The Battle for Allegra: Arrival

Season Two: Episode Twelve

Caleb Fast

Copyright © 2021 Caleb Fast

www.calebfast.com
First Published in 2021 by the Author on Amazon
All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.
For information regarding permission, please email the author at calebfast@calebfast.com Please direct all further inquiries to the author at calebfast@calebfast.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real-world people, events, or locations are entirely coincidental.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

One

Two

Three

DESPERATE PLEA!

The Story Continues,

Other Books By Caleb Fast:

One

The Bulwark, Allegra

“You three, put that fire out!” Matthew orders a trio of soldiers who are staring blankly at a fire that had been lit by a Beet artillery shell.

“What’s the plan, boss?” Alois asks as he peeks around a corner toward the frontlines where the gunfire is the heaviest.

Climbing a short ladder, Matthew looks ahead at the advancing line of Beets. The bulk of the beasts were still a kilometer or so away, but several others had already reached the frontmost trenches and had dropped out of view.

The gunfire that had initially lined the entirety of the frontline and even extended back a few trenches had been cut in half as the shooters assumedly either died, fled, or turned their attention from the advancing horde to the Beets that were penetrating the Bulwark.

To top it all off, Matthew was informed that his artillery had run out of munitions three days prior as well.

To say things looked bleak was a severe understatement.

Shaking his head, Matthew lowers himself back down the ladder and pulls up a mental image of the map he had made. Frowning, he quickly maps out the quickest way back to Sanctuary and Louise.

“We need people on the front left flank!” a voice shouts from somewhere to a group of new arrivals from the rear.

“I need some people to help me move casualties to the rear!” another voice calls.

“Everyone I was with is dead,” yet another person chokes as they look for someone to listen.

To say that the Bulwark was in a state of complete chaos seemed to be an understatement. There were too many problems for Matthew to even hope to address between now and when the bulk of the Beets hit the trenches. The moment that happened, it would be game over.

“Someone help me!” a voice crackles over a radio inside of a nearby backpack.

Turning, Matthew sees that the pack is unattended, and he quickly unzips it. Taking the radio, he radios back, “What’s your location?”

“I’m in one of the abandoned bunkers near the center!” the voice cries.

Knowing that the description cut his options down to just three or four bunkers, Matthew queries, “What’s the bunker’s layout?”

The scared soldier lists out a few useless descriptions before they provide Matthew with the thing he was looking for, and he cuts them off.

“Got it, I know where you are. What’s your situation?”

“I’m sealed in here, the grenade I used to kill one of those things collapsed the entrance!”

“You’re not in any immediate danger, so sit tight. We’ll be with you as soon as the fight is over. Stay off comms until—” Matthew stops himself as he thinks of a different use for the trapped soldier, “Actually, keep an ear out for everyone else who’s on comms. Give me reports on where everyone is, and where they need more troops.”

“No! Save me!”

“You’re perfectly fine in there. In fact, it’s more dangerous out here. Keep tabs on everyone for me instead.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m in charge of the Bulwark now, I need to know these things.”

“W—well what do I tell them when they ask me why I’m asking them so much?”

“Tell them that First Sergeant Campbell ordered them to report to you. I need to know where everyone is before I can close the net over this Beet advance.”

“But—”

“Keep tabs, notify me every… ten minutes with the locations of our teams. Only contact me sooner if there is an emergency.”

“But—”

“No buts, I’ve got too many other things to do. Campbell out.”

“Mudskipper,” Alois says, grabbing Matthew’s attention once more.

“What?” Matthew asks when Alois doesn’t say anything else.

“What’s the plan?”

“We’re still going in to rescue Louise. By the looks of it, we have enough time. The Beets are moving pretty slow.”

Alois frowns and he grunts, “They’ve got thick enough shells that they don’t need to move any faster. They’re just about bulletproof against the rounds we’ve got. It looks like it takes a whole mag to drop even one of them…”

“Indeed,” Matthew sighs, “How are we going to penetrate those shells in the long run?”

“Armor-piercing rounds, probably,” Alois shrugs, “Maybe bigger guns too.”

Starting down the trench that he knew would take him the right way at a quick jogging pace, Matthew asks Alois, “What’s an armor-piercing round?”

“It’s a round that pierces armor,” Alois chuckles. Without skipping a beat, he then provides a more serious answer, “They’re bullets that are made with harder metals than lead. The harder metal penetrates armor better. Usually, it’s just some kind of steel.”

“Huh,” Matthew huffs as he takes a corner too quick and slips into an earthen wall that collapses slightly. Bouncing out of the avalanche of dirt, Matthew continues on like nothing happened. He didn’t have time to waste, he had to get to Louise before the Beets did.

“Think we’ll power up the mechs when we get there?” Jane calls from some distance behind Matthew.

There’s a huge explosion somewhere toward the front, and Matthew hopes that it isn’t inside of the Bulwark. He hopes against all reason that someone managed to set up some sort of explosive in the path of the Beets and slowed them down with the earth-shattering blast that just went off.

Another blast sounds and it shakes the ground underfoot just as much as the first did. The explosion seems to reverberate in Matthew’s chest and it momentarily feels like his chest might be filled with marbles as he is shaken.

Ahead of him, several people fall to the ground as the earth heaves with the massive shockwave from the first explosion. A moment later, Matthew is thrown to the ground as well from the same shockwave.

Knowing that another shockwave was coming, Matthew remains on the ground, and he rides over the second.

Without skipping a beat, Matthew leaps to his feet after the second shockwave. Glancing behind him, he sees Alois, Jane, and Rav’ian in the rear also rising back up.

Now running, Matthew answers Jane’s earlier question, “That’s the plan,”

More explosions sound toward the front, but these are much smaller. Passing over a mound of dirt from a collapsed section of the trench, Matthew peers eastward toward the advancing Beets and he can see several dozen of these bursts of fire erupting from some sort of explosive.

Rather than expend all their energy in one massive fireball, these smaller explosives seem to detonate once and then send out a wide splash of smaller explosives in all directions. In a way, the things remind Matthew of raindrops hitting the deck of his fishing boat. With every drop, the deck, like the battlefield, neared a saturation point.

Jane waits for the explosions to subside slightly before she reports, “Louise and I topped off their ammo, we should be good to go when we get there.”

“If we’re lucky, there won’t be any Beets to kill when we get there!” Alois shouts over the newfound din, “At least at this rate!”

I’m never that lucky, Matthew thinks to himself. Chuckling at the thought, he realizes that he was lucky enough to have some sort of worthwhile soldier somewhere though. Anyone who could set up explosives like the ones that were going off right now would be a lifesaver in the future. All Matthew had to do now was track that soldier down.

Turning yet another corner, Matthew sees a group of Mudders firing wildly toward the frontlines from a large step that they had carved into the wall of the trench in order to see over the lip. As he nears them, a beam of light cuts through the one nearest him.

With that, Matthew knew that the Beet’s snipers were now in the mix. He wasn’t sure if they had been firing before, but he was perfectly aware of their presence now.

Matthew tries his best to not break his pace and he vaults over the fallen soldier who has a smoking hole straight through their nose.

At least it was quick, Matthew thinks as he takes a deep, steadying breath.

“Take cover!” someone cries as a volley of sniper fire streaks overhead.

Matthew tries to suppress his thoughts, but he can’t help but wonder how many people had been killed in that volley. And, if the volley was just an attempt to keep everyone pinned down, he wondered what might be coming next.

Skidding around one final corner, Matthew realized that he had fallen into a full sprint. Slipping all the way to the ground, Matthew clamors to his feet and tears down the final few meters between him and Sanctuary.

Matthew slows to a cautious jog when he notices that Sanctuary’s garage door is halfway open. A dozen scenarios, both good and bad, flash through his head as he considers why the doors might be open. The most alarming one was that the Beets could have forced their way in.

Two

The Bulwark, Allegra

“High time you got here!” Louise shouts harshly as Matthew nears the half-open hangar doors.

“You’re alive,” Matthew breathes in relief.

“What?” Louise asks.

Matthew slips into the hangar and he sees Louise straddling one of the mech’s guns. She has a belt of tools hanging on the gun as well, and she is busy working on the inner workings of the weapon.

“Not the best time to work on the guns, Louise!” Alois calls up to her teasingly.

“You’re telling me,” Louise grunts, “I had this thing all the way off before the attack started.”

Alois laughs and quips, “Sounds to me like that was just your usual timing.”

Louise chuckles, “Seems like it some days.”

“Are the other mechs ready for action?” Matthew calls up to her as he stops at the base of the largest mech, Firefly.

“Yep,” Louise answers as she finally looks away from her work. Turning to her brother, she requests, “Alois, why don’t you and Mudskipper get Firefly up and running, I’ll be with you guys shortly.”

“Got it,” Alois nods, he circles around the Firefly, which is squatting, and continues to Matthew, “Mudskipper, I think today’s the day you learn to walk.”

“Learn to walk?” Matthew asks curiously as he follows Alois around the mech. Climbing the short ladder to the platform on the rear of the Firefly, Matthew climbs through the open porthole and sits in the gunner’s seat.

“Learn to walk in a mecha,” Alois clarifies as he motions for Matthew to sit in the pilot’s seat.

“I don’t think now is the best time—”

“I’m not asking, boss. We need every machine we can get out there in the fight. Louise, me, you, and either Jane or Rav’ian will have to pilot a mecha.”

“Can you even work Firefly with just one person?”

“These things are built for war; they’re made to do whatever they can to make that possible. Going solo isn’t as good as having a team, but it beats nothing. Besides, you won’t be alone, you’ll have Jane or Rav’ian.”

“Oh, well… alright then,” Matthew sighs. He knew there was no way to get out of this one.

“Don’t act like this is a bad thing, boss. You’re going to love this, and we need the extra pilots for them.”

“Alright, give me a crash course, then.”

Alois goes on to show Matthew the ropes on how to control the mech and make it walk and shoot. He shows off the auto-shooting and autopilot modes and Matthew discovers that the basics are very straightforward. Were it not for his experience piloting his father’s ship back home, Matthew was sure this would be a whole lot harder.

“Don’t expect me to do anything too amazing,” Matthew warns as Alois finishes the five-minute or so lesson.

“All we need is more lead getting shot,” Alois shrugs, “So long as you’re sending it in the right direction, you’re helping.”

Chuckling, Matthew jokes, “No promises on that.”

“You boys set?” Louise asks as her head pops in from the porthole.

“Aye,” Alois nods.

“Matthew?” Louise prompts.

Looking over the controls before him, Matthew breathes, “I… think so.”

“Then it’s time for us to move out. Rav’ian says she wants to ride with you, so Jane, Alois, and I will be rolling out in the other mechas.”

“Sounds good,” Alois nods and leaves.

Louise lets Alois slip by, and she waits a moment before she says, “Thanks for coming for me.”

Before Matthew can say anything, Louise leaves him, and the hatch clicks shut behind her. A moment later, Rav’ian slips in wordlessly and takes a seat beside Matthew.

“You ever do this before?” Matthew asks her after several beats.

“I have not,” Rav’ian answers slowly as she looks over the controls.

“That makes two of us,” Matthew frowns as he takes hold of his controls and lightly pulls them upward to make the Firefly stand fully erect.

Outside the armored windscreen, Matthew watches as the others man the remaining three smaller mechs. Within a few moments, all four mechs are standing tall and appear to be ready for anything that any war could throw at them.

I just hope that’s true, Matthew thinks to himself as he grimaces ever so slightly. He takes an unsteady breath in an effort to release the nervous tension that had gripped his chest. Something about everything he was about to do made it hard to breathe, and he didn’t like it.

“We’re ready to go on your mark, Mudskipper,” Louise’s voice sounds over the mech’s internal speakers.

“Let’s do this,” Matthew says unsteadily and unsurely. He was confident that the mechs would pull him and his people out of this fight, that wasn’t his concern. What was his concern was the idea that there might not be a Bulwark to return to if they weren’t able to shift the tide of the fight to come.

Worse yet, Matthew knew that the frontlines around the whole planet were looking at similar attacks like this. If he was as worried as he was and he had mechs, then what would things look like on the other fronts? How many people would be slaughtered?

“Good night, Beets!” Alois declares as the first of the small mechs, the Shad, slips out of the now open hangar door. As the Shad steps out, Alois turns on its floodlightsm, and the Shad levels its guns at an unseen target on its left and lets a few short spurts of fire free.

“It appears as if the enemy has drawn very near,” Rav’ian reports forebodingly, “This will complicate our efforts.

“Yeah, it will,” Matthew frowns as he slowly follows Louise, who is in the Mesh, and Jane, who is in the Abe, out of the hangar.

“You are nervous, Matthew,” Rav’ian acknowledges.

“I am.”

“Do you understand that we are safe within these mechanized infantry units?”

“I do,”

“Tell me, why are you nervous then.”

“I don’t know if we can pull this off.”

“You are unsure that we might be able to defend the Bulwark successfully?”

“Yeah, basically.”

“Do not worry, I am certain of our victory.”

“I’m glad you’re so sure,” Matthew says with a half frown. He meant what he said, or at least part of him meant it. All he knew for sure was that he wasn’t yet convinced. There were just too many Beets and not enough guns and Mudders to fend them off.

Before Matthew’s thoughts of a gruesome future can continue, the radio that he took from the discarded backpack buzzes to life, and the scared Mudder tentatively asks for him. After a few sentences of small talk, the Mudder, whose name is Daniel Lightwood provides Matthew with a long list of the various positions of every small group of soldiers that had a radio and spoke enough English for him to be able to get the information he needed from. After several minutes, the soldier finally finishes.

“Thanks for the report,” Matthew radios back with a nod. Looking at his watch, he adds, “Let’s try to keep things a little shorter next time… and let’s make it so you radio in every thirty minutes instead of every ten. I’m about to get real busy on my end.”

“Oh… alright, sir,” Lightwood radios back, and then his end clicks.

Sir, Matthew thinks to himself after hearing it. He wasn’t sure how he liked the sound of it. On the one hand, he liked the feeling it gave him. He felt honored for some reason. He felt empowered. It felt good to be called ‘sir’. But at the same time, it felt dirty. It felt dirty because it was the same word that the likes of General Nelson demanded. Being called ‘sir’, in Matthew’s mind, just made him one step closer to becoming someone like Nelson.

“It appears that the Bulwark might be better off than you’ve feared,” Rav’ian says after a few beats.

Matthew directs the Firefly the rest of the way out of the hangar before he sighs and responds, “I guess you’re right.”

“Do you believe that the Bulwark shall prevail against this attack?”

“I’m a lot less concerned now, I guess.”

“This is a good start,”

“Yeah,”

“It seems apparent that Marie Dawn has successfully provided you more soldiers on the frontlines. I am certain this fact has bolstered our chances of success.”

“I’d have to agree with you there,” Matthew says with a chuckle. Looking up to the heavens, he lets out a sigh. It seemed to him like God might be looking out for him after all.

His eyes drop from the sky and back to the warzone before him. As the Firefly takes a few more steps up the embankment that led down to the hangar, Matthew can finally see over the trenches once more.

The Beets are still advancing, but he can now see the end of their horde. The fact that there was an end in sight reassured him.

The fact that the bulk of the Beets were now about 500 meters from the frontmost trenches negated that same assurance.

On his left and right, Matthew can see the other three mechs are busily firing away at the advancing enemies as they are directed up collapsed sections of the trenches and onto the surface world where no one would dare walk without some serious armor like they had.

All around him, the streaks of light from enemy sniper fire continues strongly, but Matthew can’t help but notice that there aren’t many, if any, targets for them to hit now. Their firing seemed intent on keeping people pinned down instead of killing them now.

The Beets were evidently convinced that their ground forces would be able to decimate everyone in the Bulwark once they reached it. All they needed to do was make sure no one could stop them before that.

Further down the trench, Matthew can see a few groups of Mudders who are watching him and his team advance. A few of them appear to be cheering. Most of the Mudders are races that Matthew had never seen, and Matthew makes a mental note to try and find out how many people groups were under his command now.

Jumping in his seat, Matthew realizes that the smaller mechs that were ahead of him had a secret weapon that he had forgotten about until now. They had good-sized artillery pieces on their right shoulders, and they hadn’t been used since Louise destroyed the old Fulcrum bunker several dozen hours before.

Chuckling, Matthew remembers that those several dozen hours represented a day or so on Allegra. Like so many other people, he knew that he wasn’t going to get used to the incredibly long days any time soon.

Matthew continues directing the Firefly ahead and straight for the advancing Beets, but he doesn’t do so with any urgency. For one reason or another, he felt like his presence was almost unneeded as the Shad, Mesh, and Abe made use of all their weapons. It seemed to him like adding his own to the fray would be overkill.

“What do you require me to do?” Rav’ian asks once the Firefly is out of the trenches and is topside.

“Do you know how to use the guns on this thing?” Matthew asks as he scans the distant hillside for any sign of the Beet snipers.

Quite a few of the snipers had shifted their attention to the four mechs that had risen up against them and their advancing forces, and the snipers didn’t seem too keen to let them continue.

Fortunately for Matthew, all their ceaseless shooting made little to no impact against his mech’s armor. Even the viewports seemed to be just about unaffected by the laser bolts.

Rav’ian looks up from the controls that she had been eying, and she answers, “I believe I can become proficient with relative ease.”

“I think you might be able to get along better in the gunner seat behind me,” Matthew offers, “Those controls seem a little easier.”

“I see,” Rav’ian nods before she changes seats.

Matthew flips a toggle ahead of him that Alois had shown him, and he directs one of the computers to the hillside that he had finally homed in on. As far as he could tell, this particular hillside seemed to have the highest concentration of sniper fire coming from it. If he could silence them, then his soldiers would be able to finally get back into the fight.

“What are you doing, Matthew?”

“Trying to take out the snipers…”

“I do not believe that we are near enough to them to fire.”

“Why do you say that?” Matthew asks as he shifts his attention back to the computer that he had input the command into. Frowning, he saw the various readouts and realized Rav’ian was correct.

“The only way that we will be able to eliminate them is if we drew nearer to them. Doing so would take our attention away from the charge, which seems to be the most immediate threat.”

Sighing, Matthew realizes that Rav’ian was right. The snipers weren’t doing a whole lot of harm at the moment, since most everyone had already hunkered down. The mass of Beets charging straight toward him, on the other hand, was going to inflict a whole lot of damage.

Flipping onto the inter-mech comm channel that one of his people had set up, Matthew says, “Louise, I got a question.”

“Shoot,” Louise radios back before letting off a long streak of lead.

Looking out the window ahead of him, Matthew watches as Louise’s shooting mows down a minuscule number of Beets in the grand scheme of the fight. Despite that, he can see that the Beets directly behind them were slowed down as they climbed over their fallen comrades.

“Now I have two questions,” Matthew corrects himself as a new idea comes to mind. Nodding slowly, he rattles off the first one, “Think we should charge the Beets so we can get their snipers within range?”

“We could, I don’t know if we should, though. We could be leaving the Bulwark exposed. I don’t think we’ll be able to defend the whole thing anyways though, so I guess there’s that.”

“So, you think we should do it?”

“What would be the point?”

“It would let everyone else pop back up and start shooting. Everyone’s pinned down by them, by the looks of it.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Let’s do it,” Alois’s voice cuts in.

“I’m game too,” Jane agrees.

“I don’t think it’ll take three mechas to get close enough to ruin the snipers’ days,” Louise sounds, “We can divide and conquer. Two or three of us could stay behind and try to keep the Bulwark safe.”

Matthew nods slowly as he considers Louise’s idea, “Two or three… Wait a minute! Are you saying that Rav’ian and I need to go in solo to do this?”

There’s a short spurt of machinegun fire over the comms before Louise answers, “It would make the most sense, you guys have the weapons to really cause some damage to them.”

“On top of that,” Jane pipes in, “The three of us in the smaller mechs should be able to do a good job at keeping the Bulwark secure.”

Alois decides to join Louise’s side as well, “Mudskipper, we need to be able to move fast to help everyone up and down the Bulwark. You’re still learning how to walk here.”

“Alois is right,” Louise concludes, “It only makes sense for you and Rav’ian to march straight down the Beets’ throats.”

“Rav’ian?” Matthew prompts, part of him hoping for her to give him an out. He looks behind him to his indentured companion and offers her a look that had just a hint of pleading.

Rav’ian doesn’t seem to pick up on the look and she says, “The others are correct, this is the best course of action.”

“We’ll keep an eye on you and make sure nothing happens,” Louise pledges after a few moments.

“So, my hands are tied,” Matthew whispers to himself with a frown.

“What’s the second question?” Louise prompts after a few beats.

Matthew thinks for a few seconds, and he watches as the Shad and Abe open fire. After a few beats, he recalls his question and asks, “Think it would be worth making a wall of dead Beets to slow them down?”

“Anything to buy us some time,” Louise calls, “Let’s do it!”

With that, Louise and the two smaller mechs open fire and lay their lead down on the frontmost Beets, mowing them down in the process. As they fire, the mechs spread out in order to maximize their combined area of protection.

Rav’ian isn’t firing, and Matthew glances backward to see that she is still figuring out the controls and firing up a few of the computers that she had before her. For the time being, the Firefly was out of the fight.

Outside of the Firefly, the roar of gunfire continues steadily. By now, Matthew’s ears had somewhat acclimated to the noise, so the sudden return of loud explosions comes as a shock to him, and he jumps once more. This time his jump causes the Firefly to jerk forward, and he quickly works the controls to steady the bot.

All along the frontmost line of the Beets, a fire is rising to the heavens in an angry red. Smaller explosions are going off ceaselessly all around the newfound flames, and Matthew can’t help but wonder who the demolition expert was. All he knew for certain was that he owed whoever it was a great debt; their efforts were doing a lot to save the Bulwark.

“An impressive display,” Rav’ian sounds.

“Yeah,” Matthew nods, “I wonder where they got all the explosives.”

“We can ask the one who laid them once this is all over.”

“If they’re still alive,”

“I believe they will be, anyone who is capable of setting traps like those will likely be smart enough to remain alive through something like this.”

“You guys seeing what I’m seeing?” Alois’s voice squawks over the mech’s comms.

“Looks like we’ve really got some good talent up here on the front,” Louise radios back.

“Whoever it is, it’s no one I’ve met before,” Jane reports, “And that’s saying something, I thought I knew of everyone who had any amount of skill up here.”

“We’re totally going to recruit whoever it is once we’re done here,” Louise announces, “We could use a person like that.”

The radio chatter continues on about the demolitions expert and is occasionally broken up with brief spurts of chatter regarding the fight at hand.

While the others talk, Matthew focuses on speeding up the Firefly’s advance. He had just passed over the last trenches of the Bulwark and he was finally picking up his pace. It was a lot easier to direct the Firefly ahead now that there weren’t any trenches in the way to slow him down or stop him altogether, and Matthew was capitalizing on that.

“You ready to start shooting?” Matthew asks Rav’ian as his eyes dart around the warzone.

Only fifty or so meters away, Matthew can see the Beets clawing their way over the piles of the dead. His plan to slow them down was a success so far, and he knew that every second he bought would be a second closer to a possible victory.

He wasn’t sure why, but he just knew that he had to buy time. He was sure that something good was coming around the corner and all he had to do was survive long enough to see it.

Part of Matthew felt like his saving grace would be daybreak, some twenty or so hours from now. Another part of him felt as if someone like Nelson would call up some bomber runs or something along those lines that would wipe away the enemy onslaught. The remaining sliver of a part of him felt like something else would come in and change the tide of the fight.

The strangest thing was that Matthew felt like he knew the last part of him was right. Like it was certain that salvation would come out of nowhere. The only thing that stopped him from being convinced of that was that it seemed too convenient. He didn’t think he had the kind of luck it took for something like that to happen.

A few loud clicks sound, followed by the hum of several electric motors. Rav’ian loudly taps on a few controls, and she announces, “I believe I am ready now.”

“Get shooting then!” Matthew says far too loudly as he rips at his controls just in time to avoid a crater that he hadn’t noticed until the last moment.

His efforts were overdone, and Matthew does his best to keep the mech upright as it begins slipping down the incline into the base of the crater.

“The snipers’ positions are not yet within range, Matthew,” Rav’ian reports once the Firefly stops at the base of the crater.

“Just… a… sec…” Matthew grunts as he wrestles the controls and turns the Firefly eastward once more. Several seconds pass and he begins guiding it up and out of the crater.

The moment that Matthew can see over the lip of the crater, Rav’ian begins firing wildly toward the wall of Beets. Matthew idly watches as the Beets are mowed down by the Firefly’s two machineguns that are mounted on its arms. The two arms work independently of one another, and they both leave their own canyons of carnage through the horde. Dozens and dozens of tracers tear through the dark warzone like shooting stars and they come to abrupt stops in the bodies of the Beets.

Despite all that, Matthew can’t help but note that this was not enough. The rivers of bullets and the canyons of death they left were quickly filled in with more enemies.

The Firefly claws the rest of the way out of the crater, and Matthew takes a good look at the battle from his slightly elevated position in the Firefly. Sure enough, the Beets extend all the way to the foothills to the south and as far as he could see to the north. Having seen the maps, he knew the only way out of the valley was through the pass that the Bulwark stood before.

“Be careful, your guns will overheat if you keep shooting like that!” Louise’s voice calls over the comm channel.

If we stop shooting like this, then we lose the Bulwark, Matthew thinks to himself with a frown. Despite his thought, Rav’ian eases up on the guns and Matthew offers up yet another quick prayer. What he needed right about now was for the Beets to get the same treatment that Sodom and Gomorrah received.

“Matthew?” Marie’s voice sounds over the comm channel.

“Marie!” Matthew radios back excitedly. He had begun to worry about her, the thought of her being out in the open at a time like this worried him greatly.

“I’ve got a team here by the artillery, we found some ammo,” Marie reports, “Where do you want us to shoot?”

“How far can you shoot?”

There is a long pause, and Matthew uses the opportunity to direct the Firefly up a small knoll that stood between the Bulwark and the Beets.

“It sounds like we can hit targets about twenty—no, fifteen kilometers out. One of our pieces can do nineteen on a good day though, from what I’m hearing. They’ve been trying to get all the pieces back into working order for some time.”

“Can they hit the hills on the far side of the valley?”

“Let me ask… No, they say they can’t.”

“Well, tell them to hit whatever they want then, I don’t think it matters too much at this point. Just be sure they don’t hit me, or the trenches.”

“Got it,”

“Thanks,”

“And Matthew?”

“Yeah?”

“Be safe, I know you’re the one in the mech right in the middle of it all.”

“I’ll be safe,” Matthew pledges. He wasn’t sure what he could do to deliver on such a promise, but he knew he meant it.

“The hill is now in range,” Rav’ian announces suddenly, “This elevation is precisely what we required to reach your target.”

“So, we can just stay right here?”

“Yes, in fact, I believe we cannot move far from this exact position. This is the crest of this hill, and we need this high ground to keep the snipers within range.”

“Well, then I guess we’re going to defend this hill.”

“Indeed,”

“Rav’ian?”

“Yes?”

“I’m scared.”

“I believe we all are.”

“Do you really think we’ll pull through?”

Rav’ian doesn’t answer immediately, instead, she flips several switches and types for a few moments on a bulky keyboard. A moment later, the Firefly shudders, and a reverberating blast shakes it ever so slightly.

Matthew watches the outside world as it flashes for an instant as the Firefly begins firing its heavy cannons that are mounted on its shoulders. Every shot illuminates the world around Matthew like the lightning strikes back home lit up the night sky. With every shot, Matthew grows more and more confident in the idea that he would survive the night.

“I do,” Rav’ian finally answers, her voice a lot more confident now. She seemed to be drawing assurance from the cannon fire as well.

Behind him, Matthew can’t help but think that he hears Rav’ian chuckling. He ignores it at first, but then his curiosity gets the best of him. Turning, he eyes her curiously.

There was something on her face that both concerned him and encouraged him. He wasn’t sure if he liked feeling both those emotions at the same time.

“What is it?” Matthew asks after a beat.

Rav’ian offers Matthew a simple smile and answers just as simply, “You shall see.”

“Is it good news?”

“It is,” Rav’ian nods. Turning back to her controls, she adds, “Let us focus on our current task, the good news will be arriving shortly.”

Without another word, Rav’ian returns her full attention to her weapons, and she turns off the computer that had been firing automatically for her as she busies herself with the other tasks. Back in control, she fires in short spurts to keep the Firefly’s weapons from overheating. All the while, its shoulder-mounted cannons continued firing and pounding the distant hillside.

Three

The Bulwark, Allegra

“They’re getting closer,” Matthew warns Rav’ian.

Rav’ian’s calm had gone from reassuring to nerve-wracking in the last five minutes. Matthew knew that she knew something he didn’t, but that didn’t make any of this easier. If anything, it made him a bit more nervous. The fact she decided to keep it a secret scared him at this point.

Like a child who is afraid of the dark and can hardly bring themselves to look into a dark room where they were convinced monsters lurked, Matthew dreaded the thought of looking up from the computer screens before him. He knew that there were monsters outside the window before him. He knew that they would kill them. He knew that looking at them would only cloud his judgment in fear.

Chuckling, Matthew realizes that his fear right now was also a whole lot like looking down from a great height. So long as he didn’t look, he was fine. So long as he didn’t look, he could keep going. The moment he looked, it was game over. The moment he looked, he was going to freeze up and his brain would stop working.

Taking a deep breath, Matthew tries his best to not sound nervous when he asks, “Rav’ian, are you sure that the Firefly can actually keep the Beets out?”

Outside, a dozen or so Beets charge straight at the Firefly and come within a few paces before Rav’ian guns them down.

“I would not know,” Rav’ian answers, “The others are the ones who understand these mechanized warriors; I do not.”

“Louise said their armor is strong enough,” Matthew chatters, largely for his own benefit, “So, in theory, we could just sit out here, right?”

“Remaining stationary is seldom a good strategy in war,”

“Then should we start moving?”

“I suppose we could,”

“I’m sure we’ve taken the snipers back a notch, it’s been a while since one shot at us.”

“This is true,”

“Then should we return to the Bulwark and help hold the line?”

“I do not believe that we would be of too much help at this point.”

“And why’s that?”

“We have nearly run out of munitions.”

“How far down are we?”

“We are at approximately five percent remaining on all guns.”

“Then we have to fall back,” Matthew surmises, “We’re just about useless without ammo.”

“I do not believe we will be of too much use even then,”

“And why’s that?” Matthew asks as he takes hold of the controls once more and begins turning the Firefly around.

“The good news you have been awaiting is nearly here.”

“Please just tell me what it is already.”

“You will know soon enough. This will be a day we will remember many years from now.”

Outside, the limited artillery bombardment that Marie had initiated is pounding away at the Beets. The shells detonate at absolutely random locations and Matthew can’t help but feel more depressed because of it. Sure, he hadn’t given the artillery teams any specific targets, but he had hoped that their shelling would punch some holes into the Beets’ advance.

“They’ve reached the Bulwark!” Louise’s voice shouts over their comm channel.

“I just finished clearing out a few of my trenches, do you need me?” Alois radios back.

Gunfire sounds over the channel followed by Louise’s voice, “Negative, hold your ground,”

“Rav’ian and I are falling back,” Matthew reports, “We’re just about out of ammo.”

“There’s more of it back at Sanctuary,” Louise tells him.

Jane pipes in and tells Matthew what to look for, but Matthew can’t help but wonder if Rav’ian’s foreboding words were true. What if stocking back up on ammo was useless and salvation was coming?

“You definitely took the snipers down a few notches,” Alois congratulates Matthew once Jane is done talking.

“I just hope it was enough,” Matthew grunts as the Firefly finishes turning around.

Now facing the Bulwark once again, Matthew sees that the Beets had indeed breached its frontmost trenches in several areas.

Despite the breaches, he can see hundreds upon hundreds of Mudders fighting for all they were worth. Tracers and small explosions flash, the latter illuminating the darkened landscape ever so slightly for a second.

Matthew’s eyes quickly lock onto the three mechs that his companions were piloting and he notes how spread out they were. With their massive spacing, he could understand why the Beets were able to make it so far. They were spread too thin.

Their saving grace was the fact that the mechs were such capable fighting machines. Even if it looked like a losing fight, Matthew knew that the mechs could come back through and change that.

“We’ve lost three of the groups I’ve been keeping tabs on,” Lightwood radios in.

Surprised, Matthew asks, “Just three?”

“Yes, sir,”

“How’s it looking?”

“We’ve lost the frontmost trenches,”

“I know, how’s it looking beside that?”

“Well… it sounds like they’ve made a new defensive line. Evidently, we’ve got some mechanized marines fighting for us, no one knows where they came from…”

“I’m in one of them, my people are in the other three.”

“Oh, of course,”

“Is the second line holding out?”

“Yes, sir. It’s holding strong so far, the snipers that were keeping everyone down are done now… I’m assuming that was you as well.”

“It was.”

“Right…”

“What are our casualties looking like?”

“They’re high, sounds to me like we’ve lost well over two hundred people. No one has counted yet though, that’s just my guess.”

“Two hundred…” Matthew breathes, his heart dropping.

He had ordered everyone to the front, so he knew that those deaths were on his head. The thought that death and life for so many was able to be chosen by him with a few words made his stomach churn a bit. In fact, the sour, bitter taste of vomit had risen to the back of his throat as he thought of it.

“Sir?” Lightwood prompts.

Matthew realized that he hadn’t heard what the man had said, “What?”

“Do you want everyone to fall back to a more defendable line, or should they hold? Everyone’s asking me to ask you.”

“They must hold the line,” Rav’ian pleads with a lot more urgency than Matthew was used to from her.

“Hold the line,” Matthew forwards Rav’ian’s plea without another thought.

“Yes, sir,” Lightwood copies before the line clicks.

“So?” Matthew prompts, “What did I just commit to?”

“To victory,” Rav’ian answers as she rises from her seat.

“What are you doing?” Matthew asks her worriedly.

“We have run out of ammunitions, there is no more I can do there at the moment.”

Turning back to the task at hand long enough to ensure he was still going the right way, Matthew asks, “So what are you doing, then?”

“Just trust me, Matthew,” Rav’ian tells him, “Concern yourself with piloting us back to the Bulwark as quickly as possible.

Matthew wants to ask Rav’ian why she stressed the need for speed, but he decides against it. Rav’ian wasn’t being forthcoming, and it was high time he just shut up. There was no getting her to talk about things that she wasn’t willing to speak on.

Trying to focus on piloting the Firefly, Matthew resists the urge to watch as Rav’ian tears into some of the hardware at the rear of the mech. He knew that she wouldn’t tell him what she was doing if he asked, so he did his best to not care too much. Whatever she was up to, she knew what she was doing. She probably had a very good reason to be doing it as well.

“These wires are a mess,” Rav’ian grunts as she opens one of the panels.

Seeing that it was the panel Matthew had worked on before Louise rushed him and made him leave his work half done, he decides to keep his mouth shut. It wasn’t his best work, and he didn’t feel like getting lectured on the importance of keeping wires organized. He had had that speech several times before when he helped with the electrical systems on his father’s ship, he was over them now.

Turning his attention back to piloting, Matthew circles the Firefly around the crater he had slid into earlier and he pushes the mech to about half speed. He hadn’t seen it at its top speed just yet, and the idea of it going too much faster than it already had made him nervous. The thought of pushing it to the max seemed like as bad of an idea as sailing into harbor at top speed.

Looking over his shoulder once more, Matthew watches as Rav’ian fiddles with something that he is pretty sure is part of the Firefly’s radio system. Again, he opts to say nothing, but he watches with interest as she pops open part of it and changes a few small parts and wires around.

“I believe that is it,” Rav’ian announces once she had finished her work. She replaces everything, this time a lot better than how Matthew had left it, and she returns to the copilot seat beside Matthew.

Taking this as a sign that he could speak again, Matthew cautiously asks, “So, what was all of that about?”

“I had to increase the strength of our radios and increase the number of frequencies that we can communicate on.”

“Oh?”

“My allies have arrived.”

“Your allies—wait! The people you asked for help from!?”

“That is correct. I have withheld the fact that we have found the rightful heir to the Dawn throne from them, however. I thought it prudent to allow you to—ah—spill the beans, as your people say.”

“Spill the beans?”

“I thought you might want to inform them that Marie Dawn is with us,” Rav’ian clarifies.

“Oh, right. Hmm, I wonder what they’ll think about it.”

“They will be skeptical until the claim is proven.”

“How will they prove it? That seems like something people could lie about.”

“They will run a DNA test and match it to that of the Dawn lineage.”

“How long will that take?”

“It will be immediate. From what I am told, all teams that are dispatched to Coalition space and even the border worlds have machines that can check the DNA of people who claim to be Dawn Clan members.”

“And Marie will be what? The queen? What will they do with her?”

“I am unsure, this has never happened prior to now, as far as I am aware.”

“Oh, right…” Matthew chuckles, feeling rather dumb.

Rav’ian taps one of the buttons before her with odd intervals and Matthew can’t help but watch in a sort of awe. The tapping seemed both random and systematic at the same time.

Seeing Matthew’s stare, Rav’ian explains, “Morse code, it’s an invention from your planet, many years ago.”

“Can you teach it to me?”

“Someday, perhaps.”

“Thanks. So, what are you saying?”

“Hush,” Rav’ian urges. She taps a few dozen more times and waits a few beats before she replies, “I am relaying our situation to my allies so they can intervene. They say they are prepared, all we must do is get behind the frontlines.”

Matthew waits as Rav’ian intently listens to something on a set of headphones that she is holding against her head. He chuckles when he realizes that she had to hold them there because the headphones weren’t designed to fit a Toaz.

“We must have your people take cover in the Bulwark. They need to find shelter immediately.”

“There aren’t a lot of bunkers for them…”

“This does not change the facts; they must seek shelter. Perhaps they had best fall back and get—ah—out of Dodge, as your people say.”

Rather than remind Rav’ian that telling everyone to hold their ground was her idea, Matthew relays the warning to Lightwood, who quickly assures Matthew that he would fulfill his orders.

“Can I tell the others what’s going on?” Matthew asks Rav’ian after a beat. He looks out over the Bulwark and watches as the other three mechs continue fighting, even though the people they were protecting were now beginning to turn tail and run.

“Do what you will,” Rav’ian tells him with a nod.

At that, Matthew passed along what little he knew to the others, minus Marie, and Louise is the first to respond.

“So, should we fall back too?” Louise slowly asks.

“I don’t know,” Matthew shrugs, looking to Rav’ian, he offers her a pleading look. Rav’ian’s reluctance to put all her cards on the table was growing tiresome, but it was also something Matthew found amusing at the same time.

“You are safe so long as you remain where you are,” Rav’ian assures them.

“Alright, good,” Louise sounds.

“What are they going to do?” Alois asks, “It doesn’t sound too good if everyone is evacuating.”

Again, Matthew looks to Rav’ian.

“I am unsure,” Rav’ian admits.

“Well—” Matthew starts before he is interrupted by his radio.

“Matthew, why is everyone retreating?” Marie questions.

“Uh, long story,” Matthew answers, not wanting to spoil the surprise of the century to Marie just yet. Maintaining his secrecy, he says, “Don’t worry about it, everything’s under control.”

“Don’t be so sure about that, we’re out of ammo for our big guns now. All we got are a few field cannons that look like they’re a few hundred years old… Hang on, I’m told they actually are museum pieces. Lovely.”

“Well, keep shooting, for now, I’ll keep you informed on what happens as I learn more.”

“Got it,” Marie confirms before her line goes dead.

“We have crossed within the safety threshold, Matthew,” Rav’ian quietly informs him once they pass over some imaginary line maybe fifteen meters from the frontmost line of trenches.

Easing up ever so slightly on his controls, Matthew asks, “Does that mean I can stop here?”

“I believe that it would be prudent if we continued on ahead.”

“Alright… Any idea on what’s coming yet?”

“Negative,”

“Think it’ll be something like a bombing run? That would be nice right about now. In the books I read back home, bombing runs sound like something that could really shift the tide of a fight.”

“I am unsure, but your assessment is correct.”

“What do you—”

“There they are!” Rav’ian exclaims as she points to some speck to the northwest.

Squinting, Matthew tries to discern the difference between the specs on his viewport, the specs in the air from the smoke and debris, and the specs far in the distance. The fact that it was night, and the stars were out didn’t make his efforts any easier. Unable to spot the correct spot, he frowns and admits, “I don’t see it.”

Likely aware that pointing it out would be futile, Rav’ian assures him, “It is out there…” as she says that, she pulls up a radar readout and shows Matthew the sole blip on the screen, “Those are our friends.”

Nodding slowly, Matthew grabs his comm piece and forwards the message to the others, “Friendlies coming in from the northwest.”

“That was fast,” Louise sounds.

“It looks like everyone is clear of the trenches,” Alois points out.

Matthew passes the same message along to Marie, who still isn’t on the same channel, and her relief is evident. They chat for a few short moments before Matthew signs off with her to inform Lightwood and have him pass the message along.

“Why are they taking so long?” Matthew asks Rav’ian after he had finished passing along the message. By then, nearly five minutes had passed and Matthew expected Rav’ian’s allies to be here by now.

“I am unsure,” Rav’ian answers.

Continuing his effort to get the Firefly further from the first few trenches, Matthew shifts his eyes from his viewport to the computer screen with the radar. His brows furrow in thought and he mutters, “There’s got to be some sort of reason…” Watching the radar screen, Matthew sees the blip’s progress along the lazy circle it was making around him and the Bulwark.

“This is far enough, turn in order to see the front once more,” Rav’ian requests.

Sighing softly, Matthew does so. His sigh came involuntarily, but he knew it had two reasons for coming out. He didn’t like not knowing what was happening and he didn’t like being told what to do without knowing what was going on. After a few quick movements of his hands, Matthew and Rav’ian are now facing the Beet horde.

“It sounds like everyone has retreated,” Lightwood’s voice reports suddenly, “A lot of them formed a defensive line a short way from the rear of the Bulwark, but it sounds like others are moving further back still.”

“Thanks for the report,” Matthew radios back.

“What about me?” Lightwood asks worriedly.

“You’ll be fine, you’re underground.”

“Alright…” there is a click and Matthew knew that Lightwood had finished.

With everyone out of the way now, Matthew can’t help but feel a small measure of relief. Whatever the Dawn people had in store for the Beets was bound to be good, and Matthew couldn’t help but feel excited by the idea of being so incredibly close to the action.

Despite his excitement, the carnage of the Beet’s charge was abundantly evident and that put any excessive excitement into check. The sight of so many corpses was terrifying and sickening. Matthew could see that all the casualties inflicted on the Beets didn’t change their resolve whatsoever. Whatever reason they had for taking the Bulwark must have been ample to throw thousands upon thousands of their own to their near-certain doom.

Seeing the countless torn bodies of all the Beets made Matthew feel a little better about the losses he had suffered, but it didn’t fully soothe the hurt of it. He did, however, take solace in the fact that the Beets had clearly suffered quite a bit heavier losses than he had.

The bulk of the Beet advance was finally bearing down upon the Bulwark. On the fringes of the other three mechs’ range, the Beets were tearing into the trenches and likely searching out whatever poor soul might still be down there. Matthew knew that there was nothing he could do about it, which he found both soothing and terrifying.

Rav’ian holds the headphones that she had been using earlier to her head for a few moments and she jots down a few short scribbles as she listens to it.

Matthew tries to look at what she is writing, but between the angle of her paper and her arm obscuring the sheet, he fails to do so. Regardless of that, he knew that whatever it was, it was important.

Without looking away from her paper and without slowing her scribbles, Rav’ian says, “Instruct the others to cause their mechanized units squat down.”

Knowing unquestioning obedience was his only call, Matthew does so, and the others comply without any questions of their own. It was clear that everyone knew they were in over their heads in something they didn’t understand either.

Rav’ian suddenly stops writing and she looks over her notes before she says, “I have been informed that our allies are part of an expeditionary force from the Dawn’s homeworld of Gethsemane. They have prepared countermeasures to the assault we are facing. I am told they are ready to take action now.”

“What are they waiting for, then?” Matthew demands as he sees a mob of Beets race into the Bulwark and tear toward the Shad. Alois sees the invaders before they reach him and he quickly mows them down, but Matthew can tell that holding the Beets off was a losing battle without the aid of all his infantry.

“They await your okay,”

“My okay? Give it, I need all the help I can get!”

Rav’ian nods and taps a few times before stopping. Looking to Matthew, she nods once more.

Dropping the Firefly to a squat, as Rav’ian had told the others to do, Matthew looks out over the advancing horde of Beets. If he didn’t know that there was someone that was about to help him, then he would feel nothing but terror.

He knew that there was no chance that he would be able to get more ammo with the Beets so close, so he wouldn’t be able to do anything for anyone. All he could do was run away, and he was not the kind of person who ran from anything. Not now, not ever.

As he looks out, awaiting the show, Matthew’s mind wanders. Out of all things for it to wander to at a time like this, it wandered to the oceans of his homeworld. Something about the flood of Beets took him back to the place he had called home his whole life.

As he watched the beasts, he recalled a flat stony beach that was on the far side of the island that he lived on. The beach wasn’t much of anything to look at, in fact, it spent most of its time underwater. Beyond the refuse of the sea and whatever small seagoing critters the tide stranded on the stretch, there wasn’t much of any life there.

But that never stopped kids from exploring.

It was about midday when Matthew learned the hard way why the adults back home told the kids to never go out on that beach.

As soon as the sun was nearing its pinnacle, the ocean’s waves began racing all the way up the flat beach. Unhindered by elevation, as most waves often were, these waves were able to tear much further up the beach and much closer to Matthew and the other children.

Matthew remembered being the first one to see the waves breaking over the small half-meter cliff that had been enough to hold it back up until that moment. He remembered sounding the alarm to the others and being the first one to start running.

While he hadn’t been smart enough to heed his parents’ warning to stay off the beach, he was smart enough to know that being swept out to sea was a death sentence.

That was when Dix slipped and cut her leg open on the sharp shale that made up the shelf that they were on. Matthew remembered how he had considered leaving her for the sea and saving himself, after all, this was before they developed feelings for one another.

But, for some unknown reason, Matthew had turned back, helped Dixie up, and he supported her as they ran together, the waves licking their heels as they ran for their lives. When they crashed into the grassy hills where the waves couldn’t reach them, Matthew remembered feeling like some sort of superhero. One that could outrun any stampede of water. With that, he knew that his role in life was to be the sort of hero who risked his own life to save someone else.

Of course, that wasn’t how any of the adults saw things back home. All the children faced severe groundings and a fair amount of beatings for being so dumb and disobeying direct instructions. What’s more than that, Matthew would later find out that Dixie nearly died from her wounds. Medical supplies were incredibly scarce in Crail, so any and every injury had the chance of being life-threatening.

“They are beginning their attack now,” Rav’ian tells Matthew from her seat.

Craning his neck upwards, Matthew looks for any sign of the friends he had up in the sky. Before his eyes can reach the darkened sky and search among the stars for the shape of a spacecraft, a handful of glimmering beams shoot through the sky and splash down into the ground ahead of him.

Matthew eyes the spots where the beams had landed and he waits a few moments for an explosion to follow, but none came. Instead, another salvo of the beams rains down.

Dumbfounded and completely at a loss as to what was happening, Matthew watches as salvo after salvo of these pillars shoot down and circle the Bulwark. Now looking at them as they fall, he estimates that each pillar was about ten to fifteen meters and appeared to be sharpened on the end that struck the ground. Once they hit the ground, they were nearly impossible to spot since they burrowed so deeply into the soft soil. The color of the pillars were a bright orange that glowed beautifully in the white light that the Firefly’s floodlights offered.

There is some static over the radio as someone awaits to talk, several seconds pass before Alois’s voice comes through, “Are those… copper pipes?”

“I think so,” Louise affirms.

“Didn’t I tell you about how we could use copper or something like that, Mudskipper?” Alois asks with a chuckle.

“You did,” Matthew replies as his jaw goes slightly slack. His awe was threefold, for starters, he had never seen so much copper in his life, it was impossibly rare back in Crail and the shipments the Coalition sent seldom had it. He also found the sheer scale of the columns or pipes or whatever they were awe-inspiring, there were so many of them. Finally, he couldn’t help but notice how the Beets were immediately avoiding them. The few that touched them seemed to die shortly after doing so, which Matthew found even more interesting.

“So, did we win?” Matthew asks hesitantly.

“I—I think we might have…” Louise answers hesitantly.

“There’s no way that worked,” Alois says flatly, “That couldn’t have possibly been enough.”

Looking over to Rav’ian, Matthew sorts through all the questions he had, and he simply asks, “Rav’ian, you said the Dawn people had experience with the Beets?”

“That is correct,”

“So, odds are that they’ve used these copper tube things before?”

“I could only assume,”

“So… We’re safe then, right?”

“One can never be entirely safe in a war, Matthew.”

“But do you think that we’ve fought off the Beets this time around?”

“One small victory in one battle is hardly a victory in a war.”

“But did we?”

“I believe that it is our newfound allies that have claimed victory this day,”

“Remind me to thank them for five hours straight,” Matthew chuckles as he leans back in his seat and enjoys the show.

As he watches the display of thousands upon thousands of pillars falling from some unknown place in the heavens, Matthew begins to hear something outside. It is nearly as fain as the humming that the Beets had made prior to their attack. However, this sound wasn’t nearly as otherworldly as the hum.

Rising from his seat, Matthew crosses over to the rear of the Firefly and rests his hand on the hatch. Without waiting for Rav’ian, Matthew eases the hatch open and is hit with the full force of the noise.

Cheers.

On the far side of the Bulwark, Matthew can hear and see the signs of a massive celebration. Anyone and everyone who had survived seemed to be celebrating. Bonfires were burning, where the fuel for them was found, Matthew didn’t know or care.

All that mattered now was that victory had been claimed. Peace had been restored, and Matthew had a sneaking suspicion that this victory would permanently change things in the Bulwark.

“You are their victorious leader, Matthew,” Rav’ian says from behind him, “I would advise you to make the most of this moment.”

Staring at the mass of people, both human and alien, Matthew can’t help but smile like a boy who was looking over his most prized collection. His awe was mixed with an equal part of achievement and joy was the byproduct of the concoction.

“I—I… It’s amazing…”

“Indeed, it is,” Rav’ian agrees, “However, as their leader, you must remind them that there is indeed a war going on.”

Frowning, Matthew’s mix of happy emotions are quickly culled and replaced with a sense of duty and neutrality. Rav’ian was right, he knew that his position didn’t allow him to act like the kid he was. What his position did require, he wasn’t sure, but he knew that he had to rise above his urge to celebrate at this moment.

“So, the party’s over?”

“For you, Matthew, there can be no celebration until the ultimate victory.”

DESPERATE PLEA!

Thank you for exploring the future alongside me!

I’d love to hear what you think about my book!

Please drop an honest review of what you thought about it on Amazon or Goodreads!

https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B097GX2R8R

Thank you so much!

Caleb Fast

The Story Continues,

The Dawn Clan's expeditionary force has finally arrived, will their know-how, weapons, and skills win the war much sooner than anticipated? 

Or will their success draw unwanted scrutiny from those who might seek to do them harm?

Read on the see what happens in the war for Allegra!

The Battle for Allegra Episode Thirteen:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098GHLGCC

Other Books By Caleb Fast:

The Battle for Allegra Series:

Season One:

Conscripted (1)

First Kill (2)

The Hunt (3)

Relegated (4)

Retrieval (5)

Sanctuary (6)

Secured (7)

Harborage (8)

Revelations (9)

Promotion (10)

Season Two:

Awakening (11)

Arrival (12)

Dawn (13)

The Limit of Infinity Series:

Renaissance: The Limit of Infinity

Escapade: A Price to Be Paid

Overcomer: No Man Left Behind

Wayward: Long Way from Home