Hubris

Above the planet, the Roman and Germanic ships continued to fire at each other in sporadic engagements. Three of the Roman vessels had been completely destroyed or crippled. Six of the Germanic ships were crippled as they floated helplessly. The remaining ships fired upon each other nonstop as their maneuvering continued.

The Clypeum was one of the few remaining Roman ships that fired upon the enemy cruisers from a distance, "This stalemate won't be broken unless one side makes an attempt to blitz the other," the admiral said as he looked out from the deck of the ship.

"No, it won't, admiral Conai," the shipmate behind him said as he looked at the space between the two fleets. Between them was a mountain of debris from the destroyed ships and starfighters.

The Germanic ships began to fire once more. The plasma bursts flew through space to their enemies, hitting them dead on. Admiral Conai looked around the battlefield, "At this distance, they won't be able to do much besides wear us down." He glanced at the Caligula, which was nothing more than a corpse of a ship at that point, "Command the other vessels to move behind the debris. It'll make their barrage less effective. We can't be so reckless after Valerio's mistake."

"Yes, sir!" The shipmates operating the computers and other systems around the bridge sounded off, pounding their chests with their fists to salute their admiral. At his command, the nearby ships began to move in tandem toward the wreck of the Caligula.

The barrage of plasma, having to contend with breaking through the debris that stopped most of the attacks, ceased fire. The fighters and small transport ships that had been fighting recently returned to their respective sides to regroup.

The debris field remained still between the two fleets until dozens of starfighters flew into the field. Both sides scrambled their fighters into the field of debris, which made for the perfect environment for dogfights. The battle was now in the starfighter's hands.

On the ground, Nestor and Roark watched as the toxic gas began to fade away as the winds of the planet pushed the toxic gas away from the Hephistation, "Get up!" We have to breach the wall!" Nestor yelled at Roark as the gunfire and sounds of soldiers using their Harpax's soldiers resumed. Roark stood up with his rifle, holding it loosely and with a slouched posture as if he were struggling to stand. The two moved out of their trench as the Roman assault resumed, and the battle continued on.

Inside of the Hephaisteion's main elevator the four soldiers stood reloading their weapons, checking their sights, and armor, "Eversor, that's the Ranius family armor isn't it?" Cades asked as he lifted his right arm to look at the tear that had slashed the fuel tank of the arm mounted flamethrower. Drops of gasoline leaked from it, the same gasoline that had stained the carpet when Eversor had first defeated him.

"It is," Eversor said.

"Now, how did you end up with that?" Cades asked.

"Story for another time."

"Legend says your suits are special. That the original suits had lost knowledge. Lost abilities as well. Is it true?"

Ajax laughed before Eversor could answer, "What are those legends, your bedtime stories? Everybody knows they scraped and lost those suits long ago."

The elevator continued to rise up toward the fourteenth floor. The glass elevator gave them a view of the ongoing battle below but their gazes were fixed towards the door that would open and let them out of the elevator, "No. During my training as a child, they spoke about the legendary battle when a new way to wage war was used. When the first 32 Thorakai were sent into battle." Cades said.

Eversor shook his head, "We can talk about it later. We're almost—" The elevator stopped abruptly on the thirteenth floor making the group within the elevator stumble before it opened. In front of them was a half dozen soldiers armed with their weapons. Both sides looked at each other in shock for a few moments before they all raised their weapons.

Gunfire erupted as the soldiers in the hallway began to step back to retreat to cover while the group in the elevator did the same. In the narrow corridor, the Germanics fired from the cover of the turns in the hallways. In the elevator, Eversor and Cades were behind cover on one side and Ayla and Ajax were on the other.

One of the Germanics fired his rifle at the elevator, waiting for their enemy to peak around the corner, "Why haven't the alarms sounded off?" The guard asked. Not even a second later, the man screamed in pain before falling to the floor dead by a stray bullet.

Several floors below Elswyth looked at the security feed, waiting for the alarm to sound off. Moments later, the alarm blared its warning sound and flashed red before Elswyth typed in a command into the system that shut it off immediately.

Inside the main security room on the seventh floor of the facility, the technicians looked across the screens in confusion and began scrambling to reactivate it. The alarm that had just been blaring and the momentary flashing light returned to normal as Elswyth continued cutting off their commands with her own.

"It looks like she does have our backs after all," Ayla said as she fired at the enemy.

Ajax chuckled as he reloaded his two submachine guns, "I never doubted her," peaking around the corner he watched a grenade arc through the air before landing in the middle of the elevator.

Cades stumbled back, putting his back to the glass wall, "Shi—"

The grenade exploded into a fireball. Cades flew back as he had just peaked the corner to fire at the enemy. Flying backward, he burst through the elevator's back. The glass shattered.  The world seemed to move slower as they watched Cades reach out while falling out of the elevator as if trying to pull himself towards them to no avail.

Eversor, without a moment of hesitation, as the gunfire continued, lunged towards the edge of the elevator. He reached out with his right arm as he saw Cades falling towards his death. He pulled back his arm as if to punch, clenching his fist, and as he reached as far back as he could, he opened his fist as if to grab Cades.

Throwing his arm forward, a mechanism within his arm zipped as if uncoiling. From a hidden opening between where his blade would extend from and his forearm, a large metal arrow shot out. Zipping forward, the arrow attached to a coil stabbed the falling soldier's armored foot. Whipping down, Cades gasped as he looked down at the battlefield below, and one of his grenades that fell from his belt exploded below him.

Without time to speak, Eversor pulled his arm back, the coil retracting back into his arm, and by the foot, he pulled Cades up into the elevator once more. Gunfire continued, and explosions went off into the nearby hall, "You are not going to die a slave." Eversor said as he looked into Cades' shocked expression underneath the helmet.

The gunfire stopped as the two got up, turning to see their allies had killed their enemies, "Is the elevator working?" Ajax asked. Eversor stood up tapping the button to the fourteenth floor. A small buzzing sound came from the controls of the elevator along with a flashing red glow.

Eversor grunted, “No.”

"Let's go before more show up. If the alarm stays on next time, we won't be able to hold them off." Ayla called to them as she and Ajax ran down the hall. The two nodded before following them in a sprint. The worn-down blue and white hallways bled together as Cades led the way,

"Theirs a stairway to level 14 on this level we just have to get to it, as long as the alarms don't go off and we don't trigger a lockdown we can—" In front of the group the hallway was abruptly closed by a wall that shot out of the floor cutting off the hallway. Behind them, another wall appeared to come out of nowhere blocking the route.

"Elswyth, what is going on down there?" Ajax yelled as he raised the radio on his left arm up to speak.

Elswyth's fingers rapidly went over the keyboard, typing in security override measures and code to keep the complete lockdown from going into effect, "The main security team is doing that! Since they can't seem to start a full lockdown, they're shutting off your pathways. I'll try to override them, but you'll have to think of something! There are vents you can use above and beneath the floors."

The facility's computer system began to blare static signaling its activation, "All available security personnel we have several hostile intruders on level 13! Eliminate with extreme prejudice," all around the Hephaisteion soldiers stared up at the wall-mounted speakers in confusion and shock before rushing towards the elevators and stairwells.

Inside the main security room of the facility, the guards were scrambling to find where the interference was coming from. A dozen men and women searched through the system on their computers trying to eliminate the interference and find the exact location it was being transmitted from, "Find whoever's interfering in the system! That is our main priority after stopping these intruders," the head of security yelled as he paced around the screens.

On level 13 Ajax and Cades ran towards the door ahead of them before ramming their Thorakai into the metal doors barely denting them, "See if you guys can–" Ajax cut himself off with a gasp as between the group of four a security door began to close as they ran. From the two walls to their sides a security door shot out of the walls.

Eversor lunged forward, reaching his right arm out to keep the security door from closing him and Ayla off from their allies. The two doors slammed into either side of Eversors arm, crushing it between them. The praetorian screamed out, his guttural voice echoing through the small space as the Thorakai buckled under the pressure and bent as the doors tried to shut.

"We'll take the vents…you guys have to…go!" Eversor ripped his right arm back, letting the door slam closed as he fell back onto the floor. Ayla caught the falling Roman before helping him stand back up.

Eversor stood up and watched as Ayla pulled out her pistol. "The armor looks ruined, but it is your arm," she asked while looking up at the vent above them. Eversor held his shaking limb as he looked at the steam coming off of the Thorakai's armored forearm.

The gauntlet's bent metal steamed as the gas normally carried around the armor heated it up. The compartment upon his forearm that his blade extended from was bent and pushed into the forearm plating below it.

" I don't know, but it hurts…the blade won't…work." His gaze turned to fear as he snapped his three fingers together repeatedly, but the blade remained stuck inside of its compartment, "I think the wires inside snapped. My fingers feel heavier to move…dammit, we don't have time for this. Let's go," he spoke as he repeatedly opened and closed his fist.

Looking between his arm and his hunched posture Ayla knew it was a lot worse than he was admitting. "Maybe Elswyth can repair it later," she tried giving him the small consolation before aiming her pistol up at the vent grate. Firing at the four corners of the vent her bullets tore through the thin metal before she jumped up to pull the grate down.

As the grate clattered to the ground Eversor kneeled down and laced his fingers. Ayla put her Thorakai's boot onto his hand and pushed up to be lifted before crawling into the vent. Once she was in she turned around inside of the large vent to offer her hand to Eversor.

On the ground, Eversor stood up before bending his knees. Gas inside of the pipes in the armor built up with more and more pressure before he jumped up. The excess gas pushed out of the armor helping propel him off of the ground. Grabbing her hand Eversor crawled up behind her to begin crawling to their destination.

Below them Cades and Ajax watched the door security door in front of them open itself up, revealing Germanic guards ready for them down the hall. Cades looked towards Ajax and tilted his head towards the approaching guard, a smile beneath his helmet. Ajax nodded and raised his weapons, beginning to fire at the Germanics down the hall.

Outside of the facility Nestor and Roark fired up at the Germanics on the wall, "They've pulled more reinforcements in." Roark muttered as he fired sporadically at the enemy above.

"The soldiers with Harpax gear are taking cover. We got lucky with the tanks and paratroopers, but that gas attack killed our momentum," Nestor yelled as he kneeled in the trench, grabbing what looked like a piece of a ladder. "We need a distraction to get up there."

Shifting through crates Nestor's eyes went wide as he opened up one of the muddy metal boxes, "Fulmen Spears…Roark get these to those with Harpax equipment now." he yelled lifting the box over his shoulder. Handing it off to his comrade Nestor watched Roark stare aimlessly at the box before nodding.

"Roark, pull yourself together! Deliver these weapons and win this battle. Worry about what comes next later," Nestor screamed into Roark's face as he grabbed Roark's shoulders. Roark's gaze slowly turned back to Nestors before nodding and turning to run toward the nearest men with grappling equipment.

Popping open the case he held it out for the men to grab from. Each man grabbed two before Roark moved down the line giving as many of them as he could their own Fulmenn Spears. After he had gone down the line he approached Nestor and tossed the large box.

"What do you expect them to do?" Roark asked as he looked up and down the trench watching the kneeling Harpaxians holding the Fulmen Spears. In their hands was a long tubed weapon with a sharp pointed tip and attached to it was a handle. On the handle was a thin lever that activated the mechanism itself.

"With the Volan troops gone, the Harpaxians will do what they do best, cause problems. They'll wait for their moment to attack the wall in tandem. Once they do, they'll create enough chaos for us to use the ladders, and then we'll flood the enemy line." The actions Nestor spoke of seemed to happen as he predicted.

The Harpaxians with their Fulmen Spears and harpax equipment began to signal each other with hand motions before simultaneously leaping out of the trenches. Their hooks embedded themselves onto the top wall of the facility swinging them up above the wall. Germanic soldiers prepared for the attack began to fire up and at the enemy but it was too late.

The Harpaxians pulled the levers on their Fulmen Spears, firing off their weapons. The back of the metallic tube shot fire like a rocket, propelling it forward to twirl through the air before exploding on the wall. Explosions popped up around the wall and surrounding area, wreaking havoc on the Germanics, who scrambled to avoid the explosives.

Nestor yelled out a rallying cry as he carried the small ladder toward the wall. Spikes shot out from the bottom of the ladder, embedding into the ground. The small ladder extended in chunks, popping up until it reached the height of the wall.

Men behind Nestor with similar ladders began to follow suit. The Romans screamed out battle cries as they climbed the wall, using the opportunity they had been given to its fullest extent. Nestor and Roark climbed the ladder together, being the first two men to reach the top. With the Germanics distracted, they took advantage of the situation and used every last bullet they had against their enemies.

In the facility above Ajax and Cades stomped forward, both of them having their armor covered in plasma burns and scrapes from the close-quarters combat, "We almost there?" Aax asked as he fired around the corner at the guards.

"We're close," Cades yelled back as he fired his shotgun repeatedly before reloading. The two continued to fire back and forth slowly moving up the hallway. At an intersection between four separate hallways, the two heard soldiers running down all four of the hallways.

Looking at each other, Cades chuckled, "Cover my back," Ajax nodded and stood back to back with Cades. Their radios began to buzz before Elswyth spoke through them.

"You have sixteen guards closing in on you! I'll let you know which ones will arrive first."

"If you're not accurate, we probably won't make it past this," Aax admitted as he sweated beneath the helmet.

Elswyth sighed and nodded, "North," Cades heard the direction and looked to the right, firing his shotgun down the hall. The guard from the northern hallway turned the corner and was shot down by Cades' weapon, "South," Elswyth shouted. Ajax fired down the direction he was already facing, gunning down three men who had turned the corner.

"Good job." Cades said into the radio as he waited for further directions.

In the vents of the facility Ayla and Eversor looked down at Germans rushing below them towards their allies. The sound of sporadic gunfire filled their ears as they reached a dead end, "Is this it," Eversor asked. Ayla nodded as she looked down at two guards with rifles in front of the door to the stairwell that would lead to Pankraz.

Without a word she raised her fist, slamming it down on the vents grate. The grate of the vent fell down in front of the two guards with a clank. The two guards raised their rifles towards the vent, but it was too late as Ayla had jumped down in front of them. Pushing the barrel of her gun to the neck of the first guard, she fired. The weaker protection of the Thorakai's neck failed to protect the guard from the bullet that tore through the armor, killing him.

Whipping around, Ayla was faced with the barrel of the second guard's gun. Ayla grimaced, jerking her head to the side just as the gun fired off. The deafening bang of the gun was like a needle to her eardrum as she winced in pain.

The pain didn't blind her to killing her countrymen as she fired one of her pistols at his knee, sending him cascading to the ground before putting the gun's barrel to his neck and firing. With that, the Germanic lay dead on the floor.

The woman stood above them, breathing shakily with a tightened grip on her gun, "I'm sorry." she muttered at the dead men as Eversor leaped down from the vent, "You deserved better than this…maybe If you hadn't been led by such cowards it could have." she whispered, "He ordered you to your deaths. I'll have his head for you and for every one of my comrades."

Eversor stood behind her, gazing down at the dead men, "Eversor!" from down the hallway, Ajax shouted his name as he and Cades fired behind them at the guards who were firing from behind cover.

"Cover me while I get the door!" Cades shouted. A burst of plasma collided with the back of Ajax's leg, sending him down to the floor. The Roman caught himself breaking his fall with a roll and lunging behind cover.

Ayla, Cades, and Eversor fired from behind the cover of the hallway's corner as Cades attempted to open the door with brute force, digging his armored fingers into the groove between the two halves of the door. With all his strength he pulled but to no avail.

From behind him, one of the guards aimed and fired his rifle into Cades' back, sending him hurling onto the floor. Rolling behind the cover, the soldier grunted as he felt a burning sensation on his back from the heat of the plasma.

"Elswyth, we need you to open the door!" Cades screamed into his radio as he leaned against the wall behind cover.

"I'm trying! The security team is dead set on keeping me out! I can barely keep the main lockdown from going into effect just wait I–" A loud bang came from outside the room Elswyth was in, followed by even more voices talking outside her door, "I think they found me."

All four of the unlikely allies gazed down at Cades' radio in fear as they heard her words. Ayla grimaced, shutting her eyes before speaking, "God dammit! Elswyth, before they get in, you have to unlock this door, or we'll all–"

"I know!" Elswyth shouted back, cutting off Ayla.

"Then do it!" Ayla snapped back.

"Give her time!" Eversor shouted as he fired at the guards.

The banging outside of Elsywth's room became louder and louder, making it harder for her to work with the knowledge the door would give out at any moment, "Dammit…I can't… they're going to die because of me." she spoke to herself as her fings shakily and quickly tapped the keys of the computer.

As the five fought for their lives in the facility, Pankraz gazed down at the failing defenses. He watched the Hussars wreak havoc with their equipment while his soldiers were too preoccupied with the Romans on their walls than in the sky.

In his heart, he knew his troops needed to be reinvigorated. To be given a glimpse of victory or they would fall. Reaching for the communicator on his chest he pushed a button to activate his com, "Fire off the warning shot." He said calmly into his radio. The com was silent for a few moments before somebody spoke.

"But, sir, our calculations aren't completed. We never got the final calculations we need."

"Disobey my orders one more time, and this facility will fall," Pankraz said harshly into the com with his gravely worn voice. A long silence passed as he waited for a reply.

"Yes sir…it will launch in sixty seconds."

Once the com had gone silent, Pankraz stepped forward just a foot away from the reinforced glass. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. My forefathers give me strength, he thought to himself before reaching up to press another button on his communicator. Across the facility, speakers came to life, and static ringing was heard throughout every room and on the walls of the

"My brethren…the enemy is at the gates!" The soldiers upon the walls tore into each other with their weapons as the Romans continued to mount the walls. On all four walls, the enemy climbed the gates as Pankraz's words blared through the facility.

"They are here to take this facility with not one prisoner! None were taken on the beaches! None in the trenches! I call upon you to fight and to die for your comrades within this station!" From behind the main building of the facility, a massive circular door hidden in shadow opened up, revealing a silo beneath it hidden in darkness.

From the darkness, a pillar of metal with a pointed cone at its head emerged, pointing towards the sky. The rockets at the bottom of the pillar exploded to life. "I shall not abandon my men! None shall leave until this battle is won!" burning blue flames erupted from them that began to lift the missile off of the ground.

"I shall not abandon my men! None shall leave until this battle is won! Our own defenses will not let us leave until the Roman scourge has been eliminated!" The missile fired off into the sky above. It tore through the sky into the clouds above disappearing from sight. The lightning in the sky lashed the missile but its course was set and would not be altered.

"For the good of our people!" On the wall, the men watched the missile's blue light fly through the clouds. "For the glory of our tribes!" The missile's arc dropped towards the ocean, "For this is where our war is decided! Here and now! In the name of the united tribes! In the name of our forefathers whose fight we carry on! I declare in the name of our."

The soldiers atop the facility's wall and structures looked out at the horizon as the missile came into view for just a moment before disappearing over the horizon. A moment of silence passed before in a flurry of fire so large it seemed to make the world go dark in its light for a flash of a moment, it exploded. Its furry and power, its uncontrollable strength was released from its metal vessel, "Victory!" Pakraz ended his speech as a flash of light came from the horizon.

The soldiers on the wall of the facility watched as waves of dust and debris approached them at a furious speed. Those with grappling maneuvers flew upwards retreating away. The Romans and Germanics lining the wall in fear began to run abandoning their fight as it got closer. Nestor looked towards Roark and lunged at him, pushing him off of the wall before the blast wave hit the wall itself.

The powerful wave of air and energy caused the soldiers in their solid Thorakai to go flying hundreds of feet into the air. The facility's walls shook as a cloud formed above where the atomic had exploded like some horrible omen. Tanks, troop transports, and the debris of no man's land flew towards the facility, crashing into its structures and walls wreaking havoc across the Hephestation.

Inside the facility, Eversor and his allies shook and fell from the shaking of the facility, receiving the impact. They and the guards were thrown to the floor, their weapons firing around aimlessly. Inside Elswyth's room, she was thrown from the chair to the floor as the wall of security screens fell to the floor and shattered.

The lights of the facility flickered, screens turned to static, and systems shut down before rebooting. Eversor tried to move, using all of his strength to raise his hand but his suit felt as if it had stopped working. He couldn't move at all.

The wave of debris and dust ran over the Hephaisteion. The yellow and red hue covered the landscape like a glimpse into hell itself as the battlefield went quiet.