A wave of blue energy dispersed. It knocked the troopers back and made Monarch lose balance. Ryan fell to his feet as his gauntlets were piping hot. He was clueless as to what happened. However, he took this opportunity to flee. He boosted himself up to the vent shaft. To his surprise, the jet propelled him up aggressively, almost as if it was fuelled with something strong. The two crawled through the maze of vents before ending up right where they were. Ryan grabbed Ava and they began to fly out. He felt confident that his rocket boots, charged with this mysterious fuel, would be able to get them back to their ship. Bolts of energised bullets were shot up into the sky as troopers were trying to shoot the duo down. The bombardment halted when Aiden, emerging from the dense mangroves, chased after them.

The Ravage suit was barely damaged, hence he flew faster than Ryan. They panicked. Falling from this height without a proper flight system could kill them. Eventually, Aiden caught up. He grabbed the two of them, flying them up high into the sky.

“You won’t escape this time!” Aiden ripped Ava from Ryan’s arms, tossing her down. On his other arm, he crushed Ryan. Ryan was forced to watch Ava fall down through the clouds. He was fuelled with anger until…

BOOM!

Another wave of blue energy dispersed. The wave was far stronger than before to the extent that it destabilised the Ravage suit. Aiden fell down through the clouds, lost from Ryan’s vision. Ryan switched his attention, zooming down to catch Ava. He locked on to her position. She glided down with her hands wide spread. He neared her position. His arms were within reach but the ground was so close to them. They neared the ground at such an alarming rate and right where they could smell the scent of the forest, they flew up. Ryan caught Ava’s arms. The rocket boots propelled them at a low altitude but at a stable course. They survived…and escaped the terminal.

“Did we get it?” Ava looked up to Ryan as she was hanging from his arms.

“Yeah…we did.”

~

“We have searched through the databases and secured every important file under your registration.”

An officer was announcing the news to Monarch. They were in his chambers. Monarch’s helm rested on his table top as he was looking through the dome window of his chamber.

“The files missing were…the Tariol Operators folder alongside the operations they conducted as progress reports for Doctor Mile’s experimentation.” Monarch remained silent but his disappointment clouded the room. 

“Have the galactic radio class pinged to my table’s program and signal Eclion to discuss strategy.”

The officer quietly left the room. Monarch turned to his table, his face hidden in his hood. His hand glided past the table as it stopped above a touch-pad. He typed in numbers. He looked up as a holographic broadcast appeared on the galactic public news broadcast.

“Following the attack on the terran world of Earth, leaks have found out that it was an infiltration by the group now at large, The New Allegiance. The authorities of the Dominion announced it as ‘another feeble attempt of terrorists.’ But reports came in of leaked files extracted from the infiltration. Warning, the images scrolled through are disturbing to some audiences.”

The broadcast would toggle over files of human experimentation, war pictures on prisoners of wars being brutally executed, colonies with civilians torched to dust and other war crimes committed. The barrage of images ended with Monarch standing over a hill looking down on executed soldiers.

“The images sent anonymously were followed up with a video clip sent by the ‘presumed dead’ Ryan Lou.”

“People of the Galaxy, this will not be our damnation. We must not allow the Front to destroy and conquer at will. Lives are lost. Homes purged. No more…”

Ryan spoke, facing the camera as the rest of the Head Operators and Athena stood behind him.

“The Allegiance once did the same…There is no denying that. But we have realised our mistake. In the grand calculus of our universe, we know that the freedom of every life is the greatest importance. I…” Ryan looked to his left and right as the others took steps forward to be at his side. “We will lead this fight. Only you can support us. The only way to win this war is to get in the middle of it. To those with strength, resist their command. At this time in our history, this is the mark of freedom. If you’re listening, Supreme Leader Monarch, we are not afraid of you. Throw your best soldier at use, it won’t matter. You may be able to kill us but not our stand. Our vision is immortal!”

Before the broadcast could end, Monarch toggled it off. He hurriedly wore his helm. He pulled his sword from the hidden chest. He looked out to the window, ready for combat, as the Ordinance travelled through the vast darkness of space.

An officer walked in.

“Supreme Leader, Sir, Admiral Eclion has arrived on Earth. He is at rendezvous point Barnaby.”

“Deploy every operator of Tariol to rendezvous point Barnaby as well.” Monarch demanded strictly.

“Yes, sir.” The officer replied without hesitation.

“It’s war they demanded. Finally, after all this time of provocation and reluctance, they finally asked for war. If it’s what they want, then war they…shall…have.”

End.