I shoulder my weapon and spray until their eyes burn no longer.
Minutes pass, impossible to know how long. The smoke cloud dissipates enough to witness the only outcome of war. Blood, metal.. death.
Thousands of lifeless corpses are embedded into the debris and smoldering concrete. Pausing to catch my breath, my watering eyes capture everything. All of them left mangled on the ground. They gave their lives so others might have a chance, a future they will never see themselves.
The morning’s close behind me, and the fight’s unceasing, both around me and within. I’m tired, dirty, hidden in the trench waiting for an idea to convince me to move.
An explosion blasts the turret furthest me, sending it sparking down the stairs of Lethe Tower.
Crouched, I tactically move towards a better line of sight.
From the smoke where the exploded turret sat steps Niko.
A wave of relief hits me unexpectedly. He’s still alive. Just the sight of him refuels me. It’s not over.
The feeling passes as I witness three Suits storm up the stairs, stopping in front of him, cornering him on the elevated pedestal where a golden statue of an eagle once sat before the turret.
Niko slowly takes a knee.
They fire.
He raises his forearm, holding it towards their gunfire.
A blue light springs from his arm and expands into an oval.
Their bullets slam into it, absorbed in the energy shield.
One of the Suits charges, jumping to kick as the other two reload their blasters.
Suit in the air, Niko reaches in his trench coat and pulls out a sawn-off shotgun with his free hand. He steps forward, swings the shotgun, and fires, sending a hundred pellets through a bloody hole in his attacker’s chest.
With his second shot, he cuts the head clean off another. The rest of the Suit’s body falls to its knees, then tumbles down the stairs.
The last one fires, emptying his mag in vain.
Bullet after bullet slams into Niko’s shield, but he fearlessly persists, continuing to push towards his attacker.
The blaster jams.
The energy shield Niko wields transforms, narrowing into a long, blue sword of pure light.
He thrusts it into the chest of the Suit, tip first until blood seeps from his nose and mouth.
Niko hops down, reaches in his jacket, and pushes a shell into each barrel of his shotgun.
Selene and Hector emerge from the far corner of the tower and work their way through a few droids to Niko, taking shelter amidst the burning remains of a Kronos gunship. The three of them near the bottom of the stairs to Lethe tower.
Rows of red eyes in attack formation march between us. I’m surrounded and low on ammo. The last energy turret sits atop the stairs above me, still raining fire into the last of our retreating troops and any structures they take cover in.
A stray enforcer shoots one of our pilots into the Outlands and descends, hovering over the square, weapons pointed towards Niko and the others.
“Save them, Palin,” whispers Kalli, twirling her dress in the wind beside me before withering away to nothing.
The enforcer fires, blasting Niko.
The blue from his shield’s barely visible from the bombardment he’s struggling to hold off.
Too high out of reach for my last scorpion, the Lethe pilot continues firing, trapping Niko further into the growing crater of its barrage.
I’m not sure how much more his shield can take. I have to do something!
Automatic, like something inside me took control, I raise my rifle and aim it at the Suit above me gunning down our men from the swivel seat of the last energy turret. He’s unleashing everything he has into the sky at last of our remaining shuttles.
He slides to the left hammering the air.
My eye creates a hololight trajectory.
Trusting it with my life my perfectly placed bullet ricochets off the breastplate of a fallen droid knocking the turret gunner lifeless from his chair. The mob of droids protecting him immediately fire towards me.
Their bullets smack the concrete, tumbling through the square.
I find asylum behind a capsized ground-vehicle.
One of the droids ambushes me.
Before I can pull the trigger, its titanium fingers wrap around the barrel of my weapon, ripping it from my hands to the ground behind it.
Scarlet eyes from the droid peer from above. Its rifle raised to my forehead.
My eyes close.
Taking a deep breath, I brace myself.
It fires, seconds after I knock the barrel away and roll between its legs.
Its faceplate jerks around, but it’s too late.
Snatching my rifle from the ground, I lift it to my shoulder and fire three rounds into the droid’s core, another into its transmitter for good measure.
With hesitation, I spin the rifle towards the droids still firing from around the unmanned turret and hold the trigger until none were left standing.
Racing up the stairs over the sparking corpses of bullet-ridden droids, I jump into the swivel seat of the last energy turret, warm blood still dripping from the headrest.
An augmented display overloads my panicky eyes. Hundreds of buttons and gauges light up before me. Their meaning, like a foreign language.
The Lethe enforcer hovering overhead fires everything he has at the fading blue light of Niko’s shield shining through the smoke and cascade of gunfire. I refuse to let them die.
Spinning the turret around, I wrap both hands around the handgrips in front of me, resting my fingers on the triggers attached behind, and I pull.
An energy beam rips through the air directly into the hull of the enforcer.
Its failing engines roar, as it takes off smoking around Lethe tower.
I fire again as a white beam of particle rays blast the air just behind him.
The recoil’s jarring. With every burst the turret unleashes, I’m thrown back with tremendous power and noise.
He circles the other side of the tower, smoke raging from the hole I created. His movements are chaotic as he struggles to stay in the air.
I don’t make it easy, placing the enforcer between the holographic crosshairs, and holding down the
