Knight Orion spat blood onto the blackened earth as another orbital strike shook the forest floor. Through the clearing smoke, she counted seventeen more drop pods punching through the atmosphere—reinforcements for the hundred-plus troops she’d already been fighting for the past twenty minutes.
“That’s just excessive,” she muttered, flexing her fingers inside her midnight-black gauntlets. The armor covering her body—crimson accents gleaming against the darkness—bore a constellation of impact marks and energy burns, yet still held. A direct hit from an Acolyte’s plasma lance completely vaporized her right pauldron, and the skin beneath throbbed with second-degree burns.
“<i>Imperial Command has deployed their Fifth Tactical Division,</i>” Zara’s voice reported in her mind. “<i>Including six Dreadnought-class mechanized units. There’re about three hundred ground troops and supporting elements. I can’t guarantee your—</i>”
“Yeah, I can count,” Orion snapped, diving sideways as a volley of hypervelocity rounds shredded the tree line. She rolled to her feet in one fluid motion, golden light already coalescing in her right hand. “Heartbreaker, you’re up.”
Knight of the Arsenal. Heh. A soldier girl’s wildest dream, come true. Any weapon she could think of was hers to wield. The light solidified into a massive rifle that should have been impossible for anyone her size to wield. She braced it against her shoulder with practiced ease, the weapon practically humming with anticipation.
“<i>Shield reserves at thirty-four percent,</i>” Zara warned. “<i>Primary armor integrity compromised in six locations. Hana, this position </i><b><i>sucks</i></b><i>!</i>”
A squadron of Imperium interceptors screamed overhead, banking hard for another strafing run. Orion grinned despite the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. “Good thing we’re not staying, then!”
She squeezed Heartbreaker’s trigger, and the air itself seemed to tear apart as five precisely placed shots reduced three interceptors to expanding balls of flame. The fourth pilot ejected before his craft corkscrewed into the remnants of the facility’s western defensive battery.
The victory was momentary. A heartbeat later, the ground erupted as burrowing charges detonated beneath her position. She leaped skyward, the Knight armor’s flight capabilities engaging just in time to avoid being pulverized. Hovering twenty meters up, she had a perfect view of the approaching Imperium forces—wave after methodical wave of troops, heavy armor units flanking them at precise intervals, all converging on her position.
“They really want this place,” she muttered, dismissing Heartbreaker in a shower of golden particles. Both hands flared with energy as she summoned twin Decimator pistols instead. “Time to disappoint them.”
A high-energy beam sliced through the air where she’d been hovering, missing by centimeters as her combat instincts triggered a sideways roll. The shot had come from a cloaked Acolyte sniper, the third one she’d encountered. This one had almost succeeded where the others had failed.
Her left shoulder burned where the edge of the beam had grazed her. She could smell her own seared flesh. Anger flared hotter than pain.
“<i>The transmitter’s charging is complete</i>,” Zara reported as Orion dove through a hail of anti-aircraft fire. “<i>We got the targeting package from Neria. And a message: ‘You know what to—’”</i>
Another volley of fire interrupted whatever Zara had been about to say. This time, Orion wasn’t quite fast enough. Three rounds punched through her weakened shields, two deflecting off the reinforced chest plate while the third tore through her left side—a clean through-and-through that would have killed a normal soldier instantly.
Knight Orion gritted her teeth. Her armor’s medical systems already deploying coagulants and painkillers. “Yeah. I know what to do.”
The sky darkened as a Dreadnought-class war machine crested the ridge, its massive frame eclipsing the sun. Standing fifteen meters tall, bristling with enough firepower to level a small city, it locked its targeting systems on the wounded Knight.
Orion dismissed the pistols and spread her arms wide, golden light engulfing both hands. “Zara, divert all remaining shield power to the Arsenal.”
“<i>That’s not a good—</i>”
“Just do it!”
As the Dreadnought’s weapons powered up, the sky above Xenara III suddenly fractured with brilliant light.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
From the facility’s central spire, a column of golden energy erupted upward, punching through clouds and atmosphere alike. It wasn’t a simple beam—it was a spiraling helix of light that seemed to bend reality around it, refracting through dimensions that Orithian eyes were never meant to perceive.
The air itself began to sing—a harmonic resonance that vibrated through Orion’s armor and rattled her teeth. For one suspended moment, combat across the entire battlefield paused as both Imperium forces and defense systems seemed frozen in awe.
The helix expanded outward at its apex, forming a vast, glowing pattern that resembled a constellation—no, more than that—a map of specific stars stretching across hundreds of light years, with a single brilliant point pulsing at its center: Earth.
Orion’s HUD flickered and died as the transmission reached full power. Even Zara’s voice temporarily dissolved into static. The golden light cast everything in sharp relief, throwing impossible shadows that seemed to move independently of their sources.
For three heartbeats, it was as if the universe itself held its breath.
Then the helix collapsed inward, converging into a needle-thin beam that shot toward the stars faster than light itself could travel—a golden thread connecting Xenara III to Earth across an impossible distance.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the phenomenon vanished, leaving a perfect circular hole melted through the clouds above. Through it, stars were visible despite the daylight.
The Dreadnought, momentarily disrupted by the energy surge, reactivated its targeting systems with an angry mechanical whine. Orion yanked a massive hammer from thin air—a ridiculous weapon with an oversized head emblazoned with a crudely drawn smiley face.
“Diplomat,” she whispered to the weapon, “let’s go introduce ourselves.”
Her comms crackled back to life with Kalev’s voice: “<i>—repeat, transmission complete. I’ll prep the Maverick! How’s the route to the landing platform?</i>”
Orion grinned, tightening her grip on Diplomat, the hammer’s ridiculous smiley face somehow fitting for the insanity. “No units immediately in range. Be right there.” She puffed out a breath of air, blowing an errant, sweat-soaked bang to the side before launching herself toward the Dreadnought. “Just need to clear the field.”
* * *
Kalev sprinted through the blasted jungle, one arm cradling Nerit against his chest, the other gripping his tablet to navigate through the chaos. The child weighed almost nothing, yet her presence was the heaviest burden he’d ever carried.
Ancient defense turrets pivoted overhead, their targeting systems recognizing the nanocolony’s signature as friendly. Energy weapons discharged in precise patterns around them, creating a fragile corridor through the destruction.
“Almost there,” he gasped, lungs burning. The tablet’s screen flickered with damage reports from the Maverick’s automated systems—the ship was prepping for takeoff, but debris had compromised hull integrity on the starboard side.
A blinding flash of golden light drew his eyes skyward. Through gaps in the burning canopy, he glimpsed his sister—a tiny dark figure trailing crimson energy—launching herself directly at the massive Dreadnought. The hammer in her hands seemed ludicrously small against the war machine’s bulk.
Until it wasn’t.
The impact reverberated through the ground beneath his feet. A shockwave of golden energy erupted from the point of contact, the Dreadnought’s armored frame buckling inward like a crushed tin can. As it toppled, secondary explosions cascaded through its systems.
Nerit’s small hand clutched his shirt tighter. Glancing down, he saw her luminous eyes fixed on the distant battle with unsettling intensity.
“That’s your Aunt Hana,” he explained, ducking as a stray energy blast scorched the path ahead. “She’s… enthusiastic.”
The landing platform appeared through the smoke, the Maverick’s engines already cycling to the startup sequence. Its battered hull had seen better days, but right now it was the most beautiful sight in the galaxy.
A falling tree crashed across their path. Kalev skidded to a halt, scanning for alternatives as the sounds of Imperium troops grew closer.
“Hold tight,” he told Nerit, though she hadn’t loosened her grip since they’d left the chamber. Drawing a deep breath, he adjusted his hold on her and sprinted toward the falling timber, leaping at the last possible moment.
They cleared the obstacle by centimeters, landing hard on the other side. Pain shot through his ankle, but he forced himself forward, limping now but still moving.
Ahead, the Maverick’s entry ramp descended with a hydraulic hiss.
* * *
Neria’s voice carried through Zara’s communication channel, resonating in Orion’s mind. “Orion, Knight of the Arsenal. It is time. I’m sorry to place this burden on you.”
Orion chambered another round in Heartbreaker, blood trickling from a fresh cut above her eye.
“Copy that,” she replied, her voice steady despite the chaos erupting around her. She launched herself up into the air, looking down at the facility. A tiny dot tracked Kalev’s progress. He was almost at the landing platform. Close enough. “Tactical points locked.”
A moment’s hesitation, almost imperceptible. Then, softer: “I never thanked you. For seeing something in me worth saving.”
Her jaw tightened, emotion swiftly buried beneath her soldier’s discipline. “Wish we’d had more time.”
“I as well. Kalev will need you now, more than ever. Goodbye, Hana, Zara. No regrets.”
Her finger tightened on the trigger. “Zara, firing sequence Neria Alpha. Execute.”
Five shots of raw arcane energy shot out from Heartbreaker, each trailing plasma from the compressed energy round, igniting as each found its target.
Areas of the jungle’s bioluminescence flickered, then went dim, just as Orion’s HUD showed Kalev reaching the ship.