The journey through the labyrinthine streets of Axiol-ah was perilous, but the Imperators moved with practiced precision. Decades of missions had honed their instincts to razor-sharp efficiency. Shadows clung to their forms as they avoided patrols, their silenced movements blending seamlessly into the chaos erupting around them.

  The distraction caused by the Federation’s invasion was relentless—artillery fire thundered in the distance, shaking the icy ground, and Entil war machines roared across the horizon. Amid the cacophony, the Imperators slipped past checkpoints and patrols, their presence unnoticed.

  As they approached the spires of the defense array, the architecture shifted. The sleek, artistic beauty of the city gave way to harsh utilitarian designs. The spires loomed high into the frozen sky, their alien technology humming with power as they projected their defensive shield across the planet’s orbit.

  “We’re here,” Sahaad said quietly, crouching behind a series of crates. His piercing gaze scanned the area. The last remnants of Entil soldiers stationed at the spires were holding their ground, oblivious to the storm creeping toward them.

  “Take them out,” Sahaad ordered.

  Zara and Ji moved first, their rifles firing in perfect unison. Silent projectiles struck the Entil soldiers before they could react, dropping them to the icy ground. Nate followed up with a concussive blast from his railgun, obliterating a small group huddled near one of the spires.

  The squad advanced swiftly, eliminating the remaining resistance with ruthless efficiency. In minutes, the area was secured.

  Standing before the closest spire, Sahaad turned to his team. “This is it. Take out your heavy ordnance. We’ll start with this spire and move to the others.”

  Zara and Ji unpacked their explosives, heavy charges designed for structural demolition. Nate hefted his railgun, its coils sparking menacingly.

  “We’re doing this quick and clean,” Sahaad said, placing a hand on the cold steel of the spire. The hum of energy beneath his palm was almost alive, a reminder of the power they were about to extinguish. “Nate, fire first to weaken the structure. Zara and Ji, follow with the charges.”

  Nate stepped forward, raising his weapon. The railgun roared, sending a crackling bolt of energy into the spire.

  “Charges, now!” Sahaad barked.

  Zara and Ji moved with precision, planting explosives at key structural points. The charges beeped as they armed, their lights blinking ominously.

  “Fall back!” Sahaad commanded, and the squad retreated to a safe distance.

  The countdown reached zero, and the charges detonated in a deafening explosion.

  When the dust cleared, the spire still stood.

  The Imperators stared at it, disbelief creeping into their otherwise disciplined expressions. Besides a few chips and scorch marks, the spire remained unyielding, its alien alloy resisting even their most potent attacks.

  “Impossible,” Zara muttered, her voice laced with frustration.

  Sahaad clenched his fists. “Focus. We’ll figure out another way.”

  Before he could give another order, a thunderous roar pierced through the chaos. The horizon lit up with flashes of light, and Sahaad turned to see Entil soldiers mobilizing. Massive tanks with jagged, otherworldly designs rolled toward them, their gun barrels glowing with energy. Artillery rounds screamed through the air, slamming into the ground around the Imperators and sending up plumes of ice and debris.

  “Take cover!” Sahaad barked, diving behind a crumbled building. The others followed, narrowly avoiding a series of explosions that tore through their previous position.

  Pinned under relentless fire, the Imperators crouched low, their backs against the cold, broken wall. The Entil forces advanced, their weapons unleashing a symphony of destruction. The sky above was a cacophony of bullets, high-intensity energy blasts, and the thunderous booms of artillery fire.

  “We’re trapped,” Ji growled, peeking over the edge and immediately ducking back as a hail of gunfire peppered the building.

  “We need a new plan,” Zara said, glancing at Sahaad.

  Sahaad’s mind raced. The spire’s resistance was unlike anything they’d encountered, and now they were facing overwhelming firepower. For a moment, the weight of the situation pressed heavily on him. Then, as the ground quaked beneath another explosion, an idea formed.

  “We need an airstrike,” Sahaad growled.

  Zara turned to him, alarm flashing in her usually stoic eyes. “Are you insane? The turrets are still active! They'll shred any ship that comes near.”

  Sahaad met her gaze, his expression hard and unyielding. “It’s the only way. If we stay here, we’re dead. If we wait, reinforcements will arrive. We don’t have the firepower to take those tanks and infantry on foot.”

  Zara hesitated, but Sahaad had already activated his communicator.

  “Transport One, this is Commander Sahaad,” he said, his voice cutting through the chaos. “I need you to descend into the combat zone for an aerial bombardment. Priority target: the Entil infantry on my mark.”

  A moment of silence followed, broken only by the static of the line. Then the pilot responded, his voice uneasy. “Commander, the turrets are still active. If I come down there, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

  Sahaad clenched his fist. “Listen to me. You’re a soldier of the Federation. You knew the risks when you signed up. Right now, we’re fighting for the survival of humanity itself. Those aliens want to wipe us out, erase everything we’ve built, every life we’ve lived. You have a chance to make history—to be the difference between victory and defeat. Are you going to let fear stop you, or will you rise to this challenge?”

  The pilot’s hesitation evaporated, replaced by a determined edge in his tone. “Understood, Commander. Coming in hot.”

  Zara shook her head but didn’t argue further. She muttered under her breath, “This better work.”

  Above them, the transport ship, a massive black behemoth, descended into the atmosphere. The squad watched as its engines roared, cutting through the icy winds of Laxos. It was an imposing sight, its sheer size dwarfing the surrounding landscape.

  The Entil turrets sprang to life, tracking the ship’s movement. Missiles streaked through the sky, leaving fiery trails in their wake. The transport’s forcefield flared to life, absorbing the impacts with bursts of bright light. The ship shook but held steady, its shield technology proving resilient against the onslaught.

  “It’s holding!” Ji exclaimed, firing at a cluster of advancing infantry to keep them at bay.

  The transport ship reached the designated target zone, and its payload was unleashed. Massive bombs rained down, shaking the ground as explosions tore through the Entil ranks. Infantry and tanks alike were consumed in the fiery carnage, their formations crumbling under the relentless assault.

  “It’s working!” Nate shouted, the relief evident in his voice as the infantry was scattered.

  But Zara’s eyes remained fixed on the sky. The turrets had locked onto the descending transport ship, their missile systems glowing with ominous intent.

  “Something’s wrong,” she muttered.

  The first volley struck the ship’s forcefield, causing a brilliant flare of energy as it absorbed the impact. The transport shuddered but pressed on, continuing its assault. The second volley came harder, more concentrated. This time, the shields flickered, struggling to maintain integrity.

  “They’re overloading it!” Ji yelled, his voice cutting through the cacophony.

  Sahaad turned to look, his eyes narrowing as the ship wavered under the onslaught. Then it happened—a turret missile broke through, piercing the weakened forcefield and slamming directly into the cockpit.

  The resulting explosion was deafening, a fiery burst of blue light illuminating the darkened sky. The transport listed heavily, its engines sputtering as it spiraled out of control. The squad could only watch as the massive behemoth plummeted to the ground, crashing with an earth-shaking impact not far from their position. The flames roared upward, casting an eerie glow across the battlefield.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Pilot, come in!” Sahaad barked into his comm, but there was only static in response. His jaw tightened as the reality set in.

  “They didn’t make it,” Zara said quietly.

  The squad stood frozen for a moment, the wreckage of the ship a stark reminder of the cost of war. Sahaad forced himself to turn away, his face grim. “We can’t stop now. That pilot knew the risks. Let’s make sure their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”

  The squad moved quickly, but the tension was palpable. The flames of the downed transport lit the battlefield with a grim glow, casting long shadows as they crept through the wreckage-strewn terrain. Suddenly, Nate’s voice cut through the comms, sharp and furious.

  “We’ve got no way to get back now!” Nate shouted, turning to face Sahaad. His frustration boiled over, his fists clenched tight. “You’re leading us into one disaster after another! “

  Sahaad stopped in his tracks, his own anger flaring as he turned to meet Nate’s glare. “The ship was irrelevant!” he snapped, his voice like a whip. “We’ll commandeer another transport if we have to. The Federation has an endless supply of ships and pilots—they’re expendable!”

  Nate grunted in anger at Sahaad’s words.

  Sahaad’s eyes narrowed, his voice dropping to a dangerous calm. “You don’t care about that pilot, we’ve seen hundreds die over our long lives. I think you’re taking out your frustration over Sia’s death on me, and I won’t stand for it. You’re angry, fine. Be angry, it's the most concern you’ve shown in a hundred years. But don’t lose focus now, Nate. We’re in the middle of a mission.”

  Nate scoffed, shaking his head. “Focus? Don’t lecture me about focus when you’re the one making reckless decisions!”

  “We’re not stranded!” Sahaad barked, stepping forward until they were nearly nose-to-nose. Sahaad stared at the blank helmet that Nate wore. “And don’t you dare question my leadership! I do what I must to make sure we all come out alive. People die and that’s it, that is what we were made to do. But I can’t let it stop me, and neither can you.”

  Before the argument could escalate further, Zara stepped between them, her voice sharp and commanding. “Enough! Both of you!” She glared at them in turn, her eyes flashing. “This isn’t the time for this. You want to rip each other apart, fine. Do it after we finish the mission. Right now, we need to focus.”

  Ji added his voice, calmer but firm. “Zara’s right. We’re not getting out of here alive if we don’t work together. Save the blame for later.”

  Nate glared at Sahaad for a moment longer, then stepped back. “Fine,” he muttered.

  -------

  The air above Axiol-Ah turned into a churning maelstrom of chaos. Federation jets screamed across the sky, weaving between anti-air fire as they dropped payload after payload onto Entil strongholds. The resulting explosions illuminated the icy surface of Laxos in a flickering dance of fire and shadow. Transport helicopters descended like a swarm of locusts, unloading wave after wave of Federation soldiers who fanned out into the city, guns blazing.

  The cacophony of war filled the air—explosions thundered, metal screeched as buildings collapsed, and the agonized screams of the wounded and dying echoed through the streets. Federation soldiers engaged Entil defenders in brutal close-quarters combat, their unrelenting assault forcing the alien soldiers to fall back to defend key positions.

  Sahaad crouched behind a jagged piece of fallen debris, scanning the battlefield. The Federation’s reinforcements had created enough of a diversion to thin the Entil forces in their sector, but the defense array spires still stood, unyielding and defiant.

  “We don’t have to deal with the whole army now,” Zara remarked, her voice clipped but tinged with relief. She reloaded her weapon, her gaze flicking to the spire towering above them. “But we still have a problem. Nothing we’ve got can scratch that thing.”

  “So what’s your plan brilliant leader”, Nate sardonically asked.

  Sahaad ignored the provocation as he began to think about what to do to the spire to finally bring it down.

  Ji wiped soot from his face, his sharp eyes scanning the horizon. After a moment of thought, he turned to the others, a glint of inspiration written on his helmet.

  “This is a fortress city,” Ji began, his voice low but urgent. “The main hub on Laxos and the Entil are a nuclear capable species. There’s no way they don’t have heavy-duty missiles or nuclear weapons stashed somewhere. If we can get to the capitol building and find their launch systems, we could use their own weapons against the spires.”

  Nate, still fuming from the earlier clash with Sahaad, crossed his arms but nodded grudgingly. “Makes sense. If we can get the launch codes, we don’t need to waste time trying to breach the spires ourselves.”

  Zara wiped her blade clean and sheathed it, her gaze narrowing as she considered the plan. “It’s risky, but it might be our best shot. The Federation can keep the Entil forces busy long enough for us to infiltrate.”

  Sahaad grunted in approval, his focus shifting to the towering structure in the heart of the city. “Then it’s settled. We head for the capitol. There must be high-ranking officials boarded up in the building, we can make them talk”

  Ji smirked, a flicker of his old cockiness returning. “Don’t worry, boss. I’ve got this.”

  The squad quickly regrouped, their steps calculated and silent as they navigated through the ruined city. The sound of distant explosions and the screech of Federation jets provided a constant backdrop to their advance. The capitol building came into view, its massive dome crowned with a spire adorned in intricate Entil carvings. Despite the ongoing battle, the structure seemed eerily untouched, a stark symbol of the Entil’s defiance.

  Entil guards patrolled the perimeter, their white armor glinting under the harsh glow of Laxos’s twin suns. Sahaad raised a fist, signaling the squad to halt.

  Sahaad slung his heavy gravity rifle into position, the cold weight of the weapon settling against his shoulder. Through his enhanced vision, he scoped out the guards stationed at the entrances—elite Entil soldiers clad in pristine white armor, their weapons trained and ready.

  “One shot each,” Sahaad muttered into the comms. “No alarms, no second chances.”

  The others acknowledged with curt affirmations, but Sahaad didn’t wait. His finger gently squeezed the trigger, and the first guard crumpled silently under the crushing force of the gravity round. He quickly adjusted his aim, taking out the remaining sentries with cold precision.

  The squad moved in without missing a beat, slipping through the now-unprotected entrance. Inside, the grandeur of the capitol building was undeniable. Towering murals depicted the Entil’s rich history, and golden tapestries embroidered with intricate patterns adorned the walls. Statues of past leaders stood resolutely, their gazes filled with dignity and pride.

  But the Imperators were unimpressed. They swept through the halls like shadows, their focus unwavering. Any resistance they encountered was met with ruthless efficiency—alien soldiers fell one after another, their cries echoing briefly before being silenced.

  Deeper into the building, they entered a vast chamber lined with alien consoles and massive display screens. Standing at the far end was a figure clad in ornate armor, its silver surface inlaid with golden sigils that seemed to pulse faintly with energy. He held a spear, its blade crackling with electric energy.

  “I am General Bhin Zur,” the figure announced, his voice carrying a regal authority. “I commend your persistence, humans, but this is where your campaign ends.”

  What is this, a fucking final boss?, Sahaad thought, staring at the general who seemed to appear out of thin air.

  Nate stepped forward, a phase-sword shimmering to life in his hand. “You’re not stopping anything,” he growled. “Stand down, or I’ll cut you down.”

  The general chuckled darkly, twirling his spear. “Then come, Imperator. Prove your worth.”

  Nate charged without hesitation, and the two clashed in a flurry of deadly strikes. The general’s movements were graceful yet powerful, his spear dancing with lethal precision. But Nate’s combat training and raw strength proved superior. Within moments, he disarmed Bhin Zur with a brutal strike, then followed up with a slash that severed the general’s arm.

  The Entil general fell to his knees, blood pouring from the wound as he cradled his mutilated limb. Nate loomed over him, the phase-sword humming ominously.

  “Where are the launch codes for your missiles?” Nate demanded, his voice cold. “Tell me, or I’ll make this a lot worse for you.”

  “I’d rather die than betray my people. Do your worst, human.”

  Ji stepped forward, his usually lighthearted demeanor replaced by a chilling seriousness. “We don’t have time for this.”

  Ji grabbed the general by his collar and wrenched his helmet off, revealing a crimson inhumanly handsome face marked by age and scars. The Entil’s fiery purple eyes locked onto Ji, unflinching despite the pain. Ji’s expression remained neutral as he began his work.

  Without a word, Ji placed his hand on the general’s forehead. The contact was cold and calculated, his fingers pressed into the alien’s skin with an unsettling gentleness. The room was filled with a heavy, uneasy silence as Ji watched the general, studying him with a look that spoke more of pity than of anger.

  “Do you know what it feels like to lose everything?” Ji asked softly, his voice almost too calm for the moment. “To watch your people fall, knowing you could have done more to save them?”

  The general’s lips tightened, but there was no response. His breathing hitched, but the flicker of defiance still lingered in his gaze.

  Ji’s words took a different turn, cutting deeper. “To watch your family, your civilization, crumble under the weight of this war? The blood spilled for nothing?”

  Sahaad felt an uncomfortable pang in his chest as he ruminated on Ji’s words. These words weren’t just for the general, but for the Imperators themselves. They, who were taken as children and forced to forget their past, and they who had encountered such loss as the years went by.

  The general’s body trembled, the weight of the words sinking in. The alien shook his head, but Ji did not let up. “I don’t need to break you physically, General. I only need to remind you of your failures... your people’s sacrifices... what it cost them to hold their ground.”

  Ji’s grip tightened and his eyes locked onto the general’s, cold as ice. “Tell how to fire the missiles, we know they’re here. You can die quickly and with some semblance of honor—or you can die slowly, watching everything you fought for crumble. Without the weapons we have no choice to murder every…last…one of your kind.”

  The general glared up at him, defiance still burning in his eyes despite the pain. The words hung in the air like a challenge. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, the tension breaks, just slightly.The general’s breath slows, and he spits out one word: “Fine”.

  Finally, Ji extracted the information they needed, the general’s voice reduced to a broken rasp as he divulged the launch codes and the location of the control room.

  Ji wiped his hands on the general’s cape, then stood. “He’s useless now,” he said flatly, drawing his pistol and shooting the general in the head.

  The room fell silent, save for the faint hum of alien machinery.

  “Let’s move,” Sahaad said sharply, his tone masking the turmoil within. “We have a job to finish.”