30th May 2076 – 1st Galactic Step

Kent Outpost

New Dawn City

Earth

Solar System

Ash was floating down from the sky above, like snowflakes on a Christmas morning, leaving a layer of grey prickly snow piled upon the ground. Somewhere far to the east of New Dawn City a super volcano had erupted spewing fire, smoke and molten rock everywhere. The ash had been falling steadily now for the past two days and Lance was getting sick of it.

It had been nearly three months since the battle in space, in which Corporal Jenkins had stormed onto the enemy satellite, known as Hemel Tref, which meant Heaven Strike in African. Jenkins had earned himself a big promotion to the rank of Captain, while Lance and the others had been awarded medals of bravery.

Since that day, Lance had been working diligently to train as many new soldiers as he could, because it was thought that the enemy would retaliate quickly after the satellite attack that did so much damage. Yet nothing had happened, it was almost as if the enemy had just given up and decided that the war was over. Of course, Lance refused to believe that he thought that Xu Sing, or whoever it was behind the attacks, must have been biding their time waiting for the next most opportune moment to strike.

Lance stepped out on to the parapet of the newly constructed lookout tower, which stood against the side of the canyon entrance. Ash drooped down on his head and shoulders leaving powdery black stains on his jacket and filling his blonde hair with grit. He looked around with his glowing blue eyes to survey the city and its surroundings. New Dawn City had grown to massive proportions, in the aftermath of the satellite's fiery attack; the people had come together during the tragedy and started working hard to improve their home.

At first, all the citizens did was clear the rubble away and look for survivors, but once all the wreckage had been cleared, they did not stop; houses and other structures started appearing at an amazing rate. A whole host of engineers, builders and people had rushed into the ruined agrodome, and they had just started fixing it as best they could. The dome was still not completely fixed, purely because of its size and its complexity, but the peoples strong minded persistence had made Lance feel very proud.

Another tower stood on the other side of the ravine, looking straight across from where Lance was situated. He could just about see another sentry on duty atop the structure and he gave him an exaggerated salute in the hope that the guard would notice. Instead of saluting back, the guard just waved vigorously, which both annoyed and amused Lance at the same time. The people who had come forward to volunteer to be soldiers had all been so very young, he had children aged ten and above organised into reserve units and teenage soldiers who were eager to help defend their families.

Lance scowled at the other sentry for a moment longer, irritated by his lack of professionalism, but he decided not to report his actions and let the issue slide just this once. He let his eyes slip away from the tower and on across the landscape as he checked for anything else which was out of the ordinary. The blizzard like storm of flaky grey cinders obscured the wasteland completely beyond the ravine, which worried Lance considerably.

He looked upwards to the dark cloudy sky and wondered when he would next see the sun again. Only a few days ago, the black clouds had dissipated enough so that the dull yellow disc could clearly be seen, until the super volcano had erupted and hidden it again. President Jamison had decreed that the day the sun came out was to be a holiday and the people had partied in the streets under the slightly hazy sunbeams. Lance sighed as he remembered the joyful expressions of the citizens as they danced along the busy pathways, then he turned away and went back inside.

"Sir," said a familiar voice from inside the room, while Lance was dusting himself off and shaking the ash out of his hair. He lifted his gaze to see the young boy named Toby standing at the top of the stairwell, at a very stiff and proper attention.

The small lad now had a fuzzy layer of dark black curls adorning his previously baldhead and his pale skin had now developed a bit of pinkish colouring. The boy looked very smart in his sandy yellow uniform and Lance could tell he had put in a lot of effort to keep it looking pristine.

"At ease, cadet," Lance said to Toby and watched him visibly relax. Lance smiled as the boy, walked towards him and began tousling his new hair. Toby had been following Lance around like a little lost puppy for the past month, ever since his sister Lara went up to Viktor's shipyard. Lance did not really mind the boy being constantly on his heels, he found it quite gratifying that Toby thought so much of him. He had however been a little worried when one day he had found the lad trying to construct his own metal exo-skeleton out of left over pipes and tubes. Lance had soon discovered that Toby was only playing a game where he pretended that he too was a Hephaestus augmented soldier and his fears disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Stop it," Toby whined as he tried to twist away from the much larger man.

"Sorry," Lance said, pulling his hand away sharply from the boy who was playing at being a soldier. "What are you doing out of your bunk mister?"

"I'm... I'm... I just couldn't sleep Sir," Toby said in a voice that started out bravely and ended cutely instead.

"That's ok boy," Lance said softly, then he pointed towards a bench at the back of the tower. "Why don't you go have a little rest over..."

A loud explosion drowned out the end of Lance's sentence and flame gushed down from the top of the tower, causing the windows to shatter inwards. Toby screamed, while Lance pushed him to the floor and covered his small body with his own. Shards of glass were streaming everywhere, several sharp jagged lumps sliced across the back of Lance's head, which made him instinctively cover his unprotected scalp with his right forearm.

Something had exploded on the roof of the tower and Lance had a sinking feeling that it was the radio transmitter. He struggled to his feet, scooped Toby up and placed the boy onto the staircase while checking him for any serious injuries. He seemed to be ok, a few small grazes and a serious case of the shakes, but other than that, he was fine.

"Get downstairs Toby, go right to the ground floor and wait with Sargent Kramer, ok?" Lance said urgently to the fearful boy. "I'll be right behind you."

Toby nodded and scooted down the stairs as quickly as his little legs would carry him. Lance however turned back towards the communications station and saw that it was just churning out squealing bursts of static. Then he looked at the radar station and saw a sea of pulsing green dots. Then abruptly the radar fizzled and crackled as a shower of sparks shot everywhere rendering the unit useless.

"That's not good," Lance said grumpily, and then he held his finger to his ear to activate his short-range TacNet communicator. "Lance two-six to Chateau Command, do you read?"

A familiar sound greeted his message; it was the same jamming signal, which had interfered with their communications on the day of the first attack. Lance cursed softly under his breath, looks like Xu Sing was finally back to exact his revenge for his lost satellite. Then he slapped the alarm activation switch, and the city was suddenly filled with the sound of warbling old air raid sirens.

Lance then rushed down one flight of stairs to the armoury and picked up a laser rifle, two pistols and a pair of thick armoured vests. He holstered one pistol and yanked one of the bulky jackets over his thick frame, and then he was moving again, dashing down the stairs four at a time to get to the ground floor.

He reached the lobby and found a full squad to twelve soldiers hunkered down beneath the four big, smashed windows. Then he saw Toby and Sargent Kramer crouched down behind an upturned table. Lance slid along to floor towards them and promptly began to stuff Toby into the other bulletproof vest.

"What's happening," Toby said in a shrill voice.

"We're under attack," Lance said briskly, "and there are an awful lot of enemies out there. I saw about three battalions' worth of blips on the radar screen before it blew. What's been happening down here Sargent?"

"After the first explosion, I got all the troops that were in the building down here as quickly as possible, and we formed a blockade at the front of the tower. I've still got two snipers up on the floor above, but due to the communication blackout I don't know what their condition is."

"We're going to have to use runners, get a squaddie to run up and down those stairs relaying messages. Those snipers are going to see the enemy coming, long before we will, we need their eyes Sargent." Lance said as he finished securing Toby's vest around the boy's slender body.

"Yes sir," Kramer said, and he scurried towards the windows to draft a runner.

"Now Toby, I've got a very special mission for you," Lance said in his best commanding voice. "Do you know the way to the Chateau barracks from here?"

Toby nodded but his eyes went suddenly very wild at the thought of going out alone into the potentially dangerous battle zone. Lance took hold of Toby's hands in his own and gave them a big reassuring squeeze.

"I need you to run all the way to the barracks and give them a message for me. Ok?" Lance asked his young cadet.

"No, I want to stay with you," Toby said shaking his head swiftly from side to side.

"Staying here Toby, will probably get you killed," Lance said firmly while staring deeply into the lads frightened eyes. "I need you to be a hero, Toby. I need you to be the soldier that you've dreamed of being for the past two months."

"I... I... don't know if I can do it," Toby said in a quivering voice.

"You can do it Toby, I believe in you," Lance said sincerely.

"Ok. I'll try," Toby replied resolutely, and Lance's heart pounded proudly in his chest.

"Thank you, Toby, now repeat this message after me please. Kent outpost under attack, communications jammed, approximately three battalions, send re-enforcements," Lance said slowly and carefully.

"Kent outpost under attack... communications jammed... approximately three battalions... send re-enforcements," Toby repeated diligently. "I've got it."

"Good, Sargent Kramer," Lance said turning away from the fuzzy haired boy. "Can you spare a soldier to escort my runner back to the Chateau barracks?"

"Of course, chief," Kramer said vibrantly, while he waved one of his troopers over.

Then Lance did something that he had always promised himself that he would never, ever do. He took hold of Toby's hand and placed the extra pistol into his upturned open palm.

"Take this and only use it if you have to," Lance said solemnly. "All you must do is, pull this chamber back, point and then shoot. It's not a toy Toby, only point it at someone, if you are one hundred per cent sure that you can pull the trigger."

Toby nodded and Lance felt so bad about giving a weapon to a child, but he knew he had no choice; it just had to be done.

"Now go, as fast as you can," Lance said and he shooed the boy and his guardian out of the doorway, just as a pair of Demon's came into view.

"Open fire," Lance shouted, "Give them some cover!"

Beams of light and explosive tipped bullets jumped into the air and rushed off towards their targets. Dings and chimes sounded clearly as the bullets bounced and ricocheted off the robot's thick armour. Then a much heavier sniper slug tore through one of the Demon's globe like heads, spinning the machine round and forcing it to the ground.

Lance aimed down the sights of his mark II laser rifle and squeezed the trigger, sending mega joules of amplified light into the fragile neck joint, which melted the metal just like hot butter, causing the head to sag to one side and drop to the floor. When Lance turned to see if Toby was ok, he found that the boy was already long gone. He silently wished Toby all the luck in the world and then he turned back to his fellow soldiers and began to organise them into ranks.

Then Lance settled down to watch for any sign of the enemy, apart from the alarms that were faintly echoing around inside the canyon, the streets seemed eerily empty. The dark grey ash fluttered this way and that, while Lance listened intently. A dull thudding noise filled the air and Lance realised that it was the sound of hundreds of metallic feet marching along in unison. Shadows began moving in amongst the ashen blizzard, indistinct at first, but slowly one by one they materialized into an army of robots.

Lance counted four different types of automated infantry; the thick-headed Demon's that he had fought before, plus three new variants. One type had a smaller head, heavier legs and a big bulky cannon that was slung over its shoulder, Lance designated this type of unit as a Devil. Another of the new robots had an extra leg and its arms ended in a pair of scythes that made it look like a Mantis, which is what Lance decided to call it. The final variant did not look like any of the other units at all; it more closely resembled an eight-legged spider bot and upon the top of its abdomen was a vicious looking anti-infantry machine gun. Lance tried to assign the name Spider to the target but found there were already several other units in his database with that name, so instead he decided to call it a Widow.

A sudden super loud detonation filled the air and Lance watched a massive flaming shell hurtle overhead into the panicked city. The object crash-landed further in towards the city centre; Lance was worried because it did not explode upon contact with the ground. Maybe the enemy was launching more automated units into the city to either attack the front line from behind, or worse leapfrog the perimeter and attack the Chateau directly.

Then the air was rapidly filled with bullets, laser beams and other assorted projectiles, as if some mysteriously silent voice had just commanded the robots to all open fire at once. Lance ducked down behind cover and counted in his head to three, then he spun on his heels and aimed a shot towards one of the Devil's heads. The metal cranium melted slightly, but the droid did not stop moving forward, which made Lance think that the small-headed robot's vital workings must be located somewhere else.

Lance moved his aim over the joint where the robots oversized shoulder mounted weapon was. Again, he caressed the trigger and saw the steel joint melt away, followed shortly by the massive gun smashing to the ground behind the machine. The sudden loss of mass overbalanced the big bot and caused it to fall heavily to the ground in a heap.

More soldiers filled the streets, rushing forward to join the combat, determined to help protect their city and their loved ones. However, there were just too many of the enemy and not enough protectors; twice, Lance had to give the order to retreat to the next defendable line. His main goal was to try to stall the invaders for as long as possible, while the non-combatants were evacuated into the Pomona Agrodomes.

Explosions rattled all around Lance and the other soldiers, many humans fell writhing to the ground while the sea of emotionless machines continued their terrible advance. Screams and moans filled the air; strangely, the raw painful sounds seemed louder in Lance's ears than the chattering gunfire.

A trio of Mantis' leapt forward on their springy tripod legs and began cutting down a squad of marines with their sharp curved blades. Lance sprang into action, putting himself between one of the monstrous machines and an injured soldier. He used his titanium exo-frame, which was moulded, to the outside of his arm, to block one of the Mantis' strikes, while he smashed his other metal clad fist into the robot's small flimsy skull. The bot instantly wilted and collapsed sideways sending out a spray of bluish sparks; Lance however ignored the miniature fireworks and moved on to the next clawed menace.

Another Mantis had its arms raised over its head ready to slice a marine in half. Lance hurled his rifle at the robot's head, then he slid along the ground and spun his legs around to kick the metallic war machines limbs out from under it. The machine fell and Lance put his hands together cupping one hand around his fist like he was holding an invisible club, then he smashed them across the robot's fragile face.

"Th... thanks," muttered the soldier sincerely. Lance grabbed the man's hand and roughly pulled him to his feet. The third Mantis had been destroyed by three other marines, but one of the men had lost his life during the scuffle.

"Fall back to the next waypoint," Lance shouted hoarsely, then he turned back towards his retreating troops and saw a plume of bright red smoke billowing upwards from somewhere near the central road that led to the Chateau. Lance's heart froze suddenly at the sight of the flare; it could mean only one thing, one of the council members was in trouble.

Red flare launchers had been given to all the members of the council, just in case there was an emergency and they needed to request assistance. Judging from the location of the smoke and knowing that Viktor was up in his space station; Lance guessed that the smoke must have been coming from either Mugumo's city residence or from the Presidents household.

Lance knew he had to get to the red smoke as soon as possible to try to rescue whoever was in danger, but it distressed him to think that he would be deserting all these brave men and women who he had fought alongside for the past hour. He decided that his duty would have to out way his feelings and he would just have to hope that the troops would be able to forgive him.

"Captain Brodure," Lance said coming up beside an older man in a dusty jacket who was holding a cruel looking needle pistol. "I've..."

"Don't worry son," said the white-haired veteran. "We saw the signal; we'll keep you covered and hold them back for as long as possible, chief."

"Thank you," Lance said simply, feeling very grateful for the old man's understanding attitude, then he saluted smartly and looked him square in the eye. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."

Captain Brodure saluted back briefly, but then he turned away from the augmented soldier to shout orders at his floundering men. Lance assumed that meant that he was dismissed, so he turned and ran as fast as he could through the city streets towards where the rolling puffs of crimson smoke were coming from. As he ran, he noticed that the ash had finally stopped falling and that the angry black clouds above seemed to be thinning slightly.

Lance shook his head, wondering why on earth, he was thinking about the weather at such an inappropriate moment. As he got closer to the flare, he worked out with a chilling certainty that the signal was coming from the Presidents home along Khao Sarn Road. He hoped that he would be in time to save the President, because without him and his proposed future, Lance was sure that chaos would descend again, and humanity would be doomed.

Lance dashed round the final bend to find that the Presidents home had been smashed to rubble, chunks of concrete were strewn everywhere and the small patch of grass at the front of the house was on fire. Several other columns of black smoke rose out from under the debris, including one long spiral of deep red smoke. Seeing the smoke coming out of the ruins, gave Lance a small sense of hope, maybe the President had made it into his tiny re-enforced shelter, under his bedroom.

Then Lance saw movement amongst the wreckage, a blood red robot was digging tirelessly, trying to find the source of the red ruddy signal. The machine looked and moved very differently, compared to anything Lance had ever seen before. The new robot seemed to be an amalgamation of three of the infantry units he had seen earlier, it had the two scything Mantis claws, along with a third laser rifle arm, all sat on top of four spidery legs.

The machine howled jubilantly in a faintly human tone, and it raised its arms victoriously as it uncovered a two-metre square cement box under the rubble. Its claws slashed across the lid of the cube, neatly slicing it open to reveal the injured form of the President of Humanity. The two large scythes gently scooped up the pale, bleeding man and the robot began to laugh mockingly as it lifted him out.

Lance was running as fast as he could to rescue President Jamison, but he was still many strides away, so he pulled his pistol out and fired a gas propelled round at the machines back. The bullet twanged harmlessly off the robots thick armour-plated rear and Lance cursed loudly when the machine completely ignored his approach. He kept firing, unloading a full clip into the metal menace, but it just continued to laugh hauntingly.

Lance bent his knees and propelled himself at the robot, using all the strength he could muster in his servo-enhanced legs. While in mid-air, he reloaded his weapon and began pulling the trigger again and again. This time the bloody thing noticed him, and it shuffled around to face him head on. Lance noticed that the robot had no head at all, instead its long body just ended where the neck should begin. As Lance fell toward the aggressive android, he tossed his pistol away and readied his fists. He landed softly next to the machine and spun round to deliver a backhand twisting clothesline, but before the blow could connect, the robot's third laser rifle arm lashed out and knocked Lance backwards forcibly. He was stunned a little by the blow, not by the machine's strength, but by just how quickly it had responded to his presence and then counter-attacked him.

The robot tossed the President away roughly and Lance dived quickly forward to catch the blood-soaked man. Then he watched as four small metal panels shifted away from the front of the robot's chest to reveal a small tank of water with a human brain inside it. The water bubbled furiously, while little electrical lights flickered and pulsed upon the microcircuits that were fused to the organs soft tissue. Lance's mouth fell open and he gasped at the revolting sight before him.

"Who, or what are ye?" asked Jamison in a weak strained voice.

A harsh babbling voice boomed out from the brain chested monstrosity in a language that Lance recognised as Japanese. Then another robotic voice spoke over the top of the first voice in a halting mechanical tone as it translated the brains words.

"I am Emperor Xu Sing, ruler of all and I bring you only death!"