Twilight, Soldier of War

Five days until return

Light from a broken window awoke Twilight from her slumber. Her eyes flicked open from a measly five hours of rest; apart of her wanted more sleep, to turn over on her bedroll and go back to sleep, but the fighting was still ongoing and every hour sleeping was one she wasn’t helping. Still after nearly two days on her feet she had taken the first lull in the battle to rest.

Twilight rose and quietly stepped past the other sleeping soldiers in the cramped and dingy room. What was once a rather luxurious home was now their acting barracks. She stepped out of the room and followed the hallway down until she came to a large open room with a staircase, leading to the second floor. There she found a group sitting around a cooking station with a boiling pot on top. Twilight could smell the strange mix of spices as she grew closer, and her stomach growled for something other than nutrient bars. They had those bars in abundance, but Twilight had discovered first hand that you could only eat artificial flavored strawberries for so long before your body all but demanded something with more substance.

Teagan gave a nod from the group has Twilight approached. He took one of the bow and filled it with the soup before offering it to her, as she took a seat next to him. Soup in hand, Twilight had to pace herself not to burn her tongue. “Don’t worry,” Teagan spoke up, “There’s no meat in it. I guess the owner of this place wasn’t too worried about their food spoiling when they evacuated to the Inner City. Plenty of can food though,”

“Small miracles. Any news while I was down?” After the Waterfront wall had fallen and the line reformed, reinforcements from the adjacent districts helped stem the tide of Rats. But in doing so it put the other districts dangerously undermanned, so Twilight and her platoon, along with the company they were attached to, were assigned with guarding the entrance to the Industrial District. If the enemy hit them from behind while they tried to fend off attacks from the front the wall would fall, and the already precarious situation would become even more dire.

“A few scouts this morning. Command estimates they will attack sometime before midday, so eat while you can,”

“Hey Teagan,” one of the nearby soldiers asked, “I hear you worked with our new guest before, what are they like?”

Twilight gave an inquisitive raise of her eyebrow as she asked, “What guest?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention them,” said Teagan. “We got reinforced by a squad a berserkers last night. And to answer your question, they are not call berserkers for no reason. That said, so long as you give them space you have nothing to worry about,”

Considering how stretched thin the legion was, Twilight was surprised they had been dispatched here, but that just spoke of how important this location was to hold. “When did you work with berserkers? Unless you are referring to those few times we fought along side them,”

Teagan shook his head at Twilight question. “It was before I joined Cotreau’s team, when I was a part of the berserker training program,”

Twilight nearly choked on her food. “You were a berserker?! How is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”

“Training program,” Teagan answered by drawling out the words. “I only went through the training. Me and a few thousand others were dropped from the program, due to not being compatible with the stims that berserkers take during battle. Beside, you’re not considered a berserker until you have the nerve interface installed,” Teagan finished by touching the back of his neck.

Another man entered the room from the sleeping area, and clicked on small box radio as he past. Though they all had radios in there helmets, there was something special about listening to one from a staticky old box. “Good morning boys and girls,” the radio spoke. “This is Guardians Angels, atop Angels Nest, giving you the morning report,” a few laugh at Nadia’s enthusiasm and Twilight listened as she finish off her meal. “Today’s weather is a cool ninety degrees with no wind in sight. In other news, last night the Zechiel Shield was moved to surround the Inner City, because it’s not like we could use a big ass shield or anything. I guess they’re hoping that the shield can stop the Rats from blasting through the wall, and speaking of bullshit. That Rat balrog has yet to advance. I don’t know if it’s because they blow their load on that first attack, but I for one hope everyone on board died of radiation poisoning,”

Finishing off the last of the food, Twilight set her bow to the side and rose to go gather her equipment. In an adjacent room set the same recon armor Twilight had worn since she joined the military. Though normal only given to scouts, Twilight had received the armor due to a lack of available battle armor, but it had grown on her. Twilight picked up the chest piece and ran a hand over a few of the dents and marks that had accumulated over years and more battles than she wanted to think about. But this was her armor and she wouldn’t have anything else.

***

The air was quiet but tense. Hidden in the abandon buildings that flanked a desolate road, nearly two hundred man and women waited for sightings of the enemy. Twilight stood with a team on the ground, behind concrete blocks and sandbags. From there Twilight had a clear new of the tower that watch over this little town, the one that Nadia now class Angle’s Nest.

It was those quiet moments, the one where the only song was the buzzing in your ear, right before a battle, that Twilight hated. But that was war in a nutshell, short intense fights, followed by endless waiting.

“We’ve got a sighting,” Nadia’s voice come over the radio. With slow deep breaths to ready herself, Twilight waited for details. “Two groups, one coming down the main road and another one flanking through the side alleys,”

Twilight checked the charges in her rifle and patted her waist were her extra ammo was, it had become an almost secondary habitat. Over the radio orders were being given out, many were being redeployed to counter the flanking soldiers, but Twilight already knew her orders: to help hold the main road. That is until a metal giant came to a stop behind her.

“You are Lance Corporal Sparkal, correct?” The robotic voice of a towering berserker asked. At ten feet tall the gray-steeled berserker was everything it’s designers had wanted. Not only were they some of best soldiers in the Empire, they were meant to be a living embodiment of fear. The eyes glowed a near constant red and the helmet was sunken into the torso, letting the shoulders come up around it.

“Yes, that would be me,”

“Is it true you are some kind of witch?” Twilight wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but seeing as the marks on his shoulder made him a colonel, the best thing she could do was play twenty questions with the behemoth. Twilight rose a hand up and summoned a shield into her palm to answer his question. “Good, the stories of you are not just the mad ravings of children. Lance Corporal Sparkle, I am Colonel Calvo and I am reassigning you to my squad.”

“Colonel Calvo, I’m not in your unit, nor under your command. Under whose authority are you reassigning me?” While it was true that officers from other units could request specific personnel, they normally were required to go through the commanding officer of said unit. Simply reassigning personnel like Calvo was doing was considered a big no no, but Twilight had the feeling he wasn’t concerned with protocol at the moment.

“Under my authority, Witch! As the commanding berserker I am free to requisition any personnel or supply that I deem necessary to complete my mission,” Colonel Calvo lowered himself to looked Twilight in the eyes. “The enemy is almost upon us, so you have two choices: obey your orders, or be shot for dereliction of duty,”

Given her options she had little choice in the matter, still she didn’t like how this Calvo was going about it. “Very well sir, allow me a moment to inform my commanding officer,”

“Good, I didn’t want to waste the bullet. You have five minutes,”

Teagan and Skyler stood several feet away, watching the exchange. Under the gaze of her new commanding officer, Twilight approached the men. “I guess I didn’t stay out of their way,” she said to Teagan, who nodded in reply.

“We’ll inform the others,” said Skyler. “the Sargent won’t be happy about this, but there’s not much he can do about it. Be careful out there,”

“So long as neither of you do anything stupid. We’ll drink once this is over,” with enough time wasted, she turned to follow after the berserker. Calvo moved into a run that few would think possible for the bulky armor, forcing Twilight to run to keep pace. “Colonel Calvo, why did you request me personally?”

The two of them ran down the main road until they came upon a repurposed store, hidden behind an apartment building. Inside was a mix of an armory and barracks for the berserkers. As they stepped in five more berserkers turned to face them. Calvo stepped forward and addressed his men and Twilight at once, “Liston well, we are going to be engaging the enemy flanking force. There is a high possibility that juggernauts will be among them. In the tight corridors of the alleyway we will be unable to use our heavy weapons against them,” He pointed to Twilight. “That is why the Witch will be providing support,”

The berserkers looked among themself before one spoke up, “Colonel, is it a good idea to rely on such an unknown weapon?”

“We have little room to be picky. We will use any weapon, any tool, if it means destroying the enemy. Gather your weapons we leave immediately,” With a cry of “Yes sir” the soldiers grabbed their rifles from supply crates.

It was in that moment that Calvo’s voice spoke through Twilight’s radio. “Twilight Sparkle, you have but one job on this battlefield: keep my men alive. Nothing else matters, not even your life,” Twilight didn’t respond, there was no need.

The berserkers marched down the alley two at a time, with only a few feet separating them from the wall. They moved at a quick pace, each seemed to know the movements of their brother enough that they never worried about bumping into each other. Twilight followed close behind at the rear, and was ready to deploy her shield at a moment’s notice. The sound of booms in the distance mark the start of battle with the main force, and the flanking force wouldn’t be far off. As they moved deeper in their squad linked up with another thirty infantryman, that was sent ahead of the berserkers, all of them wearing the snugly fit turtle armor and the chin strap helmets.

“Any sighting of them?” Calvo asked as they neared the infantry.

“Last sighting was about ten blocks away,” said the infantryman. “I recommend we set up an ambush—” His hopes for an ambush was dashed, when the rats launched their own. The brick wall he stood next to gave out under the firepower and turned the young man into a glorified sandbag before he hit the ground.

“Take cover!”

Twilight snapped her shield open and covered as much of the alley as she could, prioritizing the berserkers’ protection. Devastating boom landed a moment later and blast apart groups of unshielded men. Following the line of attack, Twilight could see the Rat infantry in a building across the street, flanking their right side. From the new hole in the wall, four juggernauts were exchanging fire with her side, supported by dozens of their own infantry. Unlike the berserkers, a few of the juggernauts still carried heavy weapons. She could see two of them trying to find an angle to fire their gatling guns.

The infantry were in disarray, those who had escaped the explosion were ducking down behind the fragmented wall and firing blind. Calvo grabbed one of the men and rose him to his feet. “Who is your commanding officer?

The man looked a bit dazed from having a metal giant yelling at him, but he pointed to the first infantryman to die. “That would be him,”

“Then congratulation, you are now promoted,” Calvo said, without a hint of hesitation. “Take your men and get them into the surrounding building and give us covering fire!”

For reasons that were beyond Twilight at the moment, the man felt it was in this best interest to argue with the berserker standing over him, “But we can’t, we have to fall back. We’ve lost too many.”

Calvo let him go and withdrew his side arm, a handcanon that was both unusually large and oddly small in Calvo’s hand. He aimed for the man’s forehead. “You will follow orders or I will find someone else who will,” somehow seeing that Calvo uses that on every one, made her feel a bit better about being in her current situation.

Without addressing Calvo the man called out to the infantry, “Alright men, let get into those building and provide some covering fire!”

Twilight gritted her teeth has she felt another explosion fired from the flankers. “Colonel, at this rate I’ll only be able to hold the shield for another five minutes, at most,”

Calvo was already looking at the flankers. “Mason, Aiden, do you see the flankers on the right?”

“Sir, yes sir,”

“I don’t want to! You are hereby given leave for twenty percent stem usage,”

“Sir, understood,” the berserkers stomped the ground with anticipation, their voices lined with bloodlust. As one the two bolted across the street. The flankers targeted the new enemy, their plasma rifles leaving pot marks in the berserker’s armor, but their armor was designed to withstand such attacks and their charge didn’t falter. The berserkers broke into the building’s lobby and only screams followed.

“The rest of you,” Calvo called. “Move forward!” With Twilight shielding them and the first of the infantry laying down covering fire, the berserker charged into the building from the destroyed wall and into any cover they could find. Twilight stayed only close enough to keep everyone protected. The berserkers only carried standard plasma rifles, yet the combination of their training the armor they ware punched their reflexes to a super human degree. Within moments two Rat infantry were cut down with pin point shots.

The Rat infantry was hunkered down and firing off at a target somewhere unseen, Twilight knew that their infantry was keeping them pin. Together with the infantry the berserkers could easily deal with the Rat infantry, but the juggernauts had other ideas. The two of them, wielding heavy weapons, move forward, their guns already spinning up and firing molten led into the building. With the constant stream of fire pouring in, Twilight was left with no choice but to change her shield. By wrapping each individual in a shield of their own, she didn’t have to worry about her strength being used up by stray rounds, although with just five shield she was pushing her luck with the technique.

“Prepare for melee!” Calvo called. “fifteen percent stem limit is authorized,”

“Melee!” Twilight cried over the roaring gunfire.

“At this rate they will rip through your shields long before we rip though theirs. We are out gunned and out manned,”

“So you want to just charge into the lot of them?”

Twilight could almost see him smiling beneath the helmet. “Yes!” Calvo, along with the other berserkers, set their rifles aside and took out their handcanons and a modified plasma cutter. Roughly the shape of a blade, the plasma cutter released a gas that was ignited along the edge.

“Static grenade going out,” static grenades where to power armor what flash grenades were to infantry. The moment the white flash went off the two heavy weapon juggernauts stopped firing as their visual data was filled with junk.

As Calvo rose and lead the charge, he let out a cry, “When they beg for mercy give them death!”

Calvo bulled over the closet juggernaut and ended his struggling by plunging the cutter through his helmet. The rats were firing desperately at the charging foes before them, until with a great leap the distance between the two groups was no more.

Twilight moved forward, taking cover were she could, and taking any clear shots she could find in the chaotic melee. One Rat infantryman tried to stab a berserker with his bayonet, but the berserker turned his body and let the blade harmlessly slide off. For such bravery the berserker backhanded the Rat and sent his body flying, his head bent into an unnatural angle.

It was hard for Twilight to focus on taking shots when she could feel the pin prick of every impact in the back her mind. Already there was at least two shields down, but a part of the reason she so rarely used this technique was how long it took to recover from it. She wasn’t sure when she would be able to recast them.

One of the juggernauts had given up all pretense of firing his rifle and was now swinging it like a bat to fend off the plasma cutter his opponent wielded. Both behemoths shields were down and the berserker had lost his sidearm somewhere along the way. The two swung their weapons, and danced to avoid the blow of the other. The juggernaut rushed in and slammed his rifle against his opponents head, shattering it’s stock. But the berserk was barely shaken, his stems alone would never allow him to fall to such a blow. The Berserker grabbed ahold of his foes arm and used that moment to thrust his cutter true into the neck of the juggernaut.

The Rat infantry was being cut down like wheat, their morale broken, they were in full rout. Some held their formation as they retreated, while others simply choice to run for it. The remaining juggernauts had taken the role of rearguard and were slowly falling back, firing at the concealed berserkers as they moved.

Twilight let out a sigh as she lowered her weapon and recalled her shields. It may only be a small lull in the battle but she would take any chance she could for a breather. “Nicely done, Witch,”

Twilight decided to take the complement at face value. “How are your men?”

“Injured, but they will live,”

Before the present talk could continue any longer, Nadia spoke over the radio, “Twilight, do you read,”

“Nadia, I hear you. What’s going on?”

“The main road is getting hit hard. They used some kind of EMP bullshit to fry half the shield generators. They could really use your help over there,” Twilight looked up to Calvo, knowing he was already listening in.

With an exaggerated hand wave he said, “Go, we can hold here,”

“Understood. I’m on my way, Nadia,”

Twilight turned away from the ally, putting Calvo and the berserkers out of her mind. As the sounds of battle drew closer, she stopped in her tracks. That trick with the shield had drained most of her reserves, but luckily she had barely scratched her daily limit on anizon. She pulled the case from her bag and quickly injected a fresh supply. Twilight rose a hand to her face and let a shield dance in her palm. Satisfied her strength had returned, she quickened her pace out of the alley.

Twilight was greeted to the sight of a burning hell as she emerged back onto the main road. The surrounding buildings, were many had camped to engage the enemy were now in flames, a few looked to be on the fringe of collapse. Those still on the ground were slowly being pushed back. It was clear to see why, a T9-Viper, the Rat’s heavy tank, was slowly rolling its way down the street, It’s blue shield pinging every time a round hit it. Flanking the armor was another twenty juggernauts and a few dozen infantry. Though they started the day with near two hundred, she had to wonder how many were left.

Among those falling back, Twilight spotted Skyler running past the protection of the barricade, and aimed for a down soldier, while Teagan and other infantryman gave him covering fire. Having seen enough, she kept her body low as she bolted to the barricade, the flickering of a dying shield generator was the only thing that kept the oasis alive. Jumping over a concrete block, she snapped out her shield until it extended well past Skyler. With the added protection, the fire from their side become concentrated and the Rats began to falter in their advance.

The tank, however, didn’t slow. It continue to target the surrounding buildings and blow yet more holds into them, but with each attack another squad was lost.

Skyler wasted little time and hoisting the down man over his shoulder. As he made it back across the barricade he passed off the injured man to the medic and turned to smile at Twilight. “Would it be inappropriate to say that you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen?”

“If it is, I won’t complain,” Twilight answered jokingly. It seemed odd to joke when even then she could feel the impact of the enemy returning fire, but so long as her shield held they would have a moment to breathe. “Why is a single tank giving you so much trouble, we have anti-armor weapons,”

“Yes we do,” Skyler agreed. “But they won’t be much use if we can’t get past the shield, and that damn tank is a freak of nature. It’s shield recharges faster than we can hurt it,” Skyler and Twilight both took their spot on the barricade wall and took aim, their targets were plenty. The Rats were taking cover behind down debris and the tank as they worked to weaken Twilights barrier.

“What happened to the turrets,” while the possibility that the rats would divert their armor to attack this section of the city was considered low, they still had countermeasures in place.

“The EMPs took out the shields covering them, after that they were fish in a bowl. We’re scattered over a few blocks, I have no idea where the Sargent is, and with all the jamming we can barely use the radios,”

The juggernauts were moving up to cover their infantry as they pulled their fallen comrades back. Unlike the juggernauts from the ally, all the ones she could see wielded the weapons they were known for. A pair hoisting railguns aimed for Twilight’s group and, as static charged at the tip of their weapons, they opened fired.

Twilight had to stop firing as she gripped the side of her helmet. “Ok that hurt. If someone has a plan I would love to hear it, because I can’t hold this forever,”

“We were just talking about that actually,” said Skyler. “Teagan, care to fill her in,”

“Just one moment,” Teagan swung a long barrel rocket launcher over his shoulder and lined up a shot through the extended eye piece. With a pull of the trigger and the gust of air the missile soared to its target. No matter how fast the juggernauts were, their reaction time was no were near good enough. One juggernaut was blown off his feet, but relatively intact. What was left of the other one was blasted into the adjacent building, it’s railgun, along with the arm the held it, still lay there it once stood.

“At this rate we are going to be over run. Once that tank finishes decimating the squads in the building it’s going to turn on us, and no matter how strong your shield is, Twilight, we won’t last long after that,” Teagan set his weapon down and looked over to Twilight. “We need an air strike, ASAP, if we want any hope of holding this area,”

“But our radios are being jammed,”

“And there lays the problem,” Skyler added. “luckily we have a way around that. There was a hardline set up at the command center,”

“I’m sensing a but coming,” the solution sounded simple enough, but if it was that simple why had they not done it yet.

“But,” Skyler pointed off to the side. “You have to run that way to get to it,” Twilight looked in the direction Skyler was pointing and could see the building just a few blocks off, however from where they sat to the building in question was open ground— a killing field. She could already see a few bodies laid out in the zone, from others who had tried to make the run. Not only would you be out in the open for nearly five blocks, the building was still within range of the tank. It was suicide, that is if you didn’t have a shield.

“Five blocks, I can make that run,” Twilight said, but it wasn’t until Skyler spoke up that she realized she had said that aloud.

“I was hoping you would say that. Here’s the plan, you and Teagan will make the run, the rest of us will draw their fire while we continue to fall back. Any questions,” Only the sounds of weapon fire answered. “Good, now I hate to rush you but do you think you can get a move on and save our asses,”

Teagan stepped next to Twilight and stripped off his bag before passing his rifle off to another. Twilight understood immediately, this would be a test of speed so the extra gear wouldn’t help them any. She remove all of her gear, save for her sidearm and medicine bag. Teagan lowed his body and prepared to run. “On your mark,” he said.

The moment they left Skyler, along the rest of them, would have only a failing generator for support, but she couldn’t worry about that right now. She let her shield drop and allowed the exoskeleton of her armor to push her even faster then she had any right to move. Teagan stuck to her side, managing to keep pace with his slightly bulker variant armor. The moment they were a few feet away Twilight wrapped them in a barrier. She expected the shield to be like a beacon to the Rats, but Skyler and his men were doing a good job at drawling firing.

‘Just move,’ Twilight told herself. They had reached the half-way point before the Rats seem to catch on to the plan. A group of infantryman broke away from the tank and raced for the cover under a blazing building. Only for the Rat in lead to stop as the one behind him got a clear look at the color of his brain matter. “This is… … Angel…” a barely audio radio transition came in. “…covering… … …Move!”

With each impact on her shields the sound of a Guardian-class sniper rifle followed. They ran, their fatigue ignored, the battle out of their mind. As they reached the door Teagan bulled it over without stopping, ripping the door right off it’s hinges. Supply crates were stacked around the room, some were in the center acting as a makeshift table. Dust and discarded paper covered the floor, but they barely noticed any of that as they raced for the phone on the far wall.

Twilight quickly removed her helmet so she could place the phone to her ear. There were no buttons on the phone, as the line connected to only one place. Twilight didn’t wait for the other side to speak first, “This is the Lvywood garrison, requesting an airstrike!”

“Who is this,” came the voice on the other end. “Are you even authorized to use this line?”

“Listen, the Lvywood garrison is about to be overrun if we don’t get some help here, now!”

The line went quiet. She could hear the faint whisper of people talking, but couldn’t making anything out. “Ok, I’ve been informed that they are prepping a fighter as we speak, E.T.A five minutes. We need you to pop red smoke at hostile location. The skies are heavily contested right now, so we can only make one pass at this,”

“Understood, red smoke,” Twilight looked to Teagan as she spoke, and he nodded in understanding. He opened one crate after another until he rose back up with a smoke grenade in each hand. Twilight hung up the phone. Stepping over to the door she pointed. “We have less than five minutes, but if we take the alley we should be able to flank to the right of the rats. With how fast they are advancing we could come out right along side them,”

“Then let’s get going,” with their mission there done they ran for the cover of the alley, and hoped the fire didn’t bring the building down on top of them.

It had taken them only three minutes to reach the alley’s exit. Twilight could see Skyler and the others falling farther and farther back down the block, many of them had fallen. Twilight and Teagan pressed themselves against the alley wall as the Rats moved dangerously close to the alley entrance, the rumble of the tank was enough to raddle the buildings. But neither the tank nor to discharge of weapons was enough to drowned out the whistle of an approaching aircraft. Twilight and Teagan nodded to one another and pulled the pins on their grenades. Together they through them into the midst of the Rats, but they didn’t stick around to see the end results. They ran back to way they came as the whistling of coming death drew closer. At just under thirty seconds left, they felt the shock wave from the safety of Twilight’s shield. The fighter’s payload turned the area into an inferno and blew apart the surrounding buildings like dominos.

Smoke and dust filled the air. Twilight and Teagan emerged back onto the main road, an eerily silence replaced the havoc just moments before. “Holy shit guys, that was awesome!” Nadias voice came in loud and clear.

“Nadia, I can’t see a thing down here,” said Twilight. “Can you give me a visual,”

“Don’t worry I’ve got a birds eyes view up here, all Rats are K.I.A,”

“Twilight, this is Skyler, everyone is regrouping at the barracks on eight street. Thanks for saving our asses back there,”

“What are friends for,” Twilight replied to Skyler with the hint of a smile. “We are on our way,”

Twilight let her head fall back. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Another day, another battle won— the rubble of an engine cut through the silence.

Twilight snapped her head to the side, disbelievingly. It took only one shot from the main cannon to blow away dust and send Twilight’s adrenalin pumping once more. The command center was blasted apart in a blaze of orange. “Twilight, we have to move!” Teagan yelled and snapped Twilight to attention. They took cover next to the fallen rubble of a building. With the air clear she could see what they were up against. The tank was very much still alive, but it was far from in one piece. It’s treads were melted and the hull was a scorched mess, yet the cannon was still in working order.

The cannon twitched and jerked but slowly rose into the air and off to the side, far higher than any target should be. Twilight’s gaze followed the cannon’s aim to the one thing it could shoot: Angel’s Nest. “Nadia!” Twilight cried over the radio. “Get out of there!”

Nadia answered back, far too calmly. “You did good today, Twilight, never let anyone tell you different,” the tank fired and Angel’s Nest was no more.

“NADIA!”

“Twilight,” Teagan spoke with barely contained rage beneath his helmet. “Can you shield me?”

Fatigue? Twilight no longer understood the meaning of the word. “Yes I can,” she didn’t know what his plan was, but she trusted him. She wrapped Teagan in layer after layer of shields, like a seamstress clothing a client. Teagan ran at the tank headlong, hoping to get within the blind zone, just under the tank, before it could adjust its aim. But three blocks is much farther to run then it is to aim. The barrel of the cannon lowered, locked its next target and fired.

Twilight gave a cry of pain as she grabbed her head. By the rusted taste in her mouth she knew her nose was bleeding, she had never felt anything like that before. Though protected from the blast, Teagan was knocked off his feet by the explosion. She very much doubted she could withstand another attack like that. “Teagan, don’t just lay there! Move your ass!” Teagan rolled to the side and picked himself up. He disregarded all other concerns and continued to run forward.
He came to a sliding stop at the body of a juggernaut and grabbed his fallen railgun. The Anti-Tank Electrothermal Accelerator Cannon. It can obliterate a man with a single hit, or punch a hole right through an unshielded tank. And at his range Teagan had no need to worry about the poor accuracy. There was no words said as he stared down the foe that killed his friend, just the cold pull of the trigger and the tank blasted apart.

As Twilight let her shield dropped she felt the energy drain from her body. She took her helmet off and just let the air fill her lungs. They had lost many this day, but they had held. Most days that was enough for her, but now… now she only felt cold.