The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I flicked around to catch a glimpse of Zeus and Nike standing at the entrance where we came in. Not expecting me to turn around suddenly, Zeus quickly smashed the controls on the wall—dropping the metal bulwark door and separating us from that side of the station. 

Before I could even question what the hell was going on, they dropped off the radar. I tried beckoning them on the communication implants, but I was being jammed from outside the station.

What is going on? How are we being jammed from outside the station? Our ships have surrounded this place…

I looked around to see the rest of my squad appearing to be just as confused as me. Finally, Artemis yelled out, “What the hell is going on here?!”

"No idea,” Apollo stated, not even bothering to cover up the worry in his voice. 

Hephaestus looked over to me and asked, “Commander?”

I shook my head at my team. “I don’t know. Everybody just dropped off the radar, and our comms are being blocked. I can’t reach the Stormspike.” 

Upon my response, everybody dropped into a defensive position. I maxed out my plasma shield core and waited.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Commander,” Nyx whispered from behind me. 

Yeah, something was very wrong. The rhythmic thundering of armored feet running on metal echoed out around us. I looked over to the second entrance leading towards the station's other side and saw blurs of red and blue in the hallways. 

We waited a few moments. Then an enhanced voice called out. It was Commander Clarkson, “What's up, Hades Squad? Sorry about this, but let’s talk things out, yeah? Don’t be doing anything you would regret, got it, champs?”

“What the hell is your problem, Commando?!” yelled Artemis.

“Artemis, stop. Control yourself, soldier. We are surrounded,” I ordered. 

By this time the last hallway leading out had also been filled with blue and red blurs moving around at blinding speeds. So it seems Elysium Squad has some alternative objectives on this mission and I wasn’t about to fire on these Humans. Not yet, at least.

Clarkson snickered. “Alright now. Go ahead and listen to your Commander, missy. He knows what’s best.” Bolt and laser rifles started aiming at us from the hallway. 

“Listen, we only want one thing you see. I’ll be honest, I’m not too happy about it, but I gotta do what I gotta do, you know? Mars has deemed Commander Kronos as defective, and we are to terminate him. Simple as that, nobody else has to get involved. Just turn yourself over, Kronos, and the rest of your squad gets to go home.” 

Well. This is entirely unexpected. 

I always knew my time would come in my service to Humanity, but I didn’t think it would end like this. Although I couldn’t see their faces, my entire squad looked at me, questioning just what I had done. Hell, don’t ask me.

"It’s alright, everyone. Don’t worry about me,” I said, attempting to reassure them. 

Artemis walked over to me and head-butted me. Although it probably hurt her more than me, I just stood there shocked as she began to rail into me, “Screw all of that! Like we would let anyone terminate you, I don’t care what you did. You are MY Commander, and I refuse to let things end like this.” 

Everyone voiced their agreements with Artemis. Ah, of course.

I couldn’t help but smile a little bit at their kind words. When was the last time I smiled at something?

I appreciated it, but it was unnecessary. There was no way around this, and I wouldn’t ask my squad to go down with me. If those on Mars wanted me dead, that was fine. But everyone else didn’t deserve to die. They were just following orders. 

“Thank you, everyone. I couldn’t have asked for a better squad,” I said as honestly as possible.

I honestly did mean it. I’m not exactly sure how I felt about everyone, but I knew I was thankful they were with me—and I valued each one of them immensely. That's why I couldn't let them come with me. I sadly didn’t give anyone a chance to respond to my parting words because I could see them tensing up already.

I forced the injection of my Ambrosia into my bloodstream. It was a cocktail of highly efficient combat stimulants, pain killers, and a mix of other useful drugs. It usually was only injected when a Death Commando was on the brink of death or if they had been poisoned. Even attempting to knock us out using gas would activate the drug.

And once Ambrosia was injected into you, it was pretty much a guarantee that second and third generation Commandos wouldn't survive the side effects of the drugs. They had a far less potent version of Ambrosia to use but it didn’t have nearly as strong an effect. Only the first-generation Commandos could survive the harsh effects of the real stuff. 

With my speed, strength, and reflexes being pushed to their peak, I released the flashbang I held in my hand. At this close range, anybody who wasn’t shielding their eyes would be blinded completely. The white flash exploded like a miniature sun. 

I open-palm struck Hephaestus under the chin, making the large man crumble to the ground like a ragdoll. He would be the only one that could physically stop me, and I couldn’t allow that. I snatched his plasma shield from his limp hands on the way down.

I dropped to the ground and swept Artemis and Apollo’s legs from out under them. Then, I bounded off the ground with my hands like a springboard and dropped another flashbang just to be safe. I wanted not only them to be blind but the Commandos aiming at them as well.

Maxing out the core, I created a makeshift bubble around me using the two riot shields as I forced my way through my squad towards the third empty hallway. Lazer and bolter rounds whizzed past and connected with the shield. The core whined from the strain as I smashed the door controls just as Zeus had done and dropped the bulwark. A black blur slid under the falling door and tackled my legs from underneath me. 

While tangled up under her, I yelled out, “Nyx! What are you doing!”

Nyx looked up at me, her red visor obscuring her face. “I can’t let you go too, Commander. I can’t let you die alone... not like them,” she said sternly. 

“It’s suicide! You don’t have to do this! They want me, not you! It doesn’t have to be this way. Go back, Commando,” I ordered. 

It wasn’t too late for her to turn around.

Nyx pinned me to the ground and brought her face to mine. “With all due respect, I don’t care what you have to say to me. That’s an order I can never obey. I made this decision a long time ago. You are all I have left,” she said with equal parts conviction and sadness. “I can’t be the last one left, Commander. I just can’t…”

We didn’t have time to argue anymore as bolter fire rained down the hallway smashing into the plasma shield. The core whined from the stress of the repeated explosions. These things were meant for Elunari energy weapons, not bolters. 

I rolled over and stood in a closed doorway with Nyx. I didn’t want things to end like this, I wanted to simply put enough distance from Hades Squad so they wouldn't get involved as I turned myself in peacefully. But now…

I can’t let her die here. Guess I won’t be getting a medal for this. Not that I wanted any in the first place.

I grabbed a shredder grenade from my belt and turned off one of the plasma shields. Typically, a simple shredder grenade would barely damage a Death Commando in their armor. But combine that with a plasma core explosion and the following explosion would mince anything. I used my shield's last bit of energy, stepped into the hallway, and tossed the grenade along with the shield core down the hallway. 

I took cover as a burst of white-hot plasma flashed, and the shrapnel turned the hallway and most of its occupants into a red mist. I motioned for Nyx to get ready as I unslung my bolter to finish off any survivors. We charged down the hallway and blasted a few stragglers who had managed to survive the explosion. Most of them were discombobulated or attempting to stem the flow of blood from their missing limbs. 

As we made it down the hallway, a door suddenly slammed open as a tall man in navy blue armor shot me in the shoulder. The bolter round at close range tore through my armor and exploded. He must have had time to close the door and hide in the room, lucky bastard. 

Nyx reacted faster and blew his head off with a single well-placed shot. I signaled a “thanks,” and we began to move down the hallways. My shoulder was torn up but it was still usable. My armor had taken the brunt of the attack while my Ambrosia-enhanced body dulled any pain. We had to get out of here, and the only chance we had of surviving was to make it to Elysium Squad’s Tiger.

The bulwarks started closing manually while sprinting down the hallways at breakneck speeds. Our engagement had killed half of Elysium Squad, and now we were being corralled like livestock through the station. Unfortunately, I only had one more plasma core and we were nowhere close to the Tiger, so I couldn’t brute force through the bulwarks. 

We kicked up the pace, and Nyx was keeping up with me, which meant she had also injected her Ambrosia. A thunderous boom echoed through the halls, and time slowed as I barely managed to turn my head around to see Nyx shove me out of the way.

A rail gun had just been fired.

My brain shut off, and muscle memory took over as I scooped Nyx and carried her down the hall. I barged straight through a door, hoping to find somewhere to hunker down for the moment. 

I looked down at my hands and shoulders, which were now smeared with red blood. Blood was pooling around Nyx quickly as I noticed the head-sized hole in her abdomen. 

No… no, this can’t be happening!