Chapter 36

EDEN CITY

The YK-55 missiles plodded along over the tops of the trees at nearly four thousand miles an hour, their computer brains and nano-chips ignoring everything around them except for the massive blue shield they were targeting. They had been configured for atmospheric flight before being loaded on the VHC-21s and they were at their maximum atmospheric speed, tearing across the landscape. They were designed to punch holes in starships, and the shield they were approaching should provide little resistance, but Admiral Malachi had taken no risks when devising the attack plan.

The missiles were unaware of the furor they were causing as every Anti-Air battery set up within the fifty mile air radius Eden City claimed was coming to life and tracking the missiles. This provided little comfort to the operators of the batteries as they were designed to shoot aircraft and not missiles. They had to silently curse as the missiles sped by their locations intent on their path of destruction. They would strike in just under a minute.

In Eden's Command Center Tarifa's eyes were wide as she and the techs watched on their huge screens the approach of the missiles.

"They're locked on the power generators for the shield! They must be homing in on the unique power signature of the shield and where it's being generated from." One tech screamed, "Three missiles per generator!"

"Get the sentry troops away from the tower generators!" Tarifa ordered quickly. "Why aren't our missile batteries firing?"

"They can't engage against missiles!" Another tech screamed, "Only aircraft! Fuck!"

"Is there nothing we can do?" Tarifa demanded.

"Break the lock!" The human tech that had come from EDEN with Martin a year ago spoke moving up next to her. He had taken part in building the shield to begin with when they landed in that valley so long ago. Tarifa looked at him wide eyed.

"How?"

"I helped build the thing! It is powered by very small nuclear reactors, no larger than a cigarette box." He spoke.

Tarifa looked at him. "What is a cigarette?"

"That doesn't matter! Shut down the shield! The missiles must be homing on the minute radiation that is put off by those reactors!" The man spoke. "It's the only way! The missiles will break lock and there's a chance they won't hit the power stations!"

"Drop the shield?" Tarifa exclaimed. "That's insane! The Alliance artillery strikes would decimate the city! We would lose hundreds!"

"If we don't, those missiles will penetrate the shield, destroy the towers and we lose either way." The tech spoke. "The shield begins at a hundred feet Tarifa! The dish on top of each tower is what broadcasts the signal, but the shield itself doesn't begin until an altitude of a hundred feet off the ground! Those missiles are on the deck and will sneak in under the shield's edge! It's designed for artillery fire, not direct fire! If we drop the shield and power down the control towers we might be able to save the stations and get it back up after the strike!"

Tarifa looked at him and then at the monitor. "Might be able too?" She demanded.

"It depends on how much damage is done." The tech told her. "But if we don't shut down the control towers there won't be anything left to try and save!"

Tarifa looked at him, her sapphire blue eyes wide. She had made decisions before as Queen that impacted the lives of many, but never in so great a number. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath and Martin's words came back to her the night before he had departed for Sparta.

"I don't know what I am Tarifa ... and I have to do this to find out. The answers I have sought for so long are there in that city. What you and I shared for those few days was incredible and it opened us both to new ways of thinking and accepting what was happening around us." He had taken her hands in his as they stood there and Tarifa could feel his power and aura radiating through her with the staggering love of a dear brother.

"What would you have me do Martin?" She asked.

"You are the only one I trust with continuing what we have started here." Martin said, "Even more than Aihola and Selene and the others. You and I are cut from the same mold Tarifa. And while our lives may have taken us in different directions and to new people, we have always kept that closeness. You are like the sister that I never had, and to me that is what is important now. Aihola owns your heart, as Anja and Dysea and Aricia own mine. I leave here knowing that Eden is in the hands of the one person behind me who will do everything in her power to keep it safe. I will never abandon you, never cast you aside and forget you. And if you are ever in trouble all you have to do is call and I will answer. That is how much I trust you."

Tarifa reached up and placed her hand against his warm skin and smiled. "It is strange Martin, but your words ring so true in my ears. Perhaps ... perhaps this is what the Holy One meant when he said we would set each other free; that we would open each others eyes to that which we could not fathom alone. I will always be here for you ... no matter what Martin Leonidas. And as you have spoken to me ... all you need do is call."

Martin trusted her above all others.

Tarifa's sapphire eyes sprang open at that instant. "Shut them down!" She snapped. "Inform all commanders on the universal channel that we are attempting to defeat inbound missiles! They are to hunt any protection they can! Inform Selene first as she is directing the movement of civilians to bunkers and to remain in the location she is now! I want damage control squads on standby throughout Eden to respond should one of the towers be damaged! Move people! We have only seconds!"

Martin was the first of hundreds to turn as in between the artillery landing all over the area, though considerably lessened due to their precise counter battery fire, they saw the shield shimmer and then vanish from around Eden. Martin's eyes went wide and he reached out telepathically for the one person he knew would know why.

Tarifa!

Her reply was immediate and very much to the point. Martin we have inbound missiles and we shut the shield down to break the locks they had on the control towers! It was the only way to attempt to save them.

Martin did not question what she had done, as Tarifa had just as much invested in the survival of Eden as he did, perhaps even more.

Can we do anything?

You can defeat those vampire bastards Martin! Her voice was filled with determination and confidence, Leave Eden City to me.

Martin smiled. I will do that. Keep me informed. He turned to Andreus and those close to him. "There are missiles inbound targeted on the control towers!" He barked. "Tarifa shut the shield down to break the lock they had in an attempt to confuse them! Andreus ... send a runner to Vengal and let him know what is going on. Be prepared to have a detachment move to the nearest control towers and assist in any repairs that might be needed!" Andreus nodded and moved off down the line of Spartans to where one knelt. Martin looked to the south and reached out once more.

Soon would be a good thing brother.

Spartan 01

"I have a lock!" Endith barked and mashed the trigger of her Kinetic Cannon, sending a single hundred round burst downrange and shredding the entire tail section of the VHC-21 that was vainly trying to avoid her.

Endith was in the midst of a killing frenzy, having seen the man she loved dearly swatted from the sky only minutes before. She and Tina had ignored For'mya's repeated attempts to contact them, not caring in the least that they had only their cannons to shoot and immediately tore after the planes firing missiles at Eden. The ensuing long range battle carried them almost all the way back to Eden City and this is where it would come to a finish.

"Four hundred rounds left!" Tina called out, tears staining her cheeks as she too had watched one half of her future careen out of control into the ground far below them, "One more ... three o'clock baby!"

They were both on automatic now, killing anything that came even remotely close to looking like the enemy. The two STRIKERs that For'mya had ordered to pursue the vampire fighters had taken down five of them before she ordered them off for fear the out of control female elf pilot in Spartan 01 would mistake them for the enemy.

Their rage made them powerful and brought them closer together. Endith flew and Tina gave her the directions and headings to the enemy, no questions were asked and no words of sorrow and remorse were exchanged. The man they both had loved more than their own lives had been killed and now all that was left to them was to take as many of the bloodsucking vampires with them as they could before they were blotted from the sky.

Tina listened as another extended burst of the Kinetic Cannon sheared of the stubby wing of another VHC-21 and sent it tumbling to the ground in a fireball as Endith banked over. Her head turned to look out the cockpit window and her eyes widened when she saw what appeared to be hundreds of troops moving below her. It was then that Tina's mind clicked back into military mode and she glanced at her small chart strapped to her left thigh. The chart gave the location and disposition of all of Eden's forces, and whoever was beneath them were not from Eden.

"Endith," She snapped. "Enemy troops on the ground below us! Turn back quick! Hard left!"

"There are more fighters!" Endith clenched her teeth and increased her speed at the next nearest VHC-21 which was madly climbing for altitude to escape the vengeance of the crazed STRIKER pilot.

"Endith!" Tina screamed causing the head of the red haired elf to turn and look at her with those dark blue eyes. They had been together for nearly a year, sharing the same bed, and the same man as well as each other. "I loved him ... I loved him too baby." Tina said softly looking at the tear stained eyes of her elf lover. "He ... he would not want us to do this Endith. He ... he would want us to complete our mission and make sure Marty and Eden City survive."

Endith stared at her for a long moment, the drone of Spartan 01's engines filling the deathly silence of the cockpit. Endith looked back forward and allowed the vibrations from the engines fill her being just as Ben had told her.

Feel your aircraft. Be your aircraft. It can bring you peace. He had told her as he had trained her to fly the Raptor. Let it be your heart and it will always bring you home.

Endith's hands moved on the control console and Spartan 01 executed a steep rolling turn, its engines roaring in approval as they turned back, "Coordinates!" Endith exclaimed as fresh tears filled her eyes. "Where are they?"

"If my figures are accurate they are three miles west of us and..." Tina's head came up and looked at her, her own light blue eyes wide in horror, "Two miles from the northern edge of Eden's airfield."

Spartan 414

"Commander she has broken off!" For'mya's co-pilot nearly yelled. "She is turning back west!"

"413 and 416 pursue and engage the remaining fighters!" For'mya snapped. "Do not let them escape." For'mya got a verbal confirmation from the two pilots and watched as they turned tightly to go after the three remaining vampire fighters that Endith had not killed in her rampage. "Track her!" For'mya had tried to raise the pilot of Spartan 01 on a secure frequency, but the voice of the pilot had been quite clear and very forward.

"Stay the fuck out of my way!" Had been her reply when For'mya ordered her to stand too and fall into formation.

"Ground sensors are picking up targets!" Her co-pilot spoke once more. "Grounds troops and they are closing on the King's airfield!"

For'mya looked at her. "The airfield's defenders are still recovering wounded from the missile attack they suffered a few hours ago!"

"The missiles targeting the power modules for that shield will begin impacting in less than thirty seconds!" The co-pilot spoke.

For'mya shook her helmeted head. "We can not stop them! Energize the Kinetic Cannon! We will go after the ground forces! Instruct General Vistr to offload his STRIKER to the northeast edge of the airfield!"

"Cannon is energized!" The co-pilot called out.

For'mya threw Spartan 414 into a full power dive from nineteen thousand feet. "Hold on everyone," She called to Gorgo, Isabella and those hanging on in the rear of her ship. "I have never seen so insane a pilot before, but damned if we are following this crazed she-elf in!"

EDEN

Selene gripped her HK tightly as she pulled on the arm of the woman next to her. She wore standard battle fatigues, and Lynwe had outfitted her with items she had never used before. Her Drow lover had given her a very quick run down on what the equipment could do, tied her hair into a tight pony tail similar to Tarifa's and wrapped it with light blue Drow silk. If they had been following the old Drow customs and ways, the silk was used to "mark" a female as spoken for, but in the case of Tarifa and Selene and nearly three dozen other such willing Mistress/Slave relationships that had come about since Eden had been formed, the silk was used as a show of deep love and feeling. Each Mistress wore a silk wrap of the same color around their upper arm as a show of their status and devotion to their "slave".

The roar of turbine engines brought Selene up short as men, women and children hurried into the protective bunker built in the school's basement. Her cobalt blue vampire eyes looked skyward and she saw the small dots on the horizon streaking towards them.

"Faster!" She screamed. "Move faster!"

The sound of her voice and the sheer terror in it surged through the sixty odd civilians left outside the bunker, and they surged towards the entrance as others inside practically grabbed them and pulled them out of the way. Human, Elf, Drow ... it did not matter to the citizens of Eden color or creed. They were all in this together, and if their King failed, they failed. They had found the one point of hope for the future in this city they had helped build, and it would not be productive for them to die before they saw it grow even more.

Selene turned in the doorway as the bunker's heavy titanium door began to slid shut, the roar of the missiles almost deafening to her sensitive ears.

Then the bunker's door sealed and it was dark.

The moment Tarifa ordered the protective shield powered down, the twelve YK-55 missiles targeted on the control towers lost the lock of the radiation that had guided them this far. Only sixteen seconds from impact the missiles advanced brains told the YK-55 to adjust course slightly and target the largest structure nearest to their primary targets. The internal sensors of the missiles activated in a heartbeat and conducted two sweeps and choose twelve separate targets. All of them were buildings taller than ten stories. All of them struck without error on their new targets.

And without fail, all of them utterly destroyed those targets as the equivalent of three, two thousand pound bombs in each missile detonated within three seconds of each other. Seven targets were high rise buildings near the control towers, and those buildings were struck on their ground level supports. The missiles exploded and the steel and concrete ruptured like so much porcelain in the hellish blasts. Denied the support of their foundations, the high rise buildings could not stay up and they began tumbling down. Four other structures were hit as the building slammed into neighboring towers and either added their contents to the tumbling buildings or the high rise's snapped in half and fell to the streets below.

Two missiles lost lock on their secondary targets due to the massive clouds of dust and fire that reached into the sky and simply self destructed above city streets, their explosive power directed downward shattering anything beneath them and succeeding in destroying one of the medical clinics on the eastern edge of Eden. The clinic was simply flattened, crushing the two hundred and eighty doctors, nurses and injured that had been brought into the clinic up until that point.

The last missile had been preprogrammed with a single one story structure as its secondary target and Martin's home disappeared in a single gigantic explosion, pieces of the garden and walkway he had tended tossed hundreds of feet into the air. It was one of these pieces of concrete sidewalk, nearly four feet long and two inches thick that was propelled at nine hundred miles an hour through the air, directly at the control tower on the very edge of the airfield only six hundred meters away. The huge slab of concrete struck the power building a glancing blow, but it was enough to rip open the entire side of the tower and expose wiring and control circuits that sparked and shorted out, starting a small fire.

Automatic fire suppression equipment quickly put out the fire, but the damage was done.

Eden City's shield was down.

EDEN

AIRFIELD MEDICAL COMMAND POST

Anja looked up from leaning over the female elf she was working on as the lights inside the trauma center returned to normal and the dust falling from the ceiling stopped. The explosion of the missile so close to their position and made the bunker shudder and groan, but its sturdy construction held without problems.

Anja looked at the elf female on the table in front of her, her face dirty and grimacing in pain. "Stay with me!" She exclaimed. "We're almost done."

The elf female had two large puncture wounds in her chest from an artillery shell that had snuck through the shield during the constant bombardment. She had come into the center bleeding profusely and the field medic had been unable to staunch the bleeding. Anja had immediately known what was wrong and plunged her smaller hand into one of the two fists sized holes and grabbed the end of the artery that was cut. With her hand in the female's chest cavity, Anja had directed one of her senior medics in repairing the damage done.

"The shield," A voice yelled turning heads as the human ran into the bunker. "The shield is down. Missiles have hit all over the city!" He began moving portable beds closer to the doors. "Prepare for incoming wounded. The missiles dropped seven buildings over ten stories high!"

"Well is the shield back up?" Anja asked quickly.

"No! Tarifa shut down the control towers to break the missile locks if the chatter on the radios is right." The medic reported. "The missiles flew off course and began hitting buildings. When they attempted to turn the shield back on, they discovered one of the towers took damage. There are crews moving there now."

"I got it," The elf medic across from her said.

Anja turned and watched as the female elf's vital signs began to climb rapidly as her medic pulled his bloody hand out of the other hole in her chest. "I'm releasing the artery. Hold on." She spoke softly.

Anja moved her fingers carefully and released the slippery vein she had hold of. The elf's vitals stayed strong and she smiled. "You're going to make it!" Anja spoke. "No running marathons though you hear! Not for at least two months!"

The female elf couldn't help but smile at her Queen's words. She had been awake through the entire operation, thinking that she had been given a pain killer. Anja had not told her that one of the pieces of shrapnel had severed her spine and that she would never walk again.

Anja looked at the medic who had assisted her. "Give her more for the pain and then get her into the lower level for recovery." She spoke before turning to the medic who had run in and told them about the shield.

"We must make ready for crushing injuries." Anja spoke. "Have all the Bone Marrow Regenerators that we have brought up to this level. Get all the portable amputee kits up here as well. And make sure we have at least a hundred Rejuvenating Packs on standby. I want a hundred units of whole blood and fifty units of cloned blood for any Drow that are brought in!"

"Tarifa brought the shield down on purpose!" The medic spoke unbelieving.

Anja took the man's arm. "She was there ... we were not!" She exclaimed. "If she shut the shield down it was to save lives. Trust in her ... Martin does."

At the mention of his name the medic's face took on a look of renewed energy. He nodded quickly. "I'll get the equipment sent up to this level right away." He spoke before moving off.

Anja turned and looked around the trauma bunker. Incredibly ... their casualties had been light from the missile attack. They had suffered only eighty-four dead, and her medical teams had been able to save over a hundred and fifty lives with quick thinking and superior medical skills. Eighty-four was better than the two hundred they had first projected and Anja allowed herself a moment of self gratification ... the rigid system she had put in place before going to Sparta with Martin had succeeded and many of the field medics that moved in and around Eden City at this moment could easily be field surgeons themselves if they had to.

Anja looked skyward when she heard the roar of a passing aircraft and the buzzing sound of what could only be the kinetic cannon on Spartan 01. Her eye brows furrowed at this and she was about to reach out to Martin when Atropos burst into the bunker.

"My Queen we must go!" He demanded. "We must go now!"

"Atropos ... what is going on?" Anja asked as he came up to her.

"We have just received a transmission from the King's pilot!" Atropos began. "She is attacking a force of what appears to be six to seven hundred super vampire soldiers only half a mile from our location! They are advancing quickly and we must get you out of here now!"

"I'm not leaving my people." Anja spoke firmly.

"Milady please ... it is my duty to protect you." Atropos spoke though it was obvious he was in a very large hurry. "We must leave now. We have only forty Spartans here and a few walking wounded. We will not be able to hold against that many vampire soldiers."

"And I have nearly three hundred wounded in the four levels below us!" Anja told him. "I will not leave them to the mercy of those fucking scum!"

"Milady ... you are a Queen of Sparta! A Queen of the Lycavorian people! You must..." Atropos spoke his words ending when he saw Anja reach for her helmet and pull it on, the Persian red crest very prominent and the jade green of her eyes firm and unrelenting. Anja lifted the P190 from the table against the wall and turned back to Atropos.

"You are right Atropos." Anja spoke. "And as one of the Queens of Sparta and the Lycavorian people, I have no intention of surrendering our people to the murderous assholes that are coming here. Form whoever you can and we will meet them like Spartans! And we will not retreat! And if we die ... we will take as many of the bloodsucking fuckers as we can before we do."

Atropos could not speak for a long moment and then a swell of pride swept through him and his chest heaved as he smiled broadly at her words. "It will be as you command Milady!" He spoke.

The vampire clone commander lifted his head from the ground once more as the STRIKER AT peeled away after firing another long burst from its nose cannon, chewing up the area around him, as well as dozens of his men. He got to one knee and surveyed his situation. He had begun this mission with seven hundred clone vampire troops, superior fighting machines, and now he was down to just over five hundred. The two STRIKER ATs had been brutally accurate with their strafing runs, and he had no way of firing back at them. It matter not as they were only a hundred meters from the edge of the smoky airfield. They could still see fires burning in the distance, and small figures running in the distance. He smiled the smile of a predator thinking he was going for the kill.

"We move now!" He ordered into his wrist radio. "Close the distance to the airfield before they can come around for another attack! All companies move forward at a double time!"

As if on cue, hundreds of heavily armed vampire clones got to their feet and sprinted towards the airfield.

Spartan 01

"Fuck!" Endith snapped wrenching Spartan 01 over as she banked tightly. "They're sprinting for the airfield! We'll never get another pass in before they are mixed in with friendly troops!"

"It doesn't matter!" Tina barked. "We're dry baby! We're out of gun rounds and missiles!"

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Endith cursed long and loud. "What about the other SPAT!"

Tina shook her head. "They are looping out further than us! They'll never be able to make another pass in time!"

"Get War Master Tareif! He must have some sort of artillery he can shoot danger close!" Endith yelled. "Anja ... Anja is down there!"

"Stand by!"

Spartan 414

For'mya was seeing the same thing and making the same deductions as Endith and she cursed just as loud and long as her counterpart did, "How many?" She snapped.

"Ground sensors put them at just over five hundred!" Her co-pilot replied immediately. "They are ... we're picking up a defensive line in the middle of the airfield. Seventy in number! A mix of what looks like Spartans and humans and elves! I'm reading over two hundred and seventy lifesigns within the bunker on the southern end of the airfield. They are..." The co-pilot saw the flash of red on her gun camera and quickly spun it back, "By all that is holy." She gasped centering the picture.

For'mya looked at her. "What? What is it?"

The female elf turned and looked at For'mya, "The ... the red haired Queen. She is ... she is down there Commander, on the defensive line."

For'mya's eyes were wide and her mind was racing at a millions miles a minute. She turned quickly and looked at the hundred and twenty Spartans scouts she carried, not to mention Gorgo and the vampire Princess Isabella who were staring at her wide eyed.

"Spartan 419 what is your status? How long before you land at the airfield?" For'mya asked.

"We just completed a mine delivery run ordered by the King Commander." The pilot's voice replied. "ETA to the airfield is seven minutes!"

"They don't have seven minutes!" For'mya snapped uncharacteristically. "Open a channel to the crazed elf! Quickly!"

The co-pilot touched her console. "Channel open!"

"This is Star Commander For'mya to the unidentified STRIKER AT, I am orbiting at you port do you copy?" For'mya asked.

"What do you want, we're kind of busy!" Endith's voice snapped back.

"The vampires are going to overrun the airfield!" For'mya stated the obvious.

"Wow ... you're fucking brilliant! I can see that myself thank you! We're trying to get some artillery directed back to cover them." Endith popped quickly.

For'mya bit her tongue, her face turning a bright shade of red in a combination of anger and embarrassment. "I am carrying one hundred and twenty Spartan scouts and I can drop them on the airfield but I will need someone to draw the fire of the vampires!"

"Christ why didn't you say something already!" Tina's voice barked now.

"I'm coming around!" Endith yelled. "Follow me in!"

For'mya's eyes narrowed. "My sensors say you are out of weapons!" She stated. "What could you possibly do?"

"Are you dense?" Endith snapped. "I have thrusters! I'll cook the sonsofbitches! Now follow me in."

"I don't know who you are she-elf, but I am Star Commander For'mya of the Lycavorian Home Guard Fleet. I..." For'mya stated now losing her temper with the ill-tempered and obviously crazy she-elf pilot.

"You listen to me miss high and fucking mighty!" Endith's voice screamed over the COM. "These bastards have killed the only man I have ever loved today! They swatted him out of the fucking sky right in front of me, and I will be damned if I let them kill one of my Queens because of your tight ass! I am the King's pilot! This is Spartan 01 and if you don't follow me in right now, I will find you and I will kick your ass from here back to whatever planet you fucking came from! Is that in any way unclear to you?"

For'mya looked at her co-pilot her eyes wide. The expression on her co-pilot's face mirrored her own. Her hands quickly manipulated her flight controls. "I'm falling into formation with you." She stated.

"I'll break off right above them and make like I'm going to land on them! As soon as they open up on me, break left and land on the airfield behind the Queen's defensive line!" Endith ordered.

"As you order," For'mya replied. She looked at her pilot. "Prepare for full engaged landing!" She ordered. She turned her head towards those in the back. "Lady Gorgo ... we are going into the airfield in the middle of a vampire attack. Spartans you will exit this aircraft and join the Queen's defensive line and prepare to repel the assault. We will try to provide as much support as possible! Stand by!"

Spartan 01

Endith looked at Tina, who met her eyes evenly. She took Tina's hand in hers and brought it to her face, "For Benjamin." She said softly.

Tina nodded, a firm set to her jaw, "For Ben."