The Shield Line

The moment they burst out of the command center and crossed the barrier, shouting and thunderous impacts already filled the wind-lashed air over the great plaza.

Chaos reigned.

Boots hammered across the platform in every direction while officers barked overlapping orders.

“Move! Move! Move!” Nandai shouted at four soldiers sprinting toward a cluster of discs waiting side by side near the edge of the platform. “You’re reinforcing Squads 44, 78, and 9 against the swarm west of here!”

Seconds later the discs rose with a deep hum and vanished into the dense cloud cover, where flashes of multicolored light flickered constantly amid distant explosions.

Nandai spotted Singe and the others.

“Oh, for the love of...  what are YOU doing here again?!”

“We came to invite you to tea. What do you think?” Singe shot back.

“Save the attitude! You...”

A deafening roar cut her off.

Blue light flared behind them as something emerged from the clouds.

Huge and glowing. Racing straight toward the command center.

“PERIPATUS FIRE!”

Everyone dove for cover.

Tong instinctively threw both arms upward, channeling a magical shield above them just as the massive projectile slammed into the great barrier.

The impact shook the entire platform.

It shattered, splattering across the barrier. It flashed violently beneath the corrosive sludge, but held.

“Another direct hit like that and it’s over…” Nandai growled as she pushed herself back upright.

Then she turned toward Singe.

“If you idiots are here to fight, report to the shield line on the southern perimeter. An Apocrita swarm is heading straight for them.”

“The shield line? We're supposed to fight with ground units?!” Singe gasped. “But we’re scouts. Aviators!”

Nandai snorted.

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before wrecking your disc. Now move!”

Singe hesitated only briefly before grinding her teeth and nodding to the others.

Soon, they hurried across the shaking platform toward the southern edge, where numerous ground troops had already formed ranks.

The first line stood directly behind the waist-high outer wall surrounding the plaza.

Most wore deep hoods adorned with dangling green tassels. Colored flashes from the clouds reflected in the thick goggles covering their eyes.

Their arms were extended forward, gloves crackling with magic as they waited for the order to fire.

Behind them stood a second line equipped with broad-brimmed hats and cloaks, their expressions tense and concentrated.

Singe halted before a soldier wearing a black-and-red corseted uniform whose hood was pulled crookedly over her head.

“Squad 77 reporting to support the ground troops, sergeant!”

The sergeant barely glanced at them before nodding toward the wall.

“Take position. They will be here any second.”

Moments later the wind came screaming across the wall as they lowered their goggles and stared into the clouds.

A nearby soldier glanced at them sideways.

“Well, I’ll be damned. Sky rats lowering themselves to fight alongside us ground girls.”

Tong grinned from the second line behind them.

“Thought we’d show you how real combat’s done!”

The other soldier merely smirked back.

High above them, colorful explosions still flashed through the cloud layer.

Linly swallowed hard as the lights grew fewer. And dimmer.

“How many do you think they manage to stop?”

Singe shrugged.

“We will find out soon...”

The tension thickened with every passing second.

Everything grew quiet.

One final flash.

Darkness swallowed the clouds entirely.

Arms lifted. Muscles tightened.

Suddenly something burst through the cloud layer.

“DON’T FIRE!” the sergeant shouted instantly.

Two discs came spiraling downward over their heads, slamming onto the platform in a spray of sparks and shattered wood.

Their bloodied pilots skidded across the stone, bodies riddled with countless needle-like spikes.

“Only two made it back...” Linly whispered in horror.

Even Singe had no response.

“Healers!” someone screamed.

Then came the sound.

The hum.

“SHIELDS UP!” the sergeant’s voice cut through the wind.

Almost simultaneously, magical energy surged through the arms of the second row, as shimmering barriers materialized overhead.

The buzzing grew louder.

Shapes appeared within the gray haze.

Then more. Countless more.

Long narrow bodies striped yellow and brown emerged from the clouds.

Six thin legs dangled beneath rapidly vibrating wings that blurred almost beyond sight.

Their antennae twitched constantly in the wind, their massive compound eyes gleaming while needle-like proboscises flashed like knives.

“S-so many…?!” stammered a younger soldier whose goggles nearly slipped from her little nose.

“That’s not a swarm…” another whispered in disbelief. “That’s an invasion…”

The bodies of the Apocritas began vibrating almost in unison.

SWOOSH.

Their attack tore through the air.

Streams of glowing green slime rained from the creatures’ mouths, hammering against the barriers in sizzling explosions.

Corrosive mucus evaporated with sharp crackles against the magical barriers.

In less than a minute, the assault tore the first gaps in the defense.

Behind the front line, the shield mages buckled beneath the relentless impacts against their channeled barriers.

“I… can’t… hold it...” gasped one soldier as her trembling arms sagged lower and lower, her section of the barrier flickering.

The next volley punched straight through, slime striking both her and the soldiers ahead of her.

Uniforms and flesh all dissolved with horrific sizzling sounds as agonized screams tore through the defensive line.

“CLOSE THE GAPS!” the sergeant shouted, struggling to rise above the cries of the wounded.

Immediately others stepped forward, climbing over fallen bodies to maintain formation.

Tong clenched her teeth as she noticed the soldier beside her struggling to breathe.

She elbowed her lightly.

“Hey, hang in there! It’ll be over soon, just a few more seconds!”

The girl glanced sideways at her, swallowed hard, then forced a weak nod as her magic stabilized again.

“OFFENSIVE LINE! PREPARE TO FIRE!”

Red energy crackled violently around Singe’s hands, swelling larger and larger, sweat streaming down her face.

“Hey… Singe…” Linly said carefully as blue magic danced around her own fingertips. “Do you even have enough magic left for...”

“I’ll manage,” Singe snapped. “We just have to hold them off until… he gets here...”

Gradually the bombardment weakened, the slime volleys became less frequent.

Then came the order.

“FIIIIREEE!“

The entire front line unleashed its gathered magic at once, blazing beams of energy erupting upward into the swarm.

Heads exploded. Wings ignited. Burning insect bodies rained down through the clouds.

The swarm twisted violently through the air, shifting left, right, upward, downward with terrifying coordination.

Only the sheer density of the mass allowed the magical barrage to hit at all.

But no matter how many fell...

...there were always more.

“KEEP FIRING! WE CAN’T LET THEM REACH THE GREAT BARRIER!“

Finally the defensive line sank to their knees, gasping for air while the offensive line continued firing desperately into the sky.

“DRINK WATER! BREATHE!” the sergeant shouted toward the exhausted shield mages. “YOU’RE GOING BACK UP IN TEN SECONDS!”

The girl beside Tong went pale.

“A-again…? B-but I barely have any magic left…”

Tong grabbed her shoulder.

“What’s your name?”

“F-Flam…”

“If your shield collapses, Flam, hit my shoulder. I’ll reinforce your section.”

Flam stared at Tong’s confident grin in disbelief before brushing the sweat-soaked violet bangs from her forehead and adjusting her goggles.

“O-okay, but...”

“FORM UP!” the next order came.

The two helped each other back to their feet.

Meanwhile the counterattack from the offensive line was already beginning to weaken.

Linly hurled one final spinning disc of blue energy upward with a strained cry, but it barely missed its target.

“My magic... is almost gone,” she shouted hoarsely.

Above them, the Apocrita swarm was already regrouping, looking only marginally smaller than before.

The glow in Singe’s hands had begun to fade.

Grinding her teeth, she turned toward the great barrier behind them.

“Now would be a really good time, Hermann…”

“SHIELDS UP!” echoed through the air once more, hoarser now, more desperate.

Exhausted, the soldiers returned to position.

Then the humming started again.