The portal opened over the same exact place Leila's team arrived months earlier. The blowback of the atmosphere being ripped caused an earthshattering boom that toppeled nearby buildings. People on the ground were hit witn 200 mph winds instantly. Dozens died as they were thrown violently into buildings or vehicles. The few on the beach werd swept away or drowned from the 40 ft. waves kicked up by the wind. The impossible sized ship filled the sky.
"Operator get me a sit-rep!" the captain of a carrier 5 miles of the coast ordered. "Unknown bogey just appeared in our airspace! It's moving at 20 mph toward the center of the city!" the radar operator said. "Get me a radar visual to send to the rest of the 7th fleet!" the captain ordered. The operator pulled up a holo-screen thst was competely white. "Malfunction?" he asked. "No sir! Bogey is so huge it takes up the screen! Approxamately 16 miles long and 2 miles wide!" he said panicing. "Launch all fighters and drones. Contact Los Angeles HQ for assistance!" the captain ordered.
Valkyries and Banshee drones rail-catipulted off the carrier and streaked to the Ark. "We see it to captain. Recommend to pull to safe distance. I'm ordering my tank and missile batallions into positions now. Prepare to *zzzst*" the transmission from HQ said until it was cut off. "Get him back on the horn!" the captain said. "I can't sir. Something happened to the relay sat" the radio operator said.
"Milady' the enemy comm sat was been destroyed as you commanded" the weapons officer said. "Excellent. The new plasma turrents are working perfectly. They can even shoot down orbital targets now” she said. "Incoming enemy vessels. Number is 32" the sensor officer said. "Let them come. They will see how good our shields really are now. The Empress said.
The fighters streaked to their target. They didn't even bother to get a lock on it since it was the size of a city. Each fighter launched a missile. 32 missiles raced through the sky toward the Ark. They exploded in multiple fireballs on one section of the shield. "Shit they didn't get through" one pilot said. "We planned for that! Keep hitting that one spot until the shield fails!" the wing commanded said via laser commjnication. The twisted and turned in the air for a second pass and this time they unleashed an entire volley of missiles.
Over 160 missiles slammed into the shield. "That had to weaken it! Close in and launch slegehammer missiles!" he barked. The slegehammer missile uses hypersonic speed for armorpierxing dammagr before exploding. They figured even with a tough hull it would do some interanal damage. The telephone pole sized missiles fell from the bellies of the aircraft and boosted to mach 5 to the ship. In less than 3 seconds it hit and exploded. The blast rocked the planes with its concussion.
The smoke clearrd and they saw no damage. "Impossible..." the pilot said. “Our turn. Arm AA turrents and fire on the enemy craft" the Empress ordered. The waepons officer typed in the system parameters. On the hull twin barrels jutted out from doors on the hull they tracked the planes movement and began firing. "Go evasive! GO EVASIVE!" the wing commander yelled. The planes did their best to avoid being hit. One by one though they began to fall. They hurridely kicked in afterburners for the carrier. By the time they go back to it though only 7 planes and 2 drones had survived. "Cutlass squadron is landding sir...what's left of them" the Second officer said.
As the crippled squadron landed, the Empress was watching them on the main screen. "Ma'am the enemy fleet is trying to flee to open waters" the radar operator said. "Where do they think they're going? Couldn't break our muti-layered shield and now they flee. Cowardly humans. Target the enemy fleet with secondary plasma turrent 3 starboard. 80% charge and fire" the Empress ordered.
The plamsa turrent, a mile long weapon, swiveled to the direction of the fleet. The tip glowed bright blue for 8 seconds before it fired. The cocentrated blast tore through the sky. The light from it reached the crews stepping off tneir plans tkanking god they survived. They turned to see that the light was their death and some thought it was pretty before the end.
The blast slammed into the center of the fleet formation and enveloped it in its 20,000 degree heat. Every ship in its 3 mile radius was vaporized instantly. The bast was so powerful it literally left a hole in the ocean. The cloud of steam added to the mushroom cloud forming while the ocean rushed it to fill the savage wound on it. HQ monitored the blast and knew what had happened. "Blast coordiantes confirmed to be near the fleet's position. Blast yeild is estimated to be 1.1 megatons" the tech officer reported. "Order the batallions to hold their positions. They might be next. Get the engineers from the lab up here. I need to know what were up aganist." the commander ordered.
For the next 4 hours scientists and tech officers analyzed what little data they had. They could only agree on a few things. First, this new ship had powerful shields. Thousands of time more powerful than they ever seen. They had to be supported by a reactor far more advanced than anything they had. Second, their hull is probably reenforced by abatibe armor judiging from the reports from Charlie squad on their mission. They observed that materials far stronger existed on their world and the plating on the hul, suggested their use could be reenforced.
Third, their plasma weapons were in the megaton range and were designed for maximum damage. Either for multiple foes or population destruction. And last, their crew compliment would be staggering to operate and maintain such a large ship. The commander shook his head at the news. "I need a cigarette" he said stepping outside. As he smoked, he looked at the ship just hovering over the city. "What are you waiting for? You can kill us anytime but I bet that would be no fun would it” he said cursing the ship filling the sky.
“They’re probably setting up a command and control for Earth” a voice from behind said. The commander turned around to see that it was. “General Longstreet! Sir you need to evac from the city!” the commander said. How commander? Soon as we move they’re gonna blast us into the next stone age” Longstreet said. “We can’t just sit here!” the commander said. “Not planning to. I got people scanning that ship for any weakness we can use” Longstreet said. “Does it even have one?” the commander asked. “Every monster has a weakness. Didn’t you ever pay attention to those fairytales?” Longstreet asked.
As the city held its breath, the crew of the Ark was busy with preparing to launch troops to besieged cities. “Milady, shuttle 3, 7, and 9 are ready to depart” a flight officer said. “Launch them. If any interference from the humans is detected eliminate them” the Empress said. The hangar bay door opened and one by one, the three shuttles launched off the ship. Each one turned to its destination. The soldiers panicked seeing the ships roaring off the Ark. A foolish battalion opened fire at the ships hoping they were less protected.
They hit their targets easily since the shuttles were larger than two B 52’s combined. Sure enough, their shields absorbed the hits. The shuttles paid them no mind though; they knew that the Ark would protect them. “Incoming fire from sector 22. Targeting sector…proceeding with elimination. Charging plasma turret to 10%...firing” the fire control officer said. She pulled the trigger and let lose the plasma blast. The soldiers saw what was coming. The telltale glow of the charging turret spelled doom for any in its sights. The blast struck the battalion stationed in Canoga Park. The surrounding city shook with the artificial quake while nearby buildings either melted, spontaneously combusted, or collapsed near the epicenter. A mushroom cloud arose from the area. The blast was later measured to be around 100 kilotons.
As the dust cleared over the next hour, HQ saw that the blast wiped out everything in a 5 mile radius. Nothing survived. The battalion, people in the surrounding buildings and shelters, all were dead. “Let that be a lesson to you assholes out there with itchy trigger fingers! You’re not just responsible for your own lives but the civilians near you!” Longstreet said slamming his radio down. He cursed the needless deaths just now and cursed the latest reports from tech department. They told him an EMP blast wouldn’t likely work due to the strength of their new shields. Longstreet shoved the papers off his desk in anger. As he did, a soldier walked into the room.
“What is it private?” he asked. “Sir, you ordered us to report anything we observed from the ship no matter how small” the private said. “Don’t keep it to yourself son. Out with it” he said. “An hour ago, Private Jensen noticed birds on the ship’s hull” he said. “Birds? Son when I asked you to…” “Sir what we’re saying is how did they get there past their shields?” the private asked. The General realized how good a question that was and yelled out to tech departments to train the cameras on the ship to max zoom. It took a few minutes of scanning but they indeed found a seagull on the starboard top side of the ship.
The techs argued among themselves until one stopped them to speak. “We have a working theory” he said. “Sgt. We don’t need a working theory, we need a working solution before they crater what’s left of this broken city” Longstreet said. “We suspect that their shields only respond to energy attacks and kinetic impacts. That bird might have slipped through their shield by flying to it slowly. Their systems wouldn’t register it as an attack” the Sgt. said.
The General stared at the sky and thought about how he could use that to their advantage and remembered something that happened last year at his daughter’s birthday party. “You and Jensen are going shopping” he told the Private. The soldier walked away not believing what he was ordered to find. “What good would balloons do?” the Sgt. asked. “Nothing unless it was carrying one of those” he said pointing to a weapons inventory list. “Now patch me through to San Diego Command. I need to have them tell our local hero to return from the moon with his new weapon.
As they contacted San Diego, a giantess family was taking shelter underground in their bunker base. “What’s happening mommy!” Lisa asked scared of the recent tremor. “I don’t know baby” Cindy said hugging her child. Leila could see out of her window the frantic soldiers and crew. She then remembered her warning to Aaron “They’re coming”. “Oh god what have they done…” she muttered as she pushed open the door. She saw one man running down the corridor and grabbed him. He had met Leila and her family countless time but the sudden feeling of fingers wrapping around him scared the shit out of him. At first he thought the Ingress breached the base but saw Leila concerned face. “What’s happening?!” Leila asked. “We’re under attack by some huge city sized ship!” he yelled. Leila put him down and walked back to her family. “Did you find out what was happening?” Cindy asked. Leila choked out the answer. “She brought the Ark here. THE EMPRESS BROUGHT OUT THE ARK HERE!” she yelled.
“Impossible! That would consume too precious amount of energy! Beside that ship was meant to be a lifeboat for our people not a weapon of war!” Cindy said. “She’s insane! Our people need that ship. She could be dooming our people to extinction! Oh god what if she destroys this city while were here! Oh god what if she finds us!” Leila yelled.
That was 3 ½ hours ago….
Now…
“Sir incoming transmission from Earth” an attendant said as he walked into the military base outside Luna City. Aaron tapped the screen and a tired looking Colonel appeared on the screen. “Thank god I finally got ahold of you. I can’t talk long before I lose the sat relay. We need you to return to L.A. The city is under attack by a huge city-sized ship of Ingress origin. We already lost the 7th fleet. There is a plan to destroy it but we need you to bring your new weapon to help. Get and come back ASAP” he said before the screen went to static. “Colonel? Colonel!” Aaron yelled. Panic set in as he thought about the safety of Leila and her family. “Oh fuck I shouldn’t have left them all alone!” he said gripping his head. “Aaron calm down. Panicking won’t help her or anyone. Let’s get the weapon we came for and go home” Sarah said.
“What could we possibly have that would destroy a ship the size of a city! It took out our best fleet; the 7th!” he shouted. “I can answer that follow me” the chancellor said walking to Aaron. Aaron felt himself shaking with worry as they descended in the elevator. After 3 minutes, the doors opened to a darkened room. The chancellor turned on the lights and what they saw astounded them.
Before them stood a frame. Not just any frame though. This one stood 200 ft. tall and was painted jet black with red markings. “Holy shit…” Aaron muttered. “Allow me to introduce you to the all-new STRIKE X” he said. “It’s huge. Way bigger than my old STRIKE” Aaron said. “Of course. The old one was built with existing designs to fight the Union. This one was built from the ground up to fight the Ingress. Its size perfectly matches them for necessary hand to hand if need be” the chancellor said with pride.
“What is that cross-shaped thing on its back?” Aaron asked. “Sharp eye. That is the BITS.” he said. “BITS?” Aaron asked confused. “Beam Independent Targeting System. They separate from the body and independently move via thrusters and target its own enemy. Useful if you’re surrounded".
"Now for the other armaments. On the hips there are two positron cannons. Similar in design to the previous one. On the wrists are a pulse plasma cannon. The design came from the reverse engineered plasma rifles from Los Angeles. They can fire standard bolts or a charged concentrated stream. On the head are two gauss machine cannons firing magnetically accelerated spent uranium shells".
"For defense is the carbon nano-tube armor you're familiar with but the primary defense is the new personal defense shield. It is similar to the Ingress shield but operates at a different frequency that can absorb plasma shots. Be careful though, this shield can fail just like theirs if it sustains too much damage" the chancellor said. "Whoa...what powers all this shit?' Aaron asked. "That's another advantage the STRIKE X's size gives us. Inside its body are two fusion reactors. One for weapons, the other for shields. Now we just have to install an A.I. OS for the frame.
"I got that covered. Ain't that right baby?" Aaron asked smiling. "You know it sweetie" Sarah said on his comm. "Your OS survived?" the chancellor asked surprised. "Barely" Sarah answered. The chancellor knew much about the A.I. system but never heard of one acting so independently before. The way she talked and felt. He wondered if it was a process of learning or if she had acquired in some way a digital soul. “Aaron we need to leave soon if we're gonna get there in time" she said. "Go then and may whatever force out there watch over you" the chancellor said watching Aaron step into the STRIKE X's hand on the floor.
It carried him to the cockpit hatch which he opened and he stepped in. He ripped off the plastic covering the seat and plopped down in it. "Alright Sarah. Get settled in" ne said to his wristcomm. It glowed green for a minute and soon after lights began turning on. "Okay, I’m in...sort of" she said. "Problem?" Aaron asked. "Just getting used to this new body. Man I feel fat. I'm fat aren't I?" Sarah asked. "God you're such a girl. Look, if it helps black makes you look slimmer" Aaron said chuckling. "Thanks for the compliment. Starting systems now" Sarah said. The main HUD came to life and read out the start system checks.
"Reactors A & B are nominal. Thrusters check. Weapons check. Shield generator online. Sensors and communications arrays online. Coolant pumps nominal. System final start. Strategic Tactical Integrated Killing Exo frame eXperimental is online" the screen said. "Finally!" Aaron said impatient. "Be thankful it didn't say updating software" Sarah said giggling. "That's what I got you for right?" Aaron said. "That and my great conversation skills" Sarah said. Aaron smiled remembering how he missed talking to her. "Kick the tires and light the fires baby! LET'S GO!!" Aaron shouted pushing the throttle forward.
The thrusters lifting the frame roared to life and rocketed the 200 ft. tall behemoth forward up a chute connecting the hangar to the surface. The frame jetted out the open door and streaked from the lunar surface and into space. "Set intercept course for Los Angeles" Aaron ordered. Sarah imputed the coordinates and a nav marker appeared on his screen. He lined up his frame till the crosshairs were aligned with the beacon and pushed the throttle to max burn. The acceleration slammed him into the seat. He saw his speed readout. He had already passed Mach 3 in seconds and was still accelerating. 10 minutes had passed while he watched the screens around him trying to get a feel of his new frame. "ETA to destination Sarah" Aaron asked. "If we can stay at Mach 65, damn...Mach 65... We will arrive in 5 hours” she said. “Good, set up a sat relay to San Diego. Tell them when we will arrive” Aaron said.
“Incoming transmission from Lt. Aaron Person” the radio officer said. “Let’s see it” the commander said. “He’ll be here in just under 5 hours and wants us to move a comm sat over Los Angeles” the commander said reading the decrypted message. “But they will just shoot it down!” the operator said. “He must have a plan” the commander said.
4 hours and 31 minutes later…
“Alright men, let’s give the Lt. a warm welcome” Longstreet said to a group of soldiers. A soldier released a balloon and attached to was a small metal sphere. The sphere was actually one of the few antimatter test bombs left from Operation Payback. The balloon drifted into the sky. No one cared where it was drifting because the ship filled the sky. There was no way it would miss. After 10 minutes of rising upwards it finally bumped into the Ark’s hull. “Success sir! Now activating the magnetic lock” the soldier monitoring the balloon bomb said. The bomb latched onto the hull and waited for the activation signal. The satellite moved into its position and was noticed by the radio officer on the Ark. “Another enemy sat has been detected over our location” she said to the Empress. “Humans never learn. Take it out” she ordered. The port plasma turret pivoted upward and charged up. “5% charge, firing” the weapons control officer said firing the weapon.
The blue beam shot upwards scattering the clouds. Near Aaron’s position, the satellite held its designated position. A blue flash and then the beam stuck it, shattering it into a million pieces. “Will this work Aaron?” Sarah asked. “I think so but there’s a catch” he said. “There always is…” she said. “We have to go in unpowered. Total dead stick” he said. “ARE YOU CRAZY!? What if they fire on us?! Without shields we’re vapor!” Sarah yelled. “I doubt our shields could withstand something that vaporized the 7th Sarah. Besides this is the best way to keep them from detecting our power signature. Only life support and you will be online. No weapons, comm, or shields” he said. “And I was just getting used to this new body” Sarah said. “Get ready, 5 second thruster burst and then cut everything” Aaron ordered.
Sarah did as she was told. The frame lurched forward among the debris and began to fall with it. Aaron’s plan was to sneak into the atmosphere using the debris as cover. He hoped that the ship would see him as a chunk of satellite. 9 minutes later the first pieces hit the atmosphere. Hundreds of fireballs surrounded him. A cone of orange superhot gasses enveloped him as he fell to Earth…
“Hit it” Longstreet said. The bomb exploded with dazzling bright flash. Miraculously, the lower shield absorbed half of the blast energy limiting the shockwave that hit the ground. The light faded and everyone on the ground saw the gaping hole 4000 feet wide on the ship. “Damage to starboard side!” one officer yelled. “Damage report! Now!” the Empress said standing back up. “Main power down. Auxiliary power down to 41% .Primary shield generator is offline. Plasma turret 4 has been destroyed” the operated said reading the readout. “Dammit! Increase power to the shields! Prepare to counterattack!” the Empress yelled. “No good ma’am! Not enough power to completely cover the ship! I can barely keep us flying!” the tactical officer said. “Then concentrate on keeping the lower shield online. They’ll attack from the ground since we destroyed their sea forces!” the Empress said. “Aye aye! Arming plasma vulcans for attack. Using available power for lower shields!” the weapons and tactical officers yelled.
As the ship began shooting blindly at the ground, Aaron had just finished breaching the atmosphere. “Sarah bring main power back online!” Aaron yelled. “Power coming back on” she said. When the last systems came back on, he saw the quickly approaching Ark. “Shit! Reverse thrust!” he said kicking back the throttle. He looked at the altimeter. 80,000…70,000…60,000. Slowly the altimeter slowed down counting off his altitude. “Distance to target…22,000 feet. Impact it 12 seconds!” Sarah shouted. “Power up the positron cannons!” he yelled. “Charge complete!” she yelled. “FIRE!” he shouted. Two red beams shot from the frames hips and struck the top hull of the ship. A small explosion erupted from it. Aaron landed roughly and slid into the hull breach. He saw that he was in a ruined corridor of the ship. At his feet was a dead Ingress male killed in the blast he created.
"Soldier, what was that...oh shit!" a female Ingress said seeing the black frame standing over the dead soldier. She quickly turned around to get help and was grabbed by the neck. The sound of a metallic hand crushing her throat was barely heard over the alerts. She struggled in Aaron's grip and grabbed her sidearm. Aaron saw this on his HUD and moved his hand to her chin and the other to the back of her head. With a hydraulic boosted twist, he snapped her neck. The giantess fell dead onto the deck plate.
"What happened to your rehabilitation plan?" Sarah asked. "I'll try it when they're not a crew manning a flying WMD" he said. Aaron stepped into the corridor looking for a way to get to engineering. If he was to stop this ship, he figured it would be there. He followed the corridor hoping he was going the right way. He ducked around corners when he heard troops running past. Seeing those holding cables and tools, he figured he was heading the right way. Finally, he reached a door that had a sign on it.
"Remember how to read that shit Sarah?" Aaron asked. "Yep. That is the computer core room" Sarah said. "I've been thinking on how to bring this thing down. Shooting the reactor is retarded. Why don't we cripple their computer systems?" Aaron said. Sounds like a plan. Give me a minute to interface with it" Sarah said. For the next 3 minutes, Sarah tried hacking the core. It helped the forces below were hammering the ship making the computer spend resources on shield recharging and weapons targeting. It wasn't enough though. Too many security protocols and difference in performance prevented her from access. "Alert! Unauthorized access in primary logic room!" a computerized voice said.
"Time for plan b!" Aaron said running out of the room. "Hope this plan b is better than the last one!" Sarah said. They ran around a corner and bumped into a young teen girl no older than 15. It was obvious that she was still green and fresh out of the academy. She was scared shitless staring at the STRIKE X with its red eyes gleaming at her. She pissed herself as he desperately gripped her pistol and shakingly raised it. "Don't do it kid!" Aaron shouted.
Hearing it talk caught her by surprise and Aaron used that to his advantage. He quickly punched her in the face. The teen was knocked out cold and fell to the floor. Aaron proceeded to run down the corridor. Along the way he shot or smashed anything that looked important. After sprinting almost 5 miles and shooting or knocking out any soldier that was a threat to them, he found engineering.
He crept into the huge room the size of 3 airplane hangars and saw three reactors, one large cylinder surrounded by 6 smaller ones. "Aaron I think that's the main shield generator. If we take that out..." "Then they lose most of their defenses!" Aaron said aiming the positron cannons at the main shield generator. Aaron fired cannons and the generator sparked and began to crackle with power. Tiny explosions erupted all over it until *KABOOM*.
The blast knocked them on their ass. "Bet that hurt!" Aaron said. "Reckless..." Sarah muttered. "What's your beef?" Aaron asked. "My beef is you using such high powered weapons in close quarters! And what was up with not shooting that girl earlier?" she asked. “Sorry but still have a problem shooting kids, especially if they piss themselves looking at me” Aaron said. “Well let’s see if you chivalry works on them” Sarah said changing the screen to aft view. On the screen was 6 Ingress soldiers drawn on them. “Oh shit!” Aaron said ducking behind a terminal. The soldiers fired at them. They were careful with their aim not to hit any of their reactors or generators. Aaron fired his plasma cannon under cover blindly. This went on for about 2 minutes until one Ingress was hit in the chest killing him. Aaron couldn’t celebrate though. The terminal he was hiding behind was finally destroyed from their shots. Now he was exposed. Aaron fell back again wildly firing. The enemy shots that hit him were absorbed by his shield but his shield integrity was failing. “This isn’t going very well!” Aaron said.
“Might I make a suggestion?!” Sarah asked. “I’m all ears!” Aaron yelled seeing his shields now at 40%. “Fire at those cables!” Sarah yelled. Aaron turned his aim to three cables leading out of reactors and up the walls. Aaron fired on them cutting them neatly. The lights flickered and then went off. “Switching to infra-red” Sarah said. On the screen were 6 glowing orange figures looking around for him. They found their prey when the dark room was illuminated by blue blasts. One by one they fell until there was only one left. She ran forward firing wildly. Aaron raised his arm and fired. The sound of a wet gurgle was heard and a dead thud. The lights came back on accompanied by a computer saying “emergency lighting engaged”. “Motherfucker…” Aaron whispered as he saw the soldier who charged him. It was the same girl from before he spared.
“Ma’am power just dropped again. Axillary power now at 30%. Shield failure imminent!” the tactical officer yelled. “We must withdraw!” the weapons officer yelled. “NO! This ship is the mightiest in existence! We cannot be defeated!” the Empress screamed. With the shields gone, the forces below (what was left of them anyway) were now causing noticeable damage. Concentrated laser and missile fire was blowing house size chunks out of the hull. Their ablative armor couldn’t withstand the continuous impact of the weapons fire. Now it was a question of who had better stamina. The Ark’s armor and plasma vulcans, or the Union and resistance available forces that were dwindling. “Intruder alert! Subject has left engineering! Continue pursuit!” the radio said. “WHAT INTRUDER!?” the Empress screamed. “An intruder sighted has caused damage in engineering. Figure is a black armor” the comm officer said. “And I’m hearing this now?!” the Empress yelled. “The comm system was being repaired” she answered.
“Incompetent fool!” the Empress yelled shooting her in the back. The woman slumped over her terminal dead. “If something needs to be done right…” the Empress said leaving the bridge and entering the elevator.
“How did you know that wasn’t the coolant line?” Aaron asked Sarah. “I detected a high energy reading from them. Even though it was still about 50-50” Sarah said. “You are one crazy girl Sarah” Aaron said shooting soldier after soldier chasing him. He ran past a bulkhead and pulled a switch sealing it. Aaron needed to buy time for his shields to recharge. “We need to get out of here Aaron. This ship is full of Ingress. There’s no way we can beat them all!” Sarah yelled. “Agreed, we can go outside where there’s more room to maneuver. Can you find us an exit?” Aaron asked. “Searching…” Sarah said touching the wall.
“Uh Sarah sweetie, you might want to hurry” Aaron said looking at the melting door. “Found an exit using multi-frequency sonar. Large hatch in a room 1.1 miles from our location. Plotting route” she said showing him a virtual arrow on his HUD. They bolted down the hallway just as the door was forced open. “They’re heading to hangar bay 3 Empress” one soldier said. “Not for long” the Empress said gripping her pistol.
With the comm working again, soldiers tried to ambush Aaron as he ran down the corridor. Aaron used brute force smashing them along the way. He used his advantage of an armored body and their disadvantage of flesh and bone bodies to inflict damage. He just steamrolled them. He increased his pace seeing his shields falling again. One woman gripped his leg after knocking her down. “Let go bitch!” Aaron said curb stomping the 20 something woman. “It’s over there!” an injured soldier with a broken nose said on the floor. Aaron saw 4 more chasing them but one was dressed differently than the others. He felt mesmerized by her regal dress of white and purple. Her creamy legs could be seen as she stepped over the hurt or unconscious soldiers. Her strappy heel showing her purple painted toes stepped on a poor man’s hand who was groaning on the floor due to a metal arm giving him the lariat. She didn’t care about his yelping as her heel dug into his hand.
“Aaron, wake up!” Sarah said. Aaron snapped back to reality just in time to dodge a plasma bolt. Aaron ran again and finally reached the hangar bay. “Who was that woman?” Aaron asked. “No time for that horn dog. We got company” Sarah said to him. Aaron was surrounded. Over 20 Ingress was in the bay awaiting him.
“Give him no time to shoot!” the Empress ordered. 4 soldiers rushed him before he could aim. Each one grabbed an arm or leg. They used their sheer weight to restrain him “Can we use thrusters?!” Aaron asked Sarah. “We can’t! We might slam into the ceiling!” Sarah said. Aaron then remembered what the Chancellor said about being surrounded. “Activate BITS!” Aaron ordered. The cross-shaped weapon jetted off the STRIKE X’s back and hovered 300 ft. over them. A targeting mini-HUD appeared and followed Aaron’s eye movements as he saw each target holding him. The cross split into four segments and pointed at them and fired. A small plasma beam shot from their tips and hit their target. The soldiers let out a small shriek and fell dead at his feet. Aaron was free again and still surrounded by now shocked and very frightened soldiers.
Aaron looked for more targets and this time 8 were targeted. The BITS moved again pointing at them and fired. 7 were critically hit and fell to the floor bleeding out but alive the other one had her leg burned clean off and screamed holding her bloody stump. Seeing their friends fall, the other 8 soldiers began firing at him. Aaron tried to fire the BITS again but got a charging message. They flew back to his body and reconnected. Seeing him lose that frightful weapon, they advanced on him. Shot after shot hit him. Aaron began to wonder if he could escape as he saw a warning message of his shields at 15%. Aaron began firing in all directions hoping he could suppress them. He inched back to the closed door and was brushing against it.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a switch. “Here’s hoping it’s the door switch and not the light switch!” Aaron said pressing. The door opened and the sweet sight of clouds and light engulfed the room. “Oh no you don’t” the Empress said picking up a plasma carbine. She trained the rifle and fired. Aaron’s life went into slow motion. He saw the woman raise the rifle and point it at him. He jerked the controls to jump out of the Ark. The bolt tore through the last of his shield and struck his shoulder blowing away the top armor and nearly cutting the arm off its body. Aaron fell hundreds of feet before throttling up to slow his descent. “Fucker got away” the Empress cursed seeing him flying down. “Empress! We’re taking too much fire on our underside! Ablative armor is almost gone! We must withdraw!” the tactical officer said. “GODDAMMIT! Fine, set course eastward. Use the mountains for cover” he commanded
Aaron landed on the street below. He saw the Ark begin to move east toward the Santa Monica Mountains. “We need to go after them!” Aaron said. “Out of the question! We only have 10% thruster fuel left!” Sarah said. “Damn…” Aaron muttered. “Don’t worry about. We’ll get ‘em another day” Sarah said. The forces halted their fire seeing the Ark retreat. Aaron walked back to base and relieved it wasn’t a blown out pile of rubble. He was slipping in and out of sleep. He had been awake for almost 3 days. Ne neared the entrance to the hangar and popped his hatch. He climbed into the frame’s hand and let it set him down on the ground. He stumbled toward the opening hangar bay doors and through weary eyes saw a giantess running toward him. His tired mind thought it was an enemy and ran toward it to fight. “You won’t take me alive…” he said falling. His fall was stopped by a warm giant hand catching him. “Welcome home honey” Leila said holding him as tears fell from her eyes.