Knights Among Light Finale Part II of III Chapter IX: Strife (My Struggle) BAM! The sound of Concordat ships jumping in again. Fighters this time, not troops. A signal came through Yulin’s comms. “This is Alpha-9, we are beginning our bombing run.” Yulin hid in the lobby of the Aon Center and turned on his mic. The static was strong with this one. Wouldn’t help they had put up a communications blackout. “Yes, hello! FINALLY AIR SUPPORT SHOWS UP! Yet I still don’t have my coffee. Anyhow! Take out the blockade protecting the Willis Tower. Leave the AA guns to me.” The signal was weak. If the pilots heard, it was a miracle. For the Concordat it would be. Losing troops too fast and not striking in time. A recipe for defeat if there was one. “Will do Supreme Admiral.” Alpha-9 said into the comms. Kun nodded and stormed out from the lobby of the skyscraper. He took his “Byronic Hero” from his belt. He had his goal now. Take out the AA guns and kill anybody in the way. That was when he encountered them. --Three Minutes before-- The two hunters are sitting against a wall in a crumbling building, a decent ways away from the warzone. “Thanks for ya know. Saving me back there.” Shadowshot said as he loaded the Tuonela he had found on the ground. He looked to Artemis silently. “Don’t mention it.” replied Artemis. “It’ll come up someday.” “‘Hey remember that time you saved my life?’ ‘Yeah. You were crying all the way over.’” said Artemis in a mocking tone. “Do you think Strenu survived?” Shadowshot asked unsure of what to say. “Probably. If not then… someone else needs to pay me 500k glimmer.” “How did he even? Nevermind.” Then the sound of Concordat fighters tearing from slipspace, beginning their bombing runs. The thunder of artillery in the air. “They’re attacking the blockade.” SS said urgently. “We need to get to the AA guns.” “I don’t think you’re fit to run, walk, or fight.” “Did Hemera or Strenu say I couldn’t?” “Do any of them know that you’re in this condition?” “Does anyone know besides you and Sweep?” She sighed. “No. But just so you know, I DID tell you that you’d get shot down.” “Then let’s get shot!” Shadowshot said. He didn’t want to die. He just didn’t want to let freedom die. “There was once a person, a warrior, a murmur. Outsmarted his own plans in the fight. He outsmarted his own calculations.” “Sounds like a plan” “We just need that kind of hope. The idea we can win and work from there. Make new plans as we go at our own rate. We can actually win.” Shadowshot got up and began to run. Only to fall on his now broken leg. At this point Artemis began to stifle a laugh. SS began to get up again. Then the sound of a handcannon going off and SS falling again. This time with a scream of pain. Artemis stopped. “Great. Just great. Did you shoot yourself, or…?” Yulin walked from the rubble and over to Shadowshot. He grimaced at what he saw. “Ugh. You.” Artemis said. “You’re the guest?” Yulin asked SS when he saw him on the ground. “My apologies.” Yulin said as he reloaded his handcannon. “Let me quickly put you out of this pain. Close your eyes and eat lead.” In a futile attempt to save his life, Shadowshot raised his hands to block the bullet. Then a yell and a flash of orange light. The next thing that Ss saw was Yulin standing with a Raze-Lighter through his chest. Dead. On contact. Of course someone needed to have been bearing the sword. That was the surprise. It was none other than… BUT WAIT! HE ISN’T DEAD! STRENU SURPRISE! The Warlock removed his sword from his victim. “Cliche, but it works.” Strenu said as he put the Raze-Lighter on his back. “I could’ve done the exact same thing, but eh. I knew you had it down.” “Good to know. Now let’s get out of this city. The Concordat are preparing their weapon to destroy the base... They somehow enhanced it with SIVA and reduced the cooldown to 30 seconds.” “And you need someone to infiltrate their space station and set it to self destruct, right? Or is that too cliche?” “No, but trench running is. I’m getting Sweep and we’re leaving.” Then another boom in the sky. 77 to be exact. The sound of 77 Vanguard fleet ships jumping from slipspace. Then the comns lit up again. The blackout had been cut. “Yeah, hello. This is Cayde-6 of the Vanguard. We may or may not have deployed this fleet. So be careful. Don’t shoot us down. I’m leading them. That Vanguard ship. Oh. Nevermind. Carry on.” Strenu looked up to the sky. The two fleets of ships, Vanguard and Concordat began to attack and destroy each other. From ship to ship. Then the ground and air shook in unison. --The space station, Space, Earth’s Orbit.” Kun looked up to the screen in his medical room. He was very displeased at what was coming through. “Officer, I would like to request something.” Like magic, a Concordat officer ran into the room. “What would you like to request sir?” Kun thought for a second. “I would like to request a target for the Railgun.” “Where would this target be sir?” “Target the base at Chicago. Obviously. Honestly the nerve of you people.” “But sir. This is Yulin’s weapon.” “Yulin has died. Get over it. As Lysander isn’t present this weapon is MINE.” “Yes sir.” The officer said fearfully. He turned on his comms. “Charge the weapon.” “Good job. Now set the target to 41.8789° N, 87.6359° W, Full reactor ignition.” “It will be done. We shall fire on your command.” Kun got up from his medical bed and put his headset around his head. FULL IMPERIAL MODE! “You may fire when ready.” “Sir, the weapon’s charging system has been damaged. It’s been infected by SIVA!” “What?! Shut it down.” “It can’t sir. It’s constantly regenerating it’s power. It’s going to blow!” “SONUVABI-” His final words were cut off as the station suddenly exploded, killing everyone and thing on it, carrying them into oblivion. The Railgun fired it’s burst of energy. Unstable and insecurely targeted. The beam flew just over Chicago. Then it slammed into Lake Michigan. Safe from immediate destruction, our heroes made their way to their ship. “Artemis. We need to leave now. Carry Incertus.” Strenu commanded to his friend. The Warlock pressed his comms online. “Sweep, we need a pick-up!” Artemis slung Incertus around her back. “Where to?” “Away from the nuclear explosion!” “Please, hurry…” Shadowshot said weakly. He was bleeding out. He could die here. Here and now. This could be his grave here. And then be cremated by radiation. “Good idea.” She took off at full speed. “I’m not exactly sure you can outrun a nuclear blast.” The comms lit up once again. “This is SW-33P3R, I’m coming down. Gage is with me. Be ready for evasive maneuvers immediately. I’ll contact Cayde to get out of here.” Artemis was hit with a wave of familiarity at that name. It was one that she hadn’t heard in ages. Gage. Strenu had mentioned him. From Twilight Gap. Strenu ran over to Artemis. He grabbed her hand. “Yes, it’s that Gage.” He looked out to the Light of the nuclear explosion. “It’s ok you know Arty. Death is a natural part of life. It has to come someday. It could be knocking on your door every day. You just don’t answer. You don’t answer until they bring cookies. Those cookies are poisoned and you die. It’s life.” “I mean, I can’t actually die, since I have my own… I’m stupid. Why didn’t I think of it sooner?” She put SS down. “Arty, we’re dying here. Face it. Remember your friends and just let go.” Strenu said. “Relax. I got this.” She unholstered a knife she had on her left leg. Strenu could sense something off about it, pure darkness, he reckoned. She gave it a little flip, and sliced downwards in the air in front of her. “Why would you do that? It’s Darkness. You’re waving it in front of a dying Guardian.” “Where do you think my Taken abilities come from?” A portal ripped open into existence in front of her, and she grabbed SS and dragged him in, then poked her head out of it. “You comin’?” What about Sweep and Gage?” Strenu asked. “Does that portal board the ship?” “Nope.” She withdrew her head back into the portal. “Then I’m staying.” Strenu said. “I love you. Goodbye.” She walked back out. “You know, if you want, once this one closes, I can open one onto the ship if that’s what you really want.” “I’ll be there anyway. Just go!” Strenu then fell to the ground. The radiation was kicking in. He was dying. It was unlike anything he had felt before. His body mutating to death. By then she had stepped back in, and closed the portal, his last words echoing in her mind. In the sky, SW-33P3R’s ship was flying off from Strenu’s location. It jumped into slipspace with a bang. The City then lit up and was overloaded with radiation. Strenu looked through the red sky weakly. “Goodbye Arty. See you in another life.” The Warlock said. He then closed his eyes. Perhaps this would all go away. If only it could. Then he thought no more. Cayde looked towards the city. “Alright. All ships, prepare for jump to slipspace.” Cayde stood back as his ships flew forwards. The last thing he needed was to be destroyed by a massive ship jumping from slipspace. And just as he thought that a massive Concordat Ketch jumped in. Several ships of his fleet immediately were annihilated. On board the ketch, Lysander stood staring out at the battle torn city. An officer ran over to him. “Sir, we’ve tracked the Bannerfall strike team to a ship. Shall we pursue them?” Lysander turned around and the officer’s blood went cold. Then the Supreme Leader spoke. “Pursue them.” Lysander ordered. The officer continued to look to him. “Anything else sir?” The officer asked. Lysander then turned around again. “Prepare a boarding party.” “Right away sir.” (Full Imperial times 2 activate!) Within a minute, Lysander was flying his “High and Flighty” after SW-33P3R. The boarding party was on board with Lysander. This oversized blockade runner would finish the ‘Bannerfall’ strike team once and for all.