another and watched the Commander raise his right hand like a conductor ready to flick it down through the air, drawing on the strings in a crescendo. Meno felt his muscles twitch as he rushed him, feeling once more the energy move into his already fatigued calves, a burning that had become familiar on his climb. The floor beneath him bowed as he pressed, and he reached out his hand for the Commander's neck. A punishment for his actions. The commander was not fast enough, but as Meno got close, he saw, for the second time that night, a blur of red skin and beige cloth as he was met by the figure of Archon, as she burst to meet him from the smelting centre of the room where she had been drawing the fire of all in the room, thanks to Ko. She grabbed his outstretched arm,

  Her skin was broken with holes where the rifle fire had tried to penetrate her thick skin. Scorch marks showed the intensity with which the shots came, and Meno could feel the heat radiating from her body. Her eyes were wild, and she pulled a knee up to Meno’s jaw, but he was used to their movements now, and he pulled his hand back, knowing that she would keep her grip on his arm, he swung her around, planting his feet firmly on the ground. He kept his eyes on Sheppard as he did so and saw the shocked glare in the Commander's eyes as he held his hand up in the air.

  “Alive, Archon”, the Commander barked, his voice sharp, cutting through the chaos.

  Meno pulled hard at his arm and felt the Kryptea pull away. He swung his gaze to her and caught her spinning in the air before landing deftly on her feet, one hand on the ground to steady herself. She crouched like a cat and pounced at him, landing her feet just before him, and delivering a flurry of heavy blows at Meno who tried to parry all of them as he found his balance again, but she was faster than him, even with her injuries, and her blows hit with a fierce sharpness, with fists like iron.

  “6 cannot help you now!” she snarled at him, as she threw ferocious punches at him. He roared and tried to throw a punch of his own, aiming for her central mass, but she turned in the air, dancing her torso to the side and placing one of her hands on the ground. Before Meno knew what was happening, her leg was rising up to the side of his face, he pulled back just in time, but it caught his cheek and knocked him to the side.

  He knew now that he could not afford to lose sight of her, and turned back, and she was right on top of him. She unleashed three punches, twisting his body, then caught him with a knee to the stomach. He took the blow and thrust up a fist of his own, but she dodged it and effortlessly kicked him away from her. He felt his air catch in his chest. She was so much stronger than him, and her movements so fluid and free. He felt like he was fighting smoke. He spat blood on the ground.

  She came again, but this time, she had picked up the leg of a chair in her left hand, and he readied himself. He drew in all of his power, feeling it move through his body, heating every fibre of his being. She was coming in for a killing blow. He shifted himself to the side, wanting to move away from her thrust, and then heard it, the call from Paba on the comms,

  “I’m sending them in!” a screeching of metal against stone, he felt the hum of gravity engines and dared to look away from Archon, from the corner of his eye he saw a Dorlec soldier sprinting to the end of the balcony, and then he saw an enormous mirrored surface engulf his peripheral.

  Two gliders hurtled in, one on each side of the room, tearing through the stone floors and clattering the ceiling. He had to take a second look to know whether his eyes were deceiving him or not.

  Archon stopped dead, turned and looked behind her, searching for the Commander, who was still making his way over to Angie, Shilu and the Traes. Meno realised his fight with Archon had been just a moment, although he felt as though he had endured the punishment for an age. The room was still in chaos around him. Archon darted backwards towards Sheppard, and Meno jumped to follow her. He ran as the gliders tore through, stone breaking beneath them like water under a hull with their gravity engines pushing against the solid surface, warping it and cracking the stone. He ran, his reflection chasing him as he saw Dorlec soldiers at the end of the room trying to get out of the way of the screeching ships. He saw Angie react,

  *

  Angie saw the two gliders coming toward her, She didn’t know who was doing this or why. The room was being ripped apart as they came in. She had been pulled from the side of the room. She had been fighting a Dorlec soldier for their rifle, and before she knew what was happening, she was on the other side of the room with a rifle gently falling into her arms. She had tried to understand what was happening and after seeing that her position had been swapped with a Dorlec soldier, she realised that the infiltrator that had helped them escape the temple was in this room now as well. They must have been the ones that had started all of the chaos.

  “Shilu!” she shouted behind her. Angie had told the Hulfean woman to get the Traes ready just moments before from under the shield that rippled as it took shots from the Dorlec soldiers. Eher Traes was pale and had lost a lot of blood, while Pac Traes seemed completely shell-shocked and was barely able to speak a word as Shilu had told him to stand up. Shilu was picking Eher up from the ground, and Angie saw that her eyes darted forward to see the gliders coming,

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  “Move, Pac!” Shilu shouted to the man that she had served for years, his eyes widening in panic,

  Her breath stopped, and in that moment, she noticed that Meno was chasing Archon between the two speeding gliders. She was trying to reach the commander and Smik. Sheppard was facing the speeding glider with his arm raised up high in the air. He then violently tore his hand down in a slicing action, and Angie saw the distortion in space ahead of him. She heard a high-pitched scream, different to the gliders, and then a chinking noise that cut through the air. She then saw what Sheppard had done, she saw the glider that was heading towards him, breaking through the stone, had been cleaved cleanly in two. The ten-meter-long, arrow-shaped mirrored glider snapped apart as it was split. Angie caught a moment of Sheppard pulling himself up to full height after delivering the attack. Time seemed to slow for a moment as she looked at the Commander's back, her breath caught in her throat. The glider should’ve obliterated him, but instead, it split like paper under a blade. The two halves roared past him, one toward her. This man wasn’t just an ordinary soldier, he…Angie caught herself,

  “Move!” she screamed as she pushed the shield generator with her foot in an attempt to get up. It would be useless now with the half coming directly their way. She saw that Shilu was already pulling Eher away, and Angie grabbed Pac by the back of his shirt and threw him to her right. She jumped to her side and made it by a hair’s breadth out of the way of the side of the glider as it tore through the shield and clashed against the wall with a crash, breaking through the stone wall of the patio. Angie didn't have a moment to think as the other half broke in front of them. It had not flown straight and had caught into the stone floor, which pulled the stern upwards. It crashed against the ceiling and broke the roof of the room. Large slabs of rock broke down onto the ground, and the room rocked with the impact, the air became filled with dust and smoke.

  Angie didn't have time to check that they were all okay. She stood up, feeling the weight of all of her injuries now, but adrenaline helped her move. She pulled Shilu up by the back of her exo-suit and then did the same for Pac Traes,

  She used the cover of smoke and dust to look around the fallen soldiers, finding a knife on the one which she placed in her boot, a still-in-tact shield generator, which she placed quickly on Pac’s chest, hitting it and feeling the bubble press against her. Pac Traes was a nervous wreck. His usual regal features and sharp nose were cast in horror.

  “That way!” she said to Shilu, pointing to their right, away from the crashed glider. They could potentially get away if they went around the destroyed mirrored surface of the ships. Eher, who had dropped from Shilu’s shoulders during the crash was hoisted back on again only giving the faintest of moans as she did so. She was still alive. Shilu steadied herself with the woman, and Angie readied her rifle, holding it to the side and seeing that she had eighty-nine bolts left. What she would do for some bullets. These energy weapons were great unless you were firing at anyone with a shield. Sometimes, metal just worked better.

  “Angie!” came Meno’s voice, and she saw him emerge from the smoke. “Meno, get them out of here,” he looked shell-shocked but listened,

  “That way,” he said pointing to the far side of the room, and Shilu and Pac followed without question. “You too,” he said to her as he turned to face back into the room. “Here” he said handing over a small plaster-like object. Angie examined it and saw that it was tech strapped onto an adhesive. She stuck it behind her ear.

  “Meno, come o…” Angie’s voice trailed off as she saw what Meno had turned to face. From the settling smoke, Angie saw that Meno was protecting her from the red-skinned Archon. The woman had injuries herself, taking plenty of bolts when the chaos first started. She had scorch marks across her body, and in a few places, Angie could see that she had shallow holes in her body where the bolts had penetrated her skin. It didn't seem to be weighing the Kryptea down though, as she stood tall facing Meno. Angie saw Sheppard coming toward them from behind Archon. She raised her rifle at the Commander,

  “We’ve got to…”

  “Go, Angie. I’ll be right behind you,” he said without facing her. Angie was taken aback at the calmness in which he had said it. He was facing the oncoming Archon without a flinch, and for the first time, Angie took note of him. He was marked with his efforts to get here, blood stained and singed from blasts and bolts. This was no longer the boy who jumped onto a ship and brawled a guard so long ago. Angie took in a deep breath,

  “Fuck that” and she fired a shot at the Kryptea. The red-skinned woman vanished in a blur as Angie shot, but she saw Meno move with just as much pace off to his left and knew that he would fight her. Angie had lost Sheppard in the smoke and she looked around urgently. She took one glance to her right and saw that Shilu was making her way out with Eher atop her shoulder and Pac running behind, trying to hold onto his wife. She would take out Sheppard and Smik and then get rid of that Kryptea with Meno.

  She moved to her right and shot off bolts in short bursts, only able to see the shadows of her enemies through the smoke. She was making her way to the other half of the glider, hoping to use it as cover. Her eyes scanned the bodies as she passed, looking for any additional weapons she could use. On her third burst of fire, she saw one of the shadows jerk quickly to the side and then the other raise its arm,

  “Oh, fuck” she said and she jumped to the side landing heavily on the floor just in time as a screeching sound passed her, cutting the ground as it passed. She felt every inch of her ache as she tried to get up. He’s no joke, she thought. This Sheppard had some serious firepower, she thought as she looked behind her and saw a gash in the stone wall, a clean cut. She moved to her right once more, knowing that she could not be caught in the open and catch one of those bursts. She moved over another fallen Dorlec soldier and found exactly what she was looking for. A pistol that used actual, genuine, blessed bullets. She almost spoke aloud as she thanked Locne and tucked the pistol into her waistband as she moved forward. She could hear thumping from the side of the room and knew that it was Meno and Archon still fighting. She didn't know how he was doing it, but he was. She stuck her hand behind her ear and said,

  “Got an exit plan?”

  “Angie!” came Paba’s voice, who had seemingly just broken down in tears at her voice. The ground shifted below Angie as the entire floor became unstable, sifting up another jet of smoke that flickered in the still-burning fires around the room.

  “Get to the balcony”, came a voice that she didn't know. She saw Sheppard walking out from the smoke, striding forward boldly. She pulled the pistol from her waistband and held it out, but before she could, Meno, across her vision, landed heavily against the glider that she was taking cover behind. She saw Sheppard raise his hand again, and she stood out from behind the glider and fired the pistol in his direction. After hearing the type of weapon, he quickly darted to the side.

  “We’re pinned in,” she said as she grabbed Meno and pulled him to cover. He was still conscious, but he looked dazed. He rubbed his head and looked at Angie,

  “I think 6 may have been going easy on…Angie!”

  She saw a shadow move behind her, coming from the other side of the glider, and she knew that she had been flanked. She felt the knife slide into her right side, and her right leg went numb she dropped slightly. She saw Meno try and get up but the Kryptea emerged and in a flash had kicked Meno back up against the glider, denting it deeply. She tried to raise the pistol to the Kryptea, now so close, but her hand was beaten down.

  “You really are a nuisance, aren’t you?” said Smik’s sly voice in her ear as he twisted the knife in. “To be expected of an old war hero I suppose,” he hissed into her ear. She grabbed his hand that was holding the knife and felt the blade slice through her skin. He must have been biding his time during all of the commotion.

  “The gliders are ready at the balcony” Paba’s voice was only just audible to Angie over the comm. The adhesive had started to pull away from her sweat.

  “Angie!” Meno cried as he was pushed back once more by Archon, but he pushed back, fighting against her, raising himself from the broken glider. She saw Sheppard come through the smoke toward them, calm, collected, his eyes fixed on her own. His hand readied next to him, moving out to the side, ready to strike once more,

  “I’m…coming, Angie!” roared Meno as he pushed Archon backwards off of him. Her face cast in a look of disbelief at the boy. She saw Sheppard pass a glance at this too, halting his hand for just a moment. “Get off of me!” he bellowed into the Kryptea’s face, but she was pushing him back again.

  “I will congratulate you, Meno”, said Sheppard, arriving through the smoke. He was watching her carefully, his eyes only passing over Meno for a moment. “You were more than I anticipated. But you have lost,” he was so calm, thought Angie as she tried to stay conscious. Smik was using the knife to keep her in position.

  “I’ll kill you!” roared Meno at the Commander.

  “What’s happening?!” crackled the desperate voice of Paba over the comms.

  “You…” Sheppard said, moving behind Archon to look over her shoulder at Meno, “Will be studied. You will help the Dorlec weaponise the HX-31. You will contribute greatly to our ascension” he said with a smile. Meno struggled against Archon, who remained firm against him. Angie knew that she was just too strong for him. “Yeley will become a new testing ground, a phase 2 for Gol if you will. Perhaps we will name the vaccine made from your blood after you, he said to Meno with a grin, “Or maybe after your pitiful Lor Dimitri”

  The room stopped as they heard someone coming. Rocks crushed under their feet as they came in, and Angie was only just able to turn her head to see the imposing form of 6, the other Kryptea walking toward them. He was also covered in wounds and had blood stains across his body, but he walked upright and straight toward them, his usual ascetic gaze on his face. His face only momentarily turned to look at Angie. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding. They were finished.

  “It seems you didn't manage to kill him,” Sheppard said to Meno with a smile, “Tough, aren't they?” Archon gave 6 a venomous look as he walked toward them.

  “Sihxhta”, Archon said with acid on her tongue, looking at him hatefully as he walked toward them. He didn't drop his head. He walked over to where Sheppard and Archon were. Angie saw Meno looking desperately at the Kryptea he had trained with, trying to say something, but Archon’s hands were now firmly around his neck.

  “...please” wheezed Meno under the grasp.

  “The boy would have been better off letting you di…” Smik was cut off as Archon was suddenly thrown off of Meno. She had been pulled from behind and thrown unceremoniously through the air toward the Commander, who moved swiftly out of the way, his hand dying off on his side. Angie had to blink to focus. She couldn't believe her eyes as she saw the tall, imposing figure of 6, standing over Meno and offering a hand to the bewildered Meno.

  “Wha…” Angie didn't let Smik finish, his grip had slackened for just a second. She pulled the knife from her boot, twisted under the man, feeling the knife in her back get pulled, and drove her own knife up into his neck. His eyes went wide, his mouth gasping for words to say as the warm blood passed over her hand. She just looked into his eyes as he fought against her, but she kept him where he was. She was sick and tired of being the one taking a beating.

  “You should have been more careful who you threatened, you fucking child,” she said into the dying light of his eyes.