Chapter Six: Black Masks

The night air was clear, well lit by the bright star filled sky. The cool air of it blew on Cress's face as he finished checking his gear. The passing of wind as the dark-painted drop ship glided through it felt nice on his skin. He pulled tight the straps on his gloves, the black tactical gear snuggly fitting to his body as he glanced out the window to the stars. The moon on this planet was much larger looking than the one he remembered from earth, clearly dominating the sky, but not drowning out the endless stars just to its sides. He’d looked at the stars all his life, more often than not from the cockpit of a star fighter, but it was a different feeling to be looking up at them from this world.
He took a breath of the fresh night air before he pulled himself back from where he’d been leaning out of the side door of the drop-ship cabin and sat back down. It was quiet as the passing of air, an impressive feat considering the noise that even the Defender craft made in flight. He didn’t know all the science of stealth, but he knew enough to think it impressive as the ship soundlessly glided through the night air.
He checked the ammunition he carried, lifting the magazine to look over the dart rounds inside it. Each was filled and in place, ready to be used. He slid the magazine back in its place on the assault rifle, the weapon clicking as it locked in place. The Spire was in sight now, enormous and glowing softly on the horizon. It would be the first time Cress saw it up close, he wondered how big it would really be.
Only a few moments later, they were making their approach. Cress could see the spire growing closer and closer as the silent craft flew up to its side. He looked to the other two men who would be on his squad, their names were Christopher and Isaac, both from the Wolf Corps like Captain Grant leading Alpha. They would be landing on the other side of the palace at the same time he and the rest of Bravo did. Cress took one last look at them, giving them a smile before he pulled on his mask and visor. Christopher smiled right back, Isaac’s face didn’t change before they both pulled their masks on as well.
Cress turned back to the side door of the drop craft, opening it up and tossing out his repelling line. They were going in.

~
December once again found herself dashing through the palace, though it was empty of guards and really any people at all. Something was coming from behind her, a great walking suit of dark armor. She didn’t scream, because she wasn’t afraid. She couldn’t be; she’d already had this dream. It would be only a moment before the prince came to her rescue. She came to the dead end she knew inevitably was coming and came to a stop, turning quickly around to face the black armored hulk. It stopped before her, its red eyes glowing from inside the helmet as it appraised her. She backed up a little, waiting for the prince to appear and save her as he always did in her dreams, but this time he seemed to be really taking his time.
The hulk began to advance on her, his steps loud and heavy enough to shake floor. December backed up slowly, keeping her eyes up on the giant as he began to fully corner her. She began to feel her faith that the prince would come begin to fade, the giant towering over her enough to immerse her in its shadow. Without meaning to, December began shaking, imagining what she was about to experience and suddenly hoping she would just wake up but knew she wouldn’t as the giant reached for her.
Suddenly, with a glimmer of light, the prince came, walking from behind the Giant and turning to face it. The Giant stopped its reaching and turned its attention on the blonde prince, making December let a breath of relief. She knew he would come.
The Prince stood standing with the giant, as though somehow communicating with it. December watched in suspense as the two figures faced one another.
They stayed where they were, neither one of them making a move for a painfully long time, December’s fear slowly returning to her; like black tar in her stomach, slowly spreading about and absorbing any of her surety. She gulped audibly, it being the only sound in the otherwise silent room.
Then at once, the prince smiled, looking to December and then back to the giant. The Giant slowly lifted a hand, holding a dimly glowing ball, and wordlessly handed it to the prince. Cast accepted the ball and then turned away, sparing one smiling glance to the princess before he turned his back on her, distracted by the gift he’d received.
December couldn’t believe her eyes, her mouth dropping in shock at what had happened. Cast, her prince, paid off by the very monster he faced. The hulk then turned from the prince and back to her, the red eyes being the only indication of its smile. December felt her stomach drop, her breath catch. The monster again reached out for her, the great metal clad hand coming around her and wrapping its fingers around her waist. She screamed, but no sound issued from her throat, she struggled, but the fingers were like steel and wouldn’t move.
She turned back to the prince, watching him not look up, watching him play with the small glowing ball in his hands without noticing her, or perhaps not even caring. Help me! She tried to scream, but still couldn’t make a sound.
She was about to resign herself to whatever fate the hulk had in mind for her when there came a shout from her side, the first sound to break the silence. Her eyes shot to the side to see a dark-haired man dashing toward them, a man she had only seen in her imagination. Sword in hand, the hero from her book rushed to her rescue. He leapt up with his sword and swung it downward from above his head, cutting into the arm of the hulk. The hulk released her immediately, she falling to her feet beneath it. The Hero moved to her, taking her shoulder and looking at her with concern mirrored in his signature silver eyes.
“Are you alright, December?” he asked her, his voice soft and carrying a warm tone.
She could only nod, watching his sliver eyes as though transfixed. He spared her a reassuring smile before he turned back to face the Hulk.
She watched until she began to hear foot falls all around her, their presence foreign to her dream. She heard a voice and suddenly the dream began to fall from around her. She was waking up.

December’s eye came open, she looking to her side at the balcony where she could see the shape of two men crouching there, holding oddly shaped objects in their hands. They were spaced apart from a rope that dangled over her balcony, a third figure sliding down the rope with a zipping sound. Her eyes widened at their dress, unable to place it to anything she’d ever seen. One of the men looked to her, raising a hand as he perceived her and pointing toward her. She felt her breath catch, she knew they saw her awake. All three of the men moved silent as death toward her. She tried to scream but couldn’t breathe for fear. As they came closer she saw more of their ware. They were like demons with no faces, their heads having only black shape of what should be facial features, their eyes covered by a polished metal bar. They were clad entirely in black striped clothes, padded and armored and carrying several odd objects strapped to their bodies. It was unlike anything December had ever seen.
“Keep quiet.” Ordered one in a harsh whisper, surprising her that it could speak in a way she could understand, lifting the metal rectangular object it carried to point it at her. She wasn’t sure what the object was, but she felt like he was threatening her with it. Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked about at each of the three figures.
“W-Who are you?” she managed after a moment, her voice tiny. “What are you?”
There was a pause and then one of the three men stepped forward, lowering his weapon. “She’s terrified.” He spoke softly, his voice more gentle than the other ones. “Lower your rifle Isaac.” He commanded. The first one that spoke looked at the forward one as it spoke and hesitantly lowered his weapon.
December’s eyes were riveted on the forward stranger as he walked toward her until they were just close enough to reach out and touch one another. He set down his weapon on the bed near her waist where she sat up watching him and he lifted a hand to his face, slowly taking a hold of the black of his face and lifting it to her surprise, pulling it off his head revealing a human one beneath. Her eyes widened at what she saw, the black of his face was simply a mask. The man before her was fair featured and youthful, his hair dark and spilling just over his eyes . . .
December started at the sight of it.
…His silver eyes.
“What is your name?” he asked her softly, his voice warm with a smile.
She held his eyes in surprise, unable to tell how she was feeling, not certain if she could even speak further. “De . . .” she stared, then took a steadying breath “December.” She answered honestly.
The young man before her smiled. “I’m happy to meet you, December, I’m Cress.”
The two other men shifted uncomfortably, looking about the room while Cress spoke to her, but she didn’t pay them any attention compared to the one speaking to her. “What are you… Cress?”
Cress kept his smile. “I’m sorry to have woke you. You see, I am from Finelle. I am a Defender.” He answered her, then went on. “You see, some of our loved ones were taken from us a short time ago, we’re here to rescue them.”
The nearest of the other two men looked quickly back to Cress, and although she couldn’t see his face, she could recognize disapproval instantly, being very familiar with it herself. Cress didn’t pay the other man any attention though. “December, do you know where my friends are? I want to help them.”
Something inside December shouted out in protest, fear again surging through her. They were Fells! Inside the castle! She should scream, she should fight them and die trying to clean them from within the walls. She shouldn’t do a thing to help them; she should just be quiet …
Yet … for some reason she could not explain, she wanted to help them, she wanted to help Cress. He was there, almost directly from her dream, and his eyes . . .
“I don’t know.” She admitted softly, looking away momentarily before looking up to him. “But they’re here, I saw them and…” Once again, her mind protested, shouting at her that she needed to stop, that she was betraying her own people by saying anything further, but for some reason she went ahead anyway. “I don’t know where they are, but there’s a door, hidden at the top of the library, a black door…” she trailed off. “That’s where Gareth goes.” She finished, not able to say anymore. She suddenly felt as though she’d committed a crime, as though she’d betrayed everything she believed was right and all at once and so easily.
Cress smiled reassuringly to her. “Thank you.” He said softly.
She looked up to him as he reached up and brushed her hair back over her ear. His touch was surprisingly gentle, feeling welcome on her face.
“I am in your debt.” He said finally.
December stared at him, feeling her eyes suddenly grow heavy, her body relaxing totally. What’s happening…? She wondered idly, but found that she couldn’t bring herself to think about it much. She fell back onto her pillow, falling quickly asleep as though drugged.

~~

Cress smiled as he slowly leaned down to her sleeping figure and removed the tiny sleep inducing patch from next to her ear where he’d placed it to put her back at rest. Isaac moved back over to him and spoke in a harsh whisper. “Sir, you could have jeopardized the mission. What were you thinking?”
Cress just smiled and started to put his mask back on. “Perhaps, but she was just a scared girl. Besides, if her information is good then she may have just saved the mission.” He said, sliding the black balaclava back over his face. He clicked on his visor, making his vision light up with night-vision arrays, switchable to thermal imaging for tricky visibility. With the dark no longer making a problem for his vision, he looked back to Isaac and Christopher and signaled for them to follow directly behind.
Moving to the girl’s door leading outside, Cress paused and reached down to the bottom, feeding a camera on a long flexible rod underneath the door crevice, checking the hallway outside. He noted two guards on either side of the hallway, both looking very bored as they stood at half-attention. Cress signaled with his fingers to silently alert both his other squad members of the guard’s positions. He stood before the door as Isaac leaned on the wall beside it, Christopher lining up behind Cress.
Cress checked to be sure that the dart rounds were loaded before he pulled a sound suppressor from his tactical belt and attached it to the muzzle of his assault rifle. He checked back to see Christopher doing likewise before he nodded to Isaac. Isaac pulled the knob and pushed the door open, Cress moving out into the hallway and in a fluid motion lifting the rifle to fire the potent tranquilizer at the unsuspecting guard, Christopher moving behind him and firing in the opposite direction at the second guard.
With hardly a sound, both guards fell down, sleep overwhelming them right away. The three men moved silent as a whisper to the bodies, moving quickly to pick them both up and drag them back into the girl’s room and out of sight. They closed the door after disposing of the sleeping bodies and continued to move onward through the palace, hugging the walls as they went and keeping quiet.
They soon came to a wide open room, being on the second level of it on a large balcony that overlooked an enormous ballroom. The balcony was wide and furnished as though it were a sort of lounge. At the door on the other end of the balcony there walked another guard, glancing the other way as they entered. Quickly, the three men ducked behind the lounge furniture and out of sight, Cress glancing over to see the Guard slowly making his way across the room. There doubtlessly would be more guards beneath the balcony in the ballroom, but most of the balcony would be out of sight for them so it shouldn’t be a problem for them to bring down the incoming guard, so long as it was quiet.
Cress knelt poised and waited, slowly moving his rifle to attach to the magnet on his back and out of his way as the guard came closer. He visualized his movements before the guard slowly rounded the corner of the sofa Cress hid behind. Cress rose as the guard moved around, the guard’s eyes widening with the black-clad intruder suddenly so close to him. Cress thrust his hand flat like a blade to the guard’s throat, silencing him from shouting before he followed through, raising a knee to the guard’s stomach to double him over. The surprised man crumpled with little resistance raised, his surprise overwhelming him as Cress knocked him to the ground. Cress turned to place a knee on the guard’s back, pinning him down as Cress stuck another sleeping patch to a bit of the guard’s exposed skin. He held him down as his awkward struggles came to an end under the drug’s influence.
Cress let a breath of relief and got off of the guard, pulling him quickly by the feet to hide him beneath the sofa, a cloth overhang covering the body entirely. Cress looked back to the other two men, Chris glancing over the sofa alertly while Isaac watched Cress work, the mask hiding his expression. Cress just nodded to them and signaled for them to move on.
Cress was making note of the structure of the Palace as they went, trying to memorize their route. He was in no mood to get lost in a hostile castle. The moved through the hallways going upward as they searched for the library the girl had described. They brought down three more guards in their search, silently and hiding them in similar fashion as they had before until they found the room which was undoubtedly the library. Cress was the first to enter, looking up in wonder at the expansiveness of the room. It held a very high celling, rising at least 80 feet above them with shelves upon shelves of books rising up with them. There were several overhanging walkways along the shelves, all of them made of what appeared to be polished marble. Most remarkably was the no-doubt enchanted book cases that seemed to float about the library, making it appear to be in constant lazy movement. Cress took his eyes off the magical book cases and looked back to the doorway, signaling both his men to move in. They found cover and he took his radio, calling to Captain Grant.
“Bravo lead to Alpha lead. What’s your twenty?” he spoke softly into his comlink.
There was a moment of quiet before Captain Grant’s voice answered the request. “We’re inside in what appears to be a conservatory. One guard down, and silence maintained.”
Cress imagined what they were seeing for a moment, comparing it to the sight of the library. “Acknowledged. We’re in a library following a possible lead. Six guards downed, silence maintained. Will radio with further updates. Bravo out.”
Cress looked back to Chris and Isaac and nodded to them both. They nodded in turn and together they each moved to their feet and started to make their way stealthily through the library. Up several flights of spiral stairs and through the bookshelves they went, continually ascending until they came to the final hallway, a short alcove leading several feet from the library until it came to a large decorative crest at the end of the hallway. Cress came to it and looked back to Chris and Isaac before he turned around, not thinking anymore of it. Chris stopped him however.
“Sir, wait.” He requested, pointing to the crest. “The girl said the door was hidden, and this is the top of the library; a hallway leading to nothing? I doubt it.” He explained softly.
Cress watched him while he spoke, then looked to the crest and nodded. “Point taken.” He agreed. He felt silly taking the advice as he was supposed to be in the lead, but Chris had a temperament about him that made it easier. They turned back to the crest and began a brief search, Isaac watching the hallway behind them as they worked. It was Chris who found the switch hidden behind the crest, pulling it into place to make the trick door slide open.
Cress looked down the hallway it led to, noting the dramatic increase in the darkness. “Night vision on.” He commanded softly. “Both of you stay tight on me, we’re going in.”

Chapter Five: Doorways

Cress stood at the back end of the hanger, watching a salvage droid with a flashing light on it finish setting the wrecked defender craft on the hanger floor to be worked on. His hands were in fists, his jaw set. In one hand was a crumpled read-out of the battle report.
The contents revealed bad news. Settler 13 had fallen, every one of the 40 or so settlers were either dead or captured. Jake's defender was found but Jake himself was taken, to where Cress had no idea.
He promised Jake he would come back for him. He would keep his promise.
He ground his teeth at the thought in determination. He was about to turn about when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced back to see his commander standing behind him.
"Commander Adams." he acknowledged, nodding lightly.
"Captain, a word?" his commander requested softly. Cress nodded in reply, releasing the report and letting it fall in a crumpled ball as he turned about to follow his commander into his office.
This was a room which he'd seen the inside of many times through the last few years. It was simple, the dark steel walls being lightly adorned with a few pictures from Earth, an antique American flag, and of course the flag of the United Earth Forces, the flag which had now become the Finellian banner.
Cress took his usual seat across the desk from his commander, sitting up at attention.
His commander waved his hand a little to tell him to be at ease as he sat down at his desk and lifted up some paperwork.
"Cress . . ." He began, his voice concerned. "How many more do you think you're going to walk away from?"
Cress stiffened, he knew where this was going.
When Cress didn't answer, the commander went on. "You hold the record for crashes survived, but you can't cheat death forever Captain. What happened today should show you that."
Cress still didn't answer, just watching the commander.
Commander Adams watched him a moment before he went on. "We have an instructor position opening, and I want you to take it. The time comes for everyone to turn in their wings, Captain. Don't-"
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Cress interrupted him suddenly, cutting him off.
Commander Adams paused, measuring what reaction was coming before he nodded. "Granted."
Cress straightened. "With all due respect sir, I can't do that. I'm the most experienced defender pilot still alive and you need me out there."
"Don't be so cocky." his commander said shortly. "You might think you're pretty great, but you're not the only one with a few moves in a defender."
Cress narrowed his eyes a little before he spoke. "Is this a voluntary assignment?" he asked softly.
His commander hesitated, knowing the answer. "Yes . . . according to fleet code, you hold the option to refuse instruction position assignments."
Cress smiled coldly. "Very well then, I refuse."
Commander Adams stared at him, anger flaring in his eyes, but it quickly burned out and turned to a cooler sadness. "Cress, you and I go back a way. I don't want to see you get killed."
Cress stood up slowly, reaching out to shake his commander's hand. "Better to live a short time with my wings then die for a long time without them." he said softly before withdrawing his hand and saluting. After Commander Adams saluted back, Cress turned to leave. Just before he reached the door, his commander said something else to him.
"Oh, Captain. I thought you'd like to know, we found your wingman."

~

December once again found herself in the combat training she so hated. Because she'd missed her lesson during the day, Lord Gareth thought it would be well to have it in the evening instead. She hated her luck.
She was wearing more combat conducive clothing, loosely fitted trousers that were tight about her ankles and a fitted tunic. It felt odd to her to be wearing men's clothing, but it was certainly better than doing the training in one of her dresses.
She set her feet apart in the stance that was taught to her and attempted to focus, aware of Gareth's critical eyes on her. She let out a breath and stretched her hands before her, suddenly tensing in an effort to push magic before her.
There was some jumping light, and a soft electric sound, but nothing went forth.
December sighed and leaned back in a more relaxed posture, waiting for the incoming lecture she would have for her failure.
"Princess..." came the tired, yet still silken voice of her forced mentor. "How is it that you still cannot summon it? You are giving it your full effort aren't you?"
December flushed. "Of course I am. You don't think I like failing do you?"
it was far more difficult for her to keep her temper with him than with really anyone, she could honestly say she didn't know what it felt like to hate a person until she knew Lord Gareth.
The dark clad, fare featured man let an ill sounding sigh and walked over to her. She tensed, fearing what he was about to do and the revulsion at the thought that he might touch her.
"You have the power, that I know. I've never seen so perfect a healing with so short a touch. Use that power, princess and call forth the lightening." he commanded as he closed the distance, ready to arrange her footing as he always tried.
December not very subtly stepped away. "It's completely different." she countered. "With one I'm trying to help someone, with another I'm wanting to hurt them."
Gareth didn't make any motion but answered in speaking. "Then simply change the way of thinking. Decide to hurt something and your magic will react." he instructed coldly.
December grimaced. "I won't." she said simply.
Gareth's face didn't move more than slightly, yet his expression changed entirely to frustration. "It is not as difficult as you believe, December."
She hated how her name sounded on his lips. "I've never hurt anyone ever before." she said. "I don't want to."
Gareth closed his eyes and frowned, covering his bitter dark eyes. He was probably thinking of some odd thing to say to try to encourage her to . . . be like he was.
He opened his mouth to speak, his pale lips opening to reveal the black insides when he was interrupted.
The door to the training room opened and Prince Cast stepped in, not looking to December but to Gareth, with an excited look on his face. "Gareth, come quickly!" he shouted.
Gareth looked up from December and to Gareth, a question on his mind. "What is it?" he asked softly.
"Success." replied the prince, his face beaming with excitement.
Gareth appeared distracted a moment before he nodded and moved after the prince and both left without a word to December.
She glanced after them, confusion written on her features. She was admittedly curious about whatever mysterious project Cast and Gareth were working on, but they certainly weren't inviting her along. She was actually very afraid of what she might find out.
She hesitated a moment, but finally made her decision, moving to chase after them. She had to admit, she was glad she wasn't wearing a dress.
She came out of the training room and glanced to both ends of the hallway, seeing the hem of Gareth's cape behind him as he turned a corner. She turned and went to follow them, trying to be quiet so as not to alert them that they had her in tow. She felt certain that they'd send her back or stop her, and she'd never satisfy her curiosity if that were to happen.
She followed them from a distance through a large portion of the castle, hearing the prince talk on and on and Gareth listen, but she couldn't hear most of what was said. The rounded a corner into the library, moving through the endless bookshelves and up a spiral staircase. Much of the shelves were levitating in the expansive magical library, making it look busy, yet serene. They made it easy for December to hide, but difficult for her to keep up with the pair.
December soon lost them as they ascended the library, losing track of them as they rounded a bookshelf up yet another spiral staircase.
She followed them up, not sure where they had gone only to find that at the end of the book aisle, there was a hallway leading out of the library. It was a shallow hall, ending quickly with no other alcoves or other hallways, there only being a crest and shield set at the opposite wall.
The two men were gone after having turned that way, and she had lived in the castle long enough to know that there was a high number of hidden passageways and trick doors. She felt certain that one must be there, for both men had simply disappeared.
She moved to the wall and quickly started feeling around about the crest, searching for the switch that would activate the wall. It wasn't difficult, the switch was directly behind the crest, a small lever at the top of the shield.
She flipped it with the tip of her fingers and heard the machinery softly go to work. The wall slid smoothly to the side, locking in place away and revealing a long dark hallway ahead of her.
December hesitated where she stood, suddenly unsure of herself. She couldn't see either of the men through the dark of the corridor, and didn't know if she'd be able to find her way back. She stayed where she was standing for a short moment longer before she took a breath and walked forward into the dark hallway.
It wasn't long until she'd taken several turns, that the only light was torchlight, quite unlike the natural lighting in the library or the magical lighting in the rest of the palace. It gave the corridors an intimidating feel.
She continued to wander about inside them, following their general course and not taking any turns along the darker hallways she passed. She hoped this was the course that the Prince and the Lord had walked along on their way.
Before long, she felt like she could feel the darkness starting to weigh down on her. There was a chill in the air that was starting to make her shiver, but more than anything else, there was something she could feel in the air that was somehow undefinable. Although she couldn't decide quite why, she felt terrified. There was almost total silence until suddenly she began to hear voices, not speaking, just making sounds. The moans and sobbing she could hear seemed to come from just ahead.
December felt unsure that she even wanted to find out the source of all the sounds, she felt entirely ill at ease.
Her heart was beginning to pound along with the fear she felt, but she couldn't seem to make herself stop moving forward. In the darkness ahead, a shape began to materialize, a door.
She stopped before it, looking up and down over it, nervous even to touch it. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she stood before it, for some reason she couldn't explain, she was terrified. Almost as though it was moving on its own, her arm began to rise, her hand reaching for the door handle.
Suddenly, she felt a hand land on her shoulder, making all the spinning sensations suddenly fly to a stop. Her head snapped around to see the source of the hand to find a guard standing behind her, concern mirrored in his eyes.
"Are you lost, Princess?" he spoke softly.
December stared, stunned for a moment before she finally nodded. "Ah, yes." she admitted.
The guard nodded his understanding. "Would you allow me to escort you back to the library?"
December agreed quickly, shaking her head of the curiosity that drove her. She didn't want to be here.
They began walking back, the guard making a light appear over them with a with a spell while they walked. December nervously began talking to the guard as they went, trying to relieve her fear. The guard seemed easy enough to talk to.
As they stepped out into the welcome light of the library, December looked back to the guard, smiling gratefully.
"Thank you, sir..." she said gently, showing her smile.
The guard nodded and was about to turn about when December asked quickly.
"Wait . . . that door," she began softly, watching the guard turn to look back at her. "That's the door that the Prince goes to, isn't it?" she asked.
The guard nodded quietly.
Her face revealed a little more of her fear. " . . . What's behind it?"
The guard was silent a long time before he answered. "I don't know," he said.
"But whatever it is, I hope I never live to see it."

~

Cress sat in the dark briefing room, his face lit like all the other men and women in the room by a blueish glowing hologram mapping the Castor city that rotated in the center of the table. Walking about the table and continuing the briefing was Commander Hacking, head of the ground forces. He continued where he was at after pointing to a spot on the hologram.
"We were able to track the comsat device on Lieutenant Farr's uniform to the Castor's capital. Intel did not anticipate this happening because of their religious fervor toward the capital, yet the results are clear."
He pointed to the base of the tower on the hologram, making it pulse lightly. "We all know the new fleet code, no one is left behind. We need our man back." he said in a stately manner. Everything about the commander bespoke military respect.
"Intel has developed a rescue plan already." he begun and pointed to a spot on the hologram again. "We'll have two infiltration teams made up of special operatives enter from the roof via drop-ship. Your mission is to locate the prisoners inside the castle. We're looking for a group of thirty to forty prisoners. We'll extract them at the main courtyard where the dropship will be able to make a landing."
He pointed to each point he spoke of on the map as he went over the briefing.
"Team Alpha will be led by Captain Grant from the par-corps." He said, looking up to nod to the captain at the table who'd been in listening to the presentation. Grant, a man of dark complexion nodded his acknowledgment of the objective.
Commander Hacking returned the nod and went on. "Team Alpha will be inserting on the western end by repelling rope. Bravo team will be entering here on the east." he spoke. "and will be led by-"
Cress interrupted him. "Excuse me sir." he said, standing quickly up.
The Commander eyed him in surprise. "Yes, Captain?"
Cress saluted sharply. "Sir, with permission, I would like to volunteer to lead the team."
The commander paused a moment, clearly surprised by the outburst. "Captain, you are a defender pilot, correct? Are you sure you're qualified for this mission?"
Cress nodded. "Sir, with respect, I am the last remaining of the original generation of defenders. Back when I was trained, I was also certified as a phantom operative." He said, some reaction as he finished. "As I understand, I am the last of the Phantoms as well. I believe that I am qualified for this mission."
The Commander watched him for a time before he finally nodded. "Captain Alvin, I cannot include you in this mission without the consent of your commanding officer," he began. "However, if you were to have that, I would put you as Bravo lead."
Cress nodded quickly. "Understood, Commander." he looked back to the door before he looked to the commander again. "Please excuse me a moment."
Commander Hacking smiled lightly as Cress moved from the room to the door.
Only a few moments later, the door to Commander Adam's office came open. Commander Adams looked up to see Cress enter the room, taking a sigh as he did. Cress spoke before he could though.
"Commander, you want me to accept that instructor position, right?" he spoke hurriedly.
Commander Adams looked taken aback from the statement, answering cautiously. "Yes..."
Cress smiled. "I'll make you a deal."

Chapter Four: Good Timing

Cress's heartbeat was pounding in his ears, the ship's control shaking under his hands as he tried to hold his craft airborne. Both the spikers were hot on his tail, spewing more of their quills at him every few moments. He would dodge each barrage, spinning to the side or dipping the defender down around. He'd covered almost all the distance to Finelle, seeing the behemoth of the city looming on the horizon. He started sounding the radio immediately, certain he was now within broadcast range.
"Finelle Air Command, This is Defender Bravo Seven! My wingman is down and I have two spikers hot on my six. Guns are dry. Requesting immediate assistance!"
He spun the ship again, avoiding another volley of spines when he heard the voice of his commander on the line.
"We Copy. Alert fighters prepped and beginning launch, hang in there Bravo!" the voice came back, fuzzy with the range. Cress was about to breathe a sigh of relief when his ship shook violently, a terrible grinding noise sounding from his engine. It was damaged before, and now it was done. He watched smoke billow out of it over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing in frustration. Of all the times for his engine to die on him, this was not the one. Both dragons almost immediately closed the distance, their wide yellowish eyes gleaming with their imminent success. They arched their necks and both fired a barrage at the slowed and falling ship.
Cress had only a split second to react; his hand flew to the side of the seat, grasping and yanking on a switch there.
The Defender was struck by the spines, the reactor inside it being breached and instantly exploding, the blast violent and bluish colored. Cress flew from the wreck, having yanked the ejection mechanism just before the impact. The seat he was in quickly fell away and Cress found himself in free fall over the dense woods below him. After only a moment, his ship was past and well out of view, he falling much faster. Cress pulled down his flight goggles, the wind from free fall temporarily blinding him before he had them on and looked to his side. Both the dragons circled around having already spotted him and no doubt feeling their stomachs rumble at the sight of the exposed pilot. Cress cursed and looked back down, knowing the dragons were coming down after him. He straightened his body, trying to get as much downward momentum as possible to get away. If he pulled the ripcord to his parachute then he might as well present himself to the hungry beasts precooked. He would have to wait, his plan formulating. He'd have to pull the chute just above the trees, knowing the canopies were nearly 200 feet from the ground. He'd be counting on the branches to catch the chute and save him from the painful death by fall.
He could hear the beat of the beasts wings as they flew after him. He glanced to the side to see the monster coming hard after him, but he could only see one. He looked back down and saw the second, his silver eyes widening at the sight. It had flew beneath him and was now flying upwards toward him, maw gaping open.
The world seemed to slow down for Cress, realizing now that inaction would mean certain death. He hadn't kept his survival rifle when he ejected, but he reached to his side anyway, feeling the weight of a uniform standard piece. Strapped to his thigh was a tiny pistol like flare gun, used to flag down for rescue or for signaling. He took it from its side and pointed it down into the maw of the coming dragon, pulling the trigger with only feet between them.
The flare flashed when it left his gun, burning into the dragons mouth, making it choke for a moment. It was all he needed.
The maw closed for just a moment as the beast flinched, Cress tucking his shoulder as he hit into the side of the creature's face, rolling straight down its body and landing his feet at the back of its head, pushing off back straight down the body. He heard the two beasts crash into one another for a moment, recovering quickly, but not fast enough for him to make it into the parachute zone.
Cress pulled the chute, feeling it inflate right away. He felt his body jerk at the sudden pull of the chute, slowing his fall drastically before he suddenly broke the tree canopy. He shielded his eyes for a moment as he fell through and his chute caught on the branches. His fall came to a sudden stop and he was left hanging where he was. He looked up, hearing sudden gunfire and watched the two dragons attempt to turn and flee as the alert fighters from Finelle arrived, chasing the dragons away, probably bringing them down.
Cress let a breath out and picked up the radio, finally smiling, relief in his voice.
"Good timing guys."

~

December hated combat magic lessons, hated the methods, hated their purpose, hated how hard they were, and most of all she hated her teacher.
Which is why she was so glad that Lord Gareth was away today, off on some battle or something. She sat in the combat room, an open book in her hands as she finished a fairy tale about a silver-eyed castor-knight that saves a princess from an evil Kahmmon warlord. She smiled at the contents of the writing, so much of her childhood made up between the pages of books just like this one; love stories and dramas and fantasies about worlds without the complexity of magic. They were probably written by Kahmmonors themselves but she liked them non-the-less.
December closed the book after flipping through the pages a few times and looked back up to the empty training room, sighing softly.
She was a princess, the wonderful life she read about should have been hers to claim, and maybe four years earlier that would have been possible. She only began taking the combat courses on the request of Prince Cast himself.
. . . He seemed so happy when she said she might, she couldn't say no.
She tried to push that thought away, knowing where it would lead to. She kept telling herself that it was just a hard time, that the war would soon end and then when peace was restored, the prince would be himself again. Then, she felt certain, everything would be like it was supposed to be.
She put the book into her bag, a tiny purse sort of thing she rather liked, and stood up. Gareth was more than an hour late, so she could justify her leaving.
She was just out of the room when she heard some activity going on toward the entrance hall. Curiosity peeked, she made her way there, coming to find an odd procession moving into the palace.
A couple dozen people, dressed like Finellians and being guarded by several of Gareth's men. Even the Prince was there, talking to the black armor-clad figure that December couldn't mistake as anyone but Lord Gareth.
It took her mind only a few moments to comprehend what was going on. They were prisoners. The shock of what was happening hit her like a hammer, and without even really realizing where it came from, she was furious.
Red faced, she stormed to the prince and dark knight, barely keeping herself from yelling in front of the other guards and nobles that were watching the spectacle.
"What are you doing?! You brought Fells inside the city? Inside the Palace??" she hissed, uncommonly calling the Finellians by their shorter name.
The prince turned to her and smiled soothingly. "They are prisoners, Princess. We-"
She cut him off. "It is abomination!" her hiss growing harsher. "How can you do this?"
Gareth cut in, his voice velvet to the ears and making unpleasant goosebumps appear on December's skin. "Do not be alarmed, dear December." he said softly, using her name when the Prince wouldn't. It bothered her more than she thought it would. "The prince, in his wisdom, has decided to make an exception, purifying these Kahmmon for our use before bringing them inside."
December's eyes flashed to Gareth, the Dark Knight removing his helmet to bow to her. His hair was silver from age; well groomed, and long past his shoulders, it was the only part of him that gave his age away at all other than his skin, like paper in texture from so many times having unnaturally restored his youth. His eyes were a deceptive bright blue, his face fair and attractive. Yet for his fair features, there was something indescribable about him that seemed to radiate darkness and filth. Being around him made December feel as though she needed to bathe, despite not having any physical reason to do so.
She was about to speak further when the Prince cut her off. "I have given it my permission. For the first time, we have captured one of their flying warriors- We have much we can learn from him."
December listened and slowly turned to look at the procession, most of the people looking like ordinary Finellians, but one of them appearing to stand a little taller than the rest, wearing a uniform. She noticed that his head was bleeding rather badly, or at least had been only a moment ago.
Before either the prince or Gareth could stop her, she stepped away from them, walking to him.
The man's eyes flashed to her, mistrust mirrored heavily within them. He tensed, but could do nothing being bound as he was. Gareth began to move after her, the Prince shouted, but she ignored them, moving right up to the pilot and raising her hand to his bloodied forehead. She was awful at combat magic, but since she was young, December had always been hailed as a gifted healer. It made her happy to use magic in such a way. Her fingers glowed gently as she pressed them to the man's forehead, the slight feeling of vibration there for an instant before she took her hand away. The bleeding stopped altogether, the pilot's young features relaxing as the red and swollen wound faded away.
Gareth stopped where he was, watching curiously, the prince doing the same. The pilot himself seemed stunned by what happened.
December smiled gently to him, trying to reassure him. She was famous for her smile after all. "What is your name, warrior?"
The man hesitated only a moment before he answered. "Jake, Jacob Farr." he answered softly.
December's smile took warmth. "I am Princess December." she answered in return. "You have fought well, and have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sure your people are proud of you."
Jake just watched her before the Prince took her shoulder and made her look up.
"That's enough, Princess." he said softly, beginning to pull her away. She let him lead her, turning back to look at Jake for a moment longer, he watching her go with a stunned expression at the kindness he was shown.
Prince Cast took her a short distance away before stopped and smiled to her unconvincingly. "We'll take it from here, December. Why don't you go back to what you were doing before?"
December frowned. "Why don't you want me here?"
Cast's smile slowly faded and he shook his head a little, his voice softening. "December, it makes me nervous to see you in such proximity to the Fells, I just want you to stay safe."
December was stunned by the answer, even more so when he called her by her name. She felt a smile appearing before she willed it in place at the kindness in his words. She couldn't remember the last time he spoke to her that way.
"A-Alright..." she agreed softly, smiling genuinely to him.
His smile returned in place. "Ok. I'll talk to you later then." he promised.
He turned and began walking back, his royal cloak billowing behind him.
December stood there smiling as he went and suddenly called out. "I love you!"
The prince stopped and looked back over his shoulder and smiled to her.
She smiled right back at him.
After a moment, he looked back to where he was off to, returning to the main hall.
December kept smiling.

Chapter Three: Wingman

The sun was high and the morning was beautiful as two fighter craft blazed through the sky. Smooth and masterful, the defenders flew demonstrating the high performance their reputation boasted.
Sitting in the cockpit of the Defender in front sat Captain Cress Alvin, his silver eyes sharply looking out over the vast landscape they flew across. He picked up his radio, his smile evident in his voice as he spoke. "How're you holding up, Rookie?"
"Slow down!" came the immediate response from his wingman on the radio. "You're going way above regulation speed. It's only a patrol, there's no need to hurry!"
Cress's smile only grew. "Can't keep up?"
There was silence from the rookie for a minute before Cress spoke again. "Come on, let's see what you can do."
He released the radio chat lever and dropped his hand down to the throttle switch, pushing it in fully. He felt perfectly at home inside a Defender, and the sudden push of the added throttle made him grin.
His craft rocketed ahead, his wingman taking only a moment to pick up the same speed and hurl his craft after Cress. The two machines spiraled through the air, Cress smiling to watch the rookie try to keep up. Jake Farr, 17 years old, top of the cadet's class, the kid they expected to be the best of the new Defenders. Cress himself was the last of the original generation of Defender pilots, having first begun flying when he was fourteen years old. It was during the time when humankind was desperate for pilots and began accepting them at younger and younger ages. With his parents having died along with the Earth, he and his sister had nothing to lose but each other. Cress started flying because food was scarce and pilots were guaranteed rations; he needed to feed his little sister.
Cress spun his craft into a barrel roll sideways, not letting up and twirling through the air, his defender more than capable of handling it. He was only 24 years old, and yet he was the old man in the squadron, everyone was waiting for him to turn in his wings and take another assignment. His commander was trying to get him to accept an instructor position, with no success. Perhaps this was his way of getting him to be an instructor anyway, taking the promising new kid under his wing.
He glanced back and was surprised to see that the rookie was keeping up rather well. He grinned and picked the radio back up. "Hey, I'm impressed. Don't tell me you learned to fly like that in a simulator." He was slowing down to fly along side Jake now, letting off the throttle.
Jake's voice came back on the com. "No, sir, I was a mechanic before I was accepted into the defender academy." he explained. "I flew everything I fixed to test it. I've been in the air many times before the academy."
Cress smiled. "Mechanic, huh? You and I will get along just fine."
He heard a soft chuckle of relief over the radio before he pushed the throttle ahead again, this time at a more reasonable speed. They flew together for a while after, cruising over the serene valleys they patrolled. There was a thick fog out in the canyons and deeper valleys in the unearthly, but beautiful landscape, despite the sun. It gave the valley a mysterious sort of air that Cress would admit he thought was beautiful, despite his knowledge that the foggy areas were also the most dangerous. They'd found all manner of dangerous animal life in the valleys around this area, all fascinating and beautiful, but equally dangerous. The beauty of the wooded valley was just another lure to a dangerous place.
They were coming to the point of their patrol where they would normally turn around when a distressed voice came out over their radio, Cress picking it up to listen more closely.
"Any Finellian forces hearing this, this is Settler 13! We are under heavy attack and need reinforcements and extraction as soon as is possible. Does anyone copy??"
Cress pushed in the transmitter switch with a clicking sound to respond. "Settler 13, this is Defender Patrol Bravo-Seven. We are on our way, hold on!"
The voice in return bespoke relief. "Defenders?? Thank Heaven! We're settled at Co-ordinates 56.0 - 21.7. Please hurry!"
"Acknowledged." Cress answered before he pushed the throttle in. "Come on, kid. It's action time." he said back on the personal radio.
Jake acknowledged his understanding before he asked. "56 - 21? Isn't that outside the colonizing safe zone? What are they doing clear out there?"
"Doesn't matter to us, Rook. We are Defenders, we will protect. We'll let them answer questions like that later."
In only a few moments, the scene came to their view, the Settler landing ship, box shaped, simple, and very large, came to view. It was landed in a clearing and seemed to have some village structures around it, which made Cress think it must have been well established already. Circling above it were three fire dragons, dark red in color, and down below there was the unmistakable flashes of magic and gunfire.
"Alright kid, dragons first. Then we'll clean off the ground. Arm rockets." Cress instructed quickly, switching over to missiles on his own control panel, arming an air-to-air barrage.
The dragons noticed the incoming ships, their bodies fluid in the air as they turned away and began flying toward the Defenders, spewing fire at them. Cress dodged it without much effort, dipping beneath it before he spun into a barrel roll, releasing the barrage mid-spin.
The rockets fanned out and found their marks, directly impacting the first unfortunate beast. As the rockets hit the monster, it's tough hide was no match for the chemical force and energy of the blast, making no shield at all. The dragon was dead instantly, its ruined body falling from the sky.
As Cress leveled his craft, he saw yet another barrage, this one from his wingman, impact into the second dragon with similar results.
"Good hit!" he called to him, not looking away from the final dragon. He switched to guns, the high-caliber weapons spinning to life as he charged against the dragon as though they were playing chicken. The monster spewed its fiery breath at Cress, the fireball scorching toward him. He spun the craft, making it spiral through the air and just dodge the fireball, returning fire with the chain guns. The dragon made attempts to dodge the stream of bullets, but found itself less apt than Cress and his defender. The stream of bullets caught the dragon full on, the armor piercing rounds having no problem ending it. The final dragon fell from the sky as the two defenders charged forward undaunted.
Cress could make out the figures in combat now, the beleaguered marines retreating into the ship to continue the fight from cover as many more of the castor knights attacked. He once again put the guns spinning and drilled the the land as he passed with ammunition, a few moments later Jake doing the same. The magicians began to retreat almost immediately at the overwhelming air-support, trying in vain to run for the trees while Cress and Jake made several more runs. A few little jets of magic darted into the air after them, but without making their marks as the defenders were too quickly passing for any aim to be of help. The two defenders were armed only with a patrol payload, so they were in no way fully armed, instead outfitted for maximum fuel efficiency. After firing the last of his bullet rounds, Cress dropped the only air-surface payload he had, a few rockets which caused further chaos among the retreating castors then he turned about to circle while he radioed.
"Settler 13, this is Defender Patrol. Enemy is in retreat and guns are dry. We need to return to base. Can you hold for extraction?" He spoke, looking at the colony ship beneath him.
"We should be alright for now. Thank heavens for you, Defenders- it wasn't looking good until you came." the voice sounded deeply relieved.
Cress didn't acknowledge the compliment but only the answer he'd needed. "Roger. Extraction forces should be on their way. Defender patrol returning."
He turned his wing about and aimed for Finelle, flying low and checking for Jake to be behind him. Cress popped the switch back on the radio to just talk to his wingman and spoke. "Well,your first combat experience. You ok?"
Jake's answer came back sounding a little uncertain. "I'm alright. It was just so fast..."
Cress nodded, even though Jake couldn't see him do it. "You get used to it."
He was about to say more when he saw a warning flash on his radar. There was a bogey coming in fast, a dragon they'd missed somehow, or an advance from another wave of attack. He looked back to see the shining blue hide that could only belong to a spiker, a slimmer kind of dragon with a back like a hedgehog. It could fire spines from its back, which moved much more quickly than the fireballs from the other dragons, and which made them much more dangerous to aircraft. His silver eyes widened a little in shock at how quickly it'd closed the distance to them and saw it firing spines toward his wingman. "Heads up!" he shouted to Jake, but a moment too late.
The spines made contact all across his backside, punching out an engine and making dark smoke start to rise from behind the machine. Jake's craft bucked violently before making a sharp downward turn, spiraling downward into the forest. Cress swore and spun his craft about to avoid further projectiles from the beast as it bore down on him. He cursed himself for using the last of his ammunition already before the real danger was upon him.
They went at each other several times, each time they passed each other Cress making another last moment dodge to avoid further spines being thrown into him. He wasn't going to be able to keep it up, eventually he'd be struck if he didn't do anything. He began reviewing the ship's various systems in his mind, trying to think of anything that could be useful to him. If he wasn't in it himself, he might have been able to use the ejection seat as a potential projectile... Perhaps the landing gear? He ruled it out quickly, his thoughts scattering as he made another pass and dodged another set of spines. The landing gear would probably do far more damage to his own ship then it would the monster. There was always the mooring cable, a claw attached to a rope that they would use to anchor their craft to objects in space before they came to this world. He'd have to make it work.
As he came around for another pass, just dodging the spines yet again, he fired the mooring cable, it hooking and attaching to the dragon's wingtip, effectively yanking it from its flight.
Cress grinned, knowing he had it now. He punched the throttle to full and fired on the afterburners to give him all the speed he could get, curving mid-air to fly nearly straight up. After rising nearly two thousand feet up, he made a sharp curve downward, plummeting at insane speed downward, dragging the beast along with him.
He wasn't sure why, but he felt the awful impulse to toss off a one-liner as he finished the maneuver. He couldn't control himself, he did it.
"Thanks for flying!" he said like an airline captain as he sharply pulled up, curving out of the nose dive with less than a hundred feet between him and the trees. He released the mooring line as he did, the dragon not getting the corrective pull up, the massive speed and force on it smashing it into the ground where it lay still from that time on.
Cress was breathing hard, his head swimming from the G-Forces he'd just experienced. He took back the control and floated his craft back to the crash site where Jake had gone down.
The trees were too dense to see where he went down precisely, but there was no sign of fire or explosion, which meant that Jake might have survived. He grabbed his radio, trying to see if Jake might be listening or able to speak in return.
"Rookie! Kid!" he called, hoping to get an answer. "Pick up the radio, Jake!"
After a moment, he heard a voice come back, sighing in relief as it did.
" . . . Hey, Captain." he mumbled into the mic. His voice was soft, and sounded weak.
"You alright Jake? Any injuries?" Cress asked, his mind reviewing the curriculum to remember what sorts of survival training Jake might have had.
"I hit my head." he said softly. "It's bleeding a little, but I think I'm ok."
Cress rubbed the side of his own head for a moment, trying to think of a possible alternative acceptable plan to just floating there watching him.
He was thinking of trying to perform a landing to pick him up when his radar alarm started going off yet again. He looked down, seeing three more dragons incoming. He turned in his seat to see them on the horizon, two the familiar blue that meant trouble and the third a black color he'd never seen before. He swore under his breath before he turned back to look at the wreck. "Jake, we've got incoming. I'm totally dry on guns, I can't stay with you. Use the survival rifle in your defender and get into the woods, try to hide." He instructed hurriedly, keeping an eye on the incoming dots on his radar.
His voice was afraid when he picked up. "What do you mean, you mean the enemy is coming now?"
Cress ground his teeth a little before he answered. "Jake, I am your wingman. I will come back for you. You know your training, now put it to use." He hated to leave Jake behind, but there was nothing that could be done about it now, he would only complicate the problem by being a sitting duck. He punched the throttle to full, pushing away from the place and headed straight for Finelle. He noted that both the blues changed course to give him pursuit, firing after him immediately. He rolled the ship to the side, making most of the spines glance off, but a couple hit home. Alarms started ringing, but the craft held together. His throttle died off to only 30% after the impact, not enough to outrun the dragons, but he could still give them a run. He kept the craft steady in its run, both dragons on his tail.

~

Jake stumbled from the wrecked ship, clutching the rifle in one hand. His head was screaming at him, the world swirling from his injury. He made his way off of the defender's wing and onto the forest floor, staggering away at the best pace he could manage. It was only a moment later that he heard Cress's ship bolt away and he looked up, fighting off a surge of panic. He was by himself now, alone and being hunted. He wasn't quite out of sight of the crashed fighter when he heard the wingbeats of a decending dragon, coming down to land on the fighter with the crunch of metal under claw. He threw himself onto his chest on the forest floor, hoping that the grass and brush would hide him, or perhaps the dragon would think him already dead. He tried to control his breathing as he held the rifle, ready to roll over and fire.
He could hear the dragon's growls and sniffing as it searched about, the enormous monster creeping about as it looked for the mission pilot. He held his breath, but it did him little good. After only a moment, the dragon began growling in his direction, having discovered him. He swore, rolling over and lifting the rifle, praying that he'd get in a lucky shot that would deter the monster. He lifted the rifle and pulled the trigger, but to his surprise, he got off only a couple shots before the rifle was thrown from his hands. A bolt of what appeared to be lightening hit into his hands from the side, knocking the weapon flying away. Jake yelped in mixed surprise and pain, the bolt knocking him down and burning his hands. He slowly started to look up to see what hit him, but saw only a black armor boot swing toward him, kicking him back onto his back. His head was a nightmare now, the world started getting dark around him, he knew he wouldn't be able to fight off unconsciousness. He felt certain he was going to die until he heard the black armor clad figure, blurry in his vision speak - it's voice dark and filled with cruelty.
"No, you mustn't die yet, Fell." It spoke as it walked toward him. "I have far too many questions for you to die silently..."
Jake couldn't register the full weight of what the man meant before the darkness covered him, his pain leaving as he fell into unconsciousness.

~

Chapter Two: Sleepless Dreams

The halls of the palace were bright, even considering the time. Light danced about on the walls from the magical lanterns that glowed softly in the little holders along the sides of the way. December kept her over robe pulled tight to keep herself modest as she moved through the ways, sparing happy smiles for the worn looking guards as she passed.
She had inadvertently taken the role of the smiling maiden in the country, beloved by the people for her natural manner. Knowing that she was looked to by many of the people around her as a source of happiness was heavy, she felt the pressure, but never heavy enough to lose the smile that made her famous. Some of the guards even spared a smile back for the princess as she passed, on her way to the Prince's war room.
She soon came to the doorway of the Prince's room, knocking lightly. She took a step back from the doorway and waited a moment, listening to the foot falls of the prince as he rose from the table.
In only a moment the door slid open, the prince standing in the doorway with a tired look in his azure eyes. "...Same dream, Princess?" he asked softly, trying on a smile for her.
She nodded in return. "I know you're busy, but can I just keep you company for a while?"
The prince just smiled and stepped from the doorway. "Come in then."
December followed him through the doorway, closing it behind her and turning to see the prince sit back down in his accustomed chair, leaning back over the maps and reports he'd been pouring over before. December moved away from the door way to sit on a small padded bench against the wall. The war room was not nearly as well lit as the hall passage, having only a single lamp suspended in the room. It was lightly furnished, a large table in the center of the room with chairs around it, a few padded benches along the sides beneath tapestry decor for observers.
The room was nearly entirely empty tonight, however, with just December and the prince inside it. She watched quietly for a time, feeling the silence begin to grow heavy. He didn't look back up at her, apparently entirely absorbed in his work.
December drew her knees up to her chest, putting both arms around them and peeking over her knees at the prince. She stayed that way for a short time until she let her knees back down, the prince apparently not noticing any of her movements.
"So . . ." she started softly. "Is the war going . . . well?"
She was aware that this was perhaps a difficult subject, but it was probably all that was on the prince's mind at the moment.
The prince stiffened, and stayed silent.
Her smile slowly faded away before she spoke again. "It's not . . . is it?" she said softly, her words making more a statement than a question.
The prince finally spoke up, speaking softly as though he was having a hard time finding the correct words. "It's getting bloodier." he said finally, then expounded. "The Finellians are . . . resourceful. I know now that we severely underestimated them when this war began." his speaking was stiff and apparently it was difficult for him to admit the strengths of his enemy.
December shifted a little. "I'm scared..." she admitted softly.
Prince Cast looked up sharply, his face a mixture of pride and something else she couldn't see right away. "Don't be. We will win this war. This is the holy empire, we cannot lose, not to anyone and especially not to a band of blaspheming Kahmmoners."
December cringed at the rise in his temper. "I'm not worried for the nation, I'm worried for you!" she retorted softly, tears springing unexpectedly to her eyes. She had an awful lot of emotion stored up over this, she didn't mean to bring it all out now.
The prince scowled, he knew why she worried but still wished she wouldn't. "You don't need to worry about me." he told her. "No more than the rest of the nation, anyway."
She shook her head furiously "I'm your wife! I'm allowed to worry!" she shouted, her voice finally raising, but then she immediately blushed and looked away. She hid her face in both hands, sobbing softly.
He looked up to her, watching her for a second before he spoke, his voice sedate. "Not yet." he corrected her softly.
December looked up, her face tear stained. "I should be. I should have been four years ago . . ." she hated herself for bringing it up, hated every time she brought it up because it always made her cry. "If it wasn't for Gareth then we'd-"
The prince suddenly came to his feet at the mention of the name, making December cut off in surprise at his sudden reaction.
"Princess!" he said harshly, his head snapping over to look at her, his eyes suddenly hard. "We've had this conversation already, too many times. I will not tolerate another ill word about Lord Gareth."
December flinched, she felt a hot anger rise in her face on the topic. "If it wasn't for him, we'd be wed right now!"
Upon the outbreak of the war, Lord Gareth quickly rose in prominence. From his efforts, there was passed the law that no man could wed until after performing his term of service for the holy army. The prince, of course was excempt from this, but the prince denied himself for the sake of being an example to his people. As a point of honor, he would not pass nor enforce a law which he would not keep himself. Normally, this was a virtue which December loved about the prince, but in this instance it drove her crazy. "I wouldn't have to sleep alone and I wouldn't have to-" she listed, but was cut off.
"If it wasn't for Lord Gareth, our army would be only half the size it is now!" He spat, anger apparent in his voice as well. "Because of him we have nearly doubled our knowledge of combat magic. Because of him, the Fells haven't been able to hold the land they steal from us!" he said, using a derogatory term for the Finellians.
"Gareth is a patriot, and I will not tolerate any further talk about him, Princess."
"Use my name!" she cried in return, her tears falling yet again, without her willing them to. "Stop calling me 'Princess'! You used to call me December, you used to call me Angel!"
The prince fell silent instantly, his face looking like he'd just been punched in the stomach. He fell back into his chair, slowly looking away from her, his eyes falling on the table without really looking at anything.
December hid her face again, sobbing unashamedly. "What happened to us?" she asked the air, knowing full well that the Prince could not answer her.
The prince slowly lifted a hand to his face, settling rubbing his forehead. "Go to bed, Princess." he said flatly, his voice tired.
December flinched at his final word, but said no more, slowly rising to her feet and walking to the door. She opened it up and stepped outside, turning before closing it.
"Cast . . . I love you." she said, her smile weakly returning through the tears.
The prince didn't look up.

~

Chapter One: My Wedding Day

He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, his hands tightening a little on the steering control before him. He had been in dozens and dozens of fire fights before, but nothing like what they were preparing to do now. He could hear the voices on the radio, coordinating the coming attack as the crafts moved through space. He had to admit, it was somehow unsettling . . . and deceivingly peaceful, the quiet they were enjoying right now before the most expansive battle any of them would ever see, perhaps the last that any of them would ever see. He felt the quick and reliable response of his craft beneath his hands and let a soft breath into his helmet. It was reassuring to feel everything being at the top of its performance. He knew his craft up and down, every bolt and weld. He trusted the wings he rode on.
He glanced to the side of his cockpit, looking out the re-enforced glass at the world they orbited. It reminded him of Earth, even though he'd only been a boy the last time he'd seen it. He could see the Lionheart floating ahead and to his right, launching its alert fighters. It was only a matter of moments until they came around the curve of the world to engage the swarm on the other side.
The thought sent a chill through him and he had to focus himself yet again. He'd been flying against the swarm since before the end of the earth, he didn't have time for the fear he was feeling now.
He glanced to his side to look over the world again, not being able to stop his soft, somewhat ironic smile. He fully figured that in only a few hours he would be dead, along with nearly everyone he knew and it was all for a world and people he had never met and knew nothing about.
"You'd better be worth it." he whispered to the planet before he heard his commander's voice on the radio. He answered immediately.
"Defender Bravo-1 check left. Assault underway. God-Speed everyone."
He released the radio button and dropped his hand to the throttle lever and pushed it to full. Captain Cress Alvin's dark chocolate eyes flashed beneath a lock of his dark hair as he felt his ship spring forward, a grin spreading over his lips.
"Now let the good times roll!"

~

The air was warm, almost thick. December had to admit she enjoyed the feel of it, it felt like something wonderful was about to happen. She pushed her thoughts back as she looked back to the full mirror once again thrilled with how the long and ornate wedding gown looked upon her, contrasting sharply with her shoulder-length dark hair, resting in curls today. She turned her shoulders again and again, twirling every once in a while to watch the way it moved on her. Cast would be thrilled, she was certain. The thought made her smile widen.
There came a knock at the door behind her and she looked back with a smile, although quickly looking back at herself in the mirror, again admiring the dress. "Come in." she called behind her and the door opened.
A maid peeked in, smiling warmly at the girl in the dress. "The preparations are ready, M'lady; are you?"
December beamed and nodded quickly, "All but a little make-up. Would you help me?"
The maid as about to answer, but they were interrupted as an unusual noise filled the air. Both she and the maid looked quickly to the balcony, the curtains blowing softly in the breeze there while they searched for the source of the sound. They slowly moved over to look out, still searching for the noise when they found where it originated.
High above the balcony, slowly drifting downward there was a large and oddly shaped craft floating into the courtyard, wind seeming to blow off of it. She couldn't take her eyes off of it, her curiosity irrefutable. It was like some sort of great sculpture! She wondered if it was meant as a gift for the wedding. She giggled at the thought as she watched it come to a soft landing, part of it opening up with people walking out of it.
"Amazing . . ." she breathed softly as she watched it happening. She was convincing herself more and more that it was a wedding gift. She consciously scolded herself for the little selfishness and smiled to herself. Whatever it was, it was wonderful, just like anything was on her wedding day. She turned back to the maid and smiled broadly. "This day only gets better!"
The two moved together away from the window to sit down and finish her makeup, the maid returning her smile. They continued chatting idly while the maid happily applied the various powders that would give her the extra little touches that she probably didn't need anyway.
They were very nearly finished when a cry suddenly rang out through the palace, making both look up. It was only moments after the cry when the unmistakable sound of combat magics being used began to be heard. Both bride and maid stood in alarm, at once rushing to the balcony to look out over the courtyard. The people who had previously walked off the craft were now running back to it, several bolts of dark colored energy lancing violently after them. A few were struck and fell down, the rest getting on board the craft, which immediately began to rise. The maid let a shriek and ran from the balcony back inside, but December couldn't bring herself to look away, transfixed by the scene before her.
The craft rose, up and up, rising above where she watched before enough of the bolts struck it that it began to fall, continuously being struck by the magic bombardment falling upon it. As it came level with her balcony, it finally fell, whatever force it had that made it rise suddenly coming to a stop. The soft humming that came from it turned to an ugly grinding noise before it stopped and the craft keeled and fell downward. December watched it fall until it hit back into the ground, nose first. Upon impact, the ship seemingly crumpled and exploded in a fireball, the heat and force hitting her fully. She felt her body be thrown from the lip of the balcony into her room, her dress catching a blaze until she crashed into something at the end of the room and all went dark.

December rose violently from her bed, the sheets falling off of her as she did. Her breathing was irregular and she had to pause to compose herself. It had been four years since that day, but she still had the dreams about the day that her world turned upside down. That was the day that the City in the Sky appeared.
She slowly rose, her nightgown covering her slim body as she climbed from the bed, moving to take an over robe to cover her.
She would never be able to get back to sleep after having that dream, she never could. She would go to see the prince.
Tying her robe, she moved to step outside; she knew he'd be up, he always was.

Prelude (C) No rest for the weary

Finelle, the last of the star cities, finally came to a stop, floating in the atmosphere of the new world they found themselves in. The Lionheart, the last battle cruiser of the once mighty and proud earth fleet, now lay docked in an enormous hanger inside of Finelle itself. For the first time in ten years, the people of Finelle breathed fresh non-recycled air. They were filled with jubilation at their survival, at the discovery of people besides themselves, at the knowledge that after nearly a century of endless war and fear, the human race was now safe and resting at peace.
After analysis and addressing of the damage on their ship, the people prepared a group of ambassadors to visit the natives of this new world.
Boarding a personnel drop ship, they set off to visit the most prominent of all the cities on the world, one with a great rising tower in the center, the architecture of which was remarkable.
They landed at the palace, the ambassadors receiving a remarkably warm welcome. It was apparently the day of a major wedding in the world, and they would be guests of honor. They were fascinated by the world they saw, the dress of the people about them, the wonder of their art and work. Most of all, they were fascinated by the people's magic.
However, as it became more and more clear that the ambassadors were not capable of the same magic as those around them, the Castors began to become hostile. They were in the Palace of the holy city of Silver Spire. Kahmmoners were not tolerated here, it was a defilement of the sacred city. With little warning, the ambassadors were put to death, a few attempting to escape in the drop ship they came in, but it was shot down by dozens of the palace guards. The drop ship rose only short distance before it failed and fell down to earth, exploding on contact with the ground there. The Castor world all at once declared war on the floating city, naming it an abomination. Some said the people of the city were of a Kahmmon secret society, others said they were demons come to steal their world from them. Some even called them Angels sent to punish them. Whatever their origin, the Holy Empire declared an all out war upon the city in the sky; where ever they came from, they were unholy, refused to submit, and needed to be destroyed.

The people of Finelle had no other choice, they were the last of all the people of the earth. The last thing they wanted was yet another war, but it was either fight or die yet again.

The next great war had begun.

Prelude (B) A Tale so Finely Told...

~The Castor Creation Myth~

Before the world came to be, there was a god of story. This weaver of tales told his stories with such passion and such life that his tales couldn't help but come to life. From the nothingness that was, there formed the world. The story teller walked his world and found it to be just as he told it, he was pleased with his work. However, the story teller yet had so much to see and so many tales to tell. He was unwilling to stay to watch over his creation. So, he created the first woman of this world to keep his world. A perfect beauty, the most flawless of all his creations, he formed her and endowed her with his power. She awoke and the story teller gave her the duties she would fulfill before he left on his journey back across the stars.
The girl's name was Eden, and she found herself now as the lone care-taker of a beautiful and expansive world.
She wandered for years upon years until time lost meaning to her. Her youth seemed infinite, but as time began to move on, her loneliness seemed so as well.
To quell her loneliness, she chose to use the powers withwhich she was endowed to create a companion for herself. Thus was born the first man.
Eden, however, was not a god, simply a mortal. Her creation did not share the powers with which she was endowed. Powers or not, however, she loved him.
His name was Kahm.
Together they had many children, all of which followed after Kahm in having no powers like their mother. Thus, many years passed.
After much time had gone, Kahm had grown very jealous of his wife's power, wanting it for himself and for his children. This jealousy eventually made him lose his mind.
Believing that if he ate her, and fed her to his children they would inherit her powers, he attempted to murder his wife. He was foiled, having made the serious mistake of forgetting that she had at her use the very power he coveted.
Eden was forced to use her powers to destroy her insane husband to protect herself, the action breaking her heart.
While she was yet in her tears, the story-teller returned to his world, surprised to see her with children and in tears. He inquired to what had happened and she related to him her story.
Filled with compassion, the Story-Teller offered her one last gift before he would leave for the final time. Using his right as a god, he created a husband for her who was far more worthy. This second husband was created to be nearly perfect; honorable, kind, filled with power and confidence. His endowed powers matched and even exceeded those of his wife. Despite his greater power, there could be no heart so gentle. Before he left, the Story-Teller named this prince "Cast".
Eden and Cast swiftly fell in love, there could be no more devoted husband. They also had children, like before the children taking after their father, except in this instance, being born with the same endowed powers. The sacred power, the force that set them apart came to be named Magic.
Thus, the people of the world came to be separated into two separate classes: the children of Kahm,(Kahmmoners) and the children of Cast (Castors).
Religiously, this separation was of key importance. Those who held these magical powers were the children of the honorable and worthy father, those who did not were the children of the man that had attempted to murder and devour the mother of the world. Castors became the nobles in a feudal system which made Kahmmoners into second-rate citizens, and in many important ways, unholy.
Cast and Eden remained a living and beloved couple, having longevity none of their mortal children shared. After a millennium, Eden finally passed on, having extreme old age. Cast mourned her, and having no desire to live on without his companion, he took her body to the mouth of a sacred river where he began casting an enormously powerful and complicated spell. The bodies of both he and his wife were consumed by the magic and in that place rose a great silver tower.
At the base of the tower there stood a vast and beautiful palace, the tower rising out of the middle and seeming to rise endlessly into the heavens. This was the foundations for the great city of Silver Spire, home of the holy empire.
The government established made many countries over the face of the world, but the leaders of each nation bowed before the holy emperor. The Emperor was a direct descendant of the original Cast, the first son of the first son since the beginning.
The wives of each prince Cast were provided by the other nations of the world, each taking their turn with every generation. It was considered to be the greatest of all honors to become the wife of Cast and to bear him the next great prince Cast.
Because of the power of magic, there was little need for invention, and the beauty and romance of castles was much preferred by the castors. Machinery and invention were become the fancy of madmen.
This was the order of the world, this was the way they each believed, Castor and Kahmmoner alike . . . until one beautiful morning when a floating city descended from the stars.

Prelude (A) Of Worlds and Wars

It was the year 2238 AD by Earth's reckoning that we first made contact with other life. Contrary to many ideas, the meeting was very pleasant and peaceful, beneficial for all involved. Earth's people began to spread and to colonize, new technology and new friends propelling the Earth into the space age. With the new understanding of space jumps, it seemed that there was nothing left to hold the Earth and mankind back.
They made many friends, and few enemies, the economy and technical level growing beyond previous thought. Many more species were discovered many more friends were made. The Galaxy as we knew it was a very large place, and there were many races to befriend.
The Galaxy enjoyed a peace that lasted nearly a hundred years before it happened.
Oddly, it was the smallest of things that began the war that would end so many worlds. Two very minor planets, lacking both economic power or military might declared war on one another over a woman. The princess of Erath had eloped with a politician from Granz, the public outcry sending them to war.
Allies were called in, other motivations were created. Before even a year had passed, there was hardly a race or world that wasn't fully invested in the most devastating full scale war in the history of Earth or any world's being.
Both sides of the war were powerful and resourceful, the war was long, and bitter.
60 years passed and the war still raged, so long that nobody even knew what they were fighting for anymore, just that they had to fight, fight or die. The War grew more and more desperate, changing from a war over money and land and love to a war for survival.
It was the 61st year of the war when Earth's allies, an enlightened race, invented the jump-reaction (J-A) torpedo, the first weapon capable of producing destruction on a planetary scale. It was only a few months later when the Swarm joined the war, an insectoid race that until this point had not been involved in the war. They also held the ability to destroy a world, however destroy in an odd sense. When a Larva-Queen of the Swarm would land on a planet, she would infect it, subverting the very rock of the planet and making it entirely unsuitable to support any life but their own. With both of these weapons now brought into play, the war worsened dramatically, entire races and worlds being violently wiped off the map.
Only a year later, The only worlds and races left alive were Humans and the Swarm, every other world and race having been destroyed, each of the colonies having been obliterated.
In a full out assault, and using the last produced J-A Torpedo, Earth's armada succeeded in destroying the Swarm's homeworld. Considering the war to be over, they turned and plotted a return course to Earth. However, despite the destruction of the Swarm's last homeworld, There was yet another Larva-Queen alive, with a sizable force. The Swarm ambushed the exhausted earth forces from behind and destroyed the fleet, continuing their attack until they attacked Earth and successfully landed their queen on it. Within only hours, the Earth was entirely infested.
Despite rescues, the casualty rate was significant. The majority of the human race was slaughtered that day.
Those who escaped went to star ships, and large cities built onto ships and asteroids that were called "Star Cities". These rag-tag refugees fled to avoid being killed by the now rapidly reproducing Swarm.
For several years, the swarm tried to destroy the remaining humans, the humans always only barely escaping annihilation thanks to the wiles of one particular commander. This man was considered to be a hero, a cunning tactician and trainer by the name of Teancum. He designed and produced a line of high-performance star-fighters, and trained each one of the pilots he hand picked to fly them. They became known as Defenders. This elite fighting force and the wiles of its commander made the difference between life and death against overwhelming odds time and time again.
It was Teancum who devised the plan to put a stop to the swarm and made the first offensive against the swarm since before the loss of Earth. Commendering a very large star colony, and protected by his defenders, Teancum used the reactor engine of the enormous asteroid colony to push the moon out of orbit, making it fall into the earth. With the earth's surface being compromised by the infestation, the moon fall broke the planet apart, effectively destroying the last known world capable of supporting life, effectively stopping the swarm from reproducing.
The defender's were devesated by this loss, but many survived and returned to the fleet.
Inversely, before the destruction of the earth, the Swarm had successfully produced a fleet as well as a new Larva-Queen. However, before she could reproduce she needed to land on a world that could support life. Humans too, could not last without finding a planet to support them. However, with the destruction of the Earth, there were no planets known on any map that could support life.
With no other choice, both species set off into the cosmos and off the map, searching for a world to support them, all the way attempting to annihilate the other and never succeeding.
After eleven years of wandering through the cosmos, The Earth's fleet came out of a jump in an unexplored system where they detected a planet very similar to Earth, and apparently capable of supporting life. Eagerly, they launched probes to test and photograph the new world. To their surprise, they found that this new world already had human life inhabiting it, although it appeared to be not overly advanced. After so many years of having no home and no hope, this news was beyond wonderful.
However, very shortly after their discovery of this world, the Swarm also appeared in the sector, finding the world very quickly and sending their entire force to attempt to land on it, the Swarm being as desperate as the humans. The remainder of Earth's forces rushed to protect the new world and the most fierce battle either species had ever known commenced, raging on and on, the survival of either race being held in the balance.
After the smoke had cleared, days after the battle began, the swarm was exterminated. The last queen was dead, the few remaining drones mindless and floating without direction. Of all Earth's forces, only one cruiser and one star-city remained. With both the cruiser and the Star-city heavily damaged, the Cruiser docked with the city. The final Star City, named Finelle, had lost its life support systems, and was forced to enter the atmosphere of this new world.

It was a beautiful day, the clouds white and thin when the enormous city floating in the sky appeared.