Tober Delargivic’s office was circular and rather small with bookshelves covering the curved walls and a fireplace gently crackling opposite the door leading to the balcony. In the center of the room was a desk with an ornate high-backed chair, golden swirls spiraling around the material with the Arcadian symbol of a cog and eagle emblazoned in the middle of the back. In front of the desk were two plush, yet rather plain, armchairs. A chandelier hung from the domed ceiling, filling the room with a dull orange glow which the fire failed to provide.

Delargivic himself sat in the chair behind the desk, squirming and attempting to find any way out of the bindings that held him tight to the leather. His hands were still bound tightly with the cuffs behind the back to keep him secure.

Gareth stood guard next to him, staring towards the glass windows with his assault rifle held loosely in front of him. Catlow and Centric crouched to either side of the door, their rifles aimed down the path they followed up to the palace. Centric could see Siatian soldiers in the windows of the other two buildings hiding in the shadows, waiting for both the Arcadians and their extraction to arrive, and knew they were doing the same to both end of the palace. He checked the time on his CAM: Eight minutes until the Siatian transports should arrive, where they would either find the victorious squadrons or their dead bodies.

The Arcadian transports were nearly upon them, and the sirens from the ground convoy en route blared, the red and blue flashing lights visible through the trees surrounding the complex. As the first truck reached the opposite end of the complex, crashing through the metal gate and barreling into the courtyard, the autocannons on the front of the transports opened fire. Bullets rained down on the area with a roar like a thunderstorm, tearing through the metal roofs and walls and digging into the stone of the palace. Dust and debris flew through the air and screams filled the air as the projectiles hit their unseen targets.

the captain said in a message on the Siatian general channel, the words somewhat panicked.

Even as he gave the order, Centric fired at the first truck as Arcadians began to filter out and more ground vehicles came to screeching halts. Most of his shots went wide, and his heart thumped ferociously in his chest as his breathing increased. The return fire from the soldiers hit the stone wall next to him with dull thwacks, sending chills down his spine with each miss.

Brief flashes came from the windows of the two L-shaped buildings, and slowly the Arcadian soldiers fell, though they seemed to be replaced just as quickly by two or three more at a time. Six trucks were piled into the courtyard at odd angles before the transports screamed overhead, coming to abrupt halts in midair and dropping quickly to the rooftops. More soldiers filtered out of the transports as the autocannons continued to shred through the metal of the buildings as if it were nothing more than paper.

A boom came from Centric’s left, and a rocket left a thin smoke trail as it soared towards one of the transports, exploding on impact and scattering debris over the area. Several Arcadians caught in the blast flew off the rooftop, hitting the ground with sickening cracks and thuds. The two other transports, seeing their counterpart blown apart so easily, quickly retreated to the air after dropping off their troops. Another boom came from the palace, and another rocket streaked through the air, narrowly missing its target before the AI corrected itself and slammed into the transport from behind. It erupted with a ball of fire, raining flaming debris in a shower over the courtyard.

The third transport evaded another rocket, which exploded in the air a few meters behind it, before turning its autocannon to the palace where the rocket originated. Its rounds tore through the stone wall, and screams erupted as they ripped through the soldiers inside. Centric took a deep, steadying breath and aimed his rifle at the ship before firing off carefully placed shots, each one ineffectively scraping off the thick metal and glass exterior with a flash of sparks. Several seconds later, the transport flew off as another rocket soared through the air, narrowly missing after the AI overcorrected and sent it slamming into a tree beyond the walls of the compound.

Shouts came from the courtyard as the Arcadians continued jumping out of the trucks and began closing in on the palace. A few dropped to the ground and lay still, taken down by the Siatian soldiers’ gunfire. The ones on the rooftops poked their heads over the peaked slopes, firing off flurries of bullets before hiding again from the onslaught of return fire.

‟They’re about to get in,” Catlow said as she crawled towards the railing to aim down beneath the balcony. She turned to look at Gareth, who was firing off shots from the other side of the room at the rooftop soldiers. ‟Go down and meet them as they come in. Give them hell for us.”

Gareth nodded, a somewhat crazed look in his eye, and walked to the door built into the bookshelves, pulling it open and disappearing into the hallway. The door clicked behind him with a shut, blending in with the rest of the wall. Centric thought about overriding the order and telling the trooper to stay there but decided against it. It would be better for the Arcadians to never get to the office than to have a final stand in the small room.

Tober Delargivic, however, simply laughed, the shrillness piercing through the blasts of exchanged gunfire. The captain looked at him out of the corner of his eye and rose an eyebrow.

‟What’s so funny, mate?”

‟Tick-tock, captain,” Delargivic said, his arms still moving in a futile attempt to wriggle free. A creepy smile twisted over his face as his head jerked unnaturally to tilt to one side and stare at Captain Centric. He released another laugh, this one hollow and mirthless, echoing throughout the office. ‟You and I both know it’s just a matter of time before your soldiers are cut down and my loyal Dragoons free me from this false imprisonment. It’s just a shame that Xaaaleyyyyp didn’t come to capture me himself. It would have been so much better to dispose of him at the same time, but that will come in time.”

‟Shut your trap.” Centric returned his attention to the outside just in time to see a pair of wires shoot into the air and wrap themselves around the railing. ‟Watch yourself, sergeant!”

His warning, however, was unnecessary, as she pulled a knife from the side of her exosuit and sliced through the metal strings. A scream came from just beyond the ledge, followed by a thud. Two more sets of wires were quick to replace them, and Catlow scurried backwards from the railing, bringing her rifle up and firing at the Arcadians as they ascended. The bullets tore through their thin armor and bodies, leaving them hanging lifelessly from the metal as they fell back and swayed back and forth.

From the rooftop, a trio of Arcadians let loose a barrage at the office balcony, the bullets peppering the metal with pockmarks and ricocheting off with shrill pings. Catlow yelled in pain as a bullet pierced through the exosuit and into her leg, followed immediately by another in the arm, forcing her to drop her assault rifle and let it dangle by the strap around her neck. Another barrage of bullets slammed into her, tearing through the exosuit and causing her body to jerk with each impact. She staggered further into the room and gripped her arm as blood began to ooze out of the holes and drip onto the floor. Centric stared at her, his mouth agape, and his breathing grew faster and more ragged as she slipped to the floor, her visor opening to reveal the frightened expression on her face.

‟It was an honor getting to serve with you one last time, captain.” Her voice was strained, and she managed just the thinnest of smiles before her eyes went blank and her head fell back.

With his back against the wall, he gritted his teeth and slammed his fist against the hard stone. A reverberation went through the metal and into his arm, pulsing to his shoulder. His breathing grew more and more intense, and his vision started to blur with the adrenaline running through his veins. Taking slow, deep breaths, he forced himself to relax even as Delargivic laughed again, throwing his head back and letting the echoes pierce the air.

Centric twisted his body to aim around the wall, firing off a flurry of shots into the Arcadians climbing over the railing. The bullets tore through their bodies, and they fell backwards after jerking with each impact. A trio of shots slammed into the ground in front of him, narrowly missing his arms and leaving marks in the metal with each strike as he ducked back around the corner. He leaned back around and fired again until, finally, the assault rifle clicked empty. With a cry of anguish, he tossed it aside, sending it skittering across the office floor.

He pulled Delargivic’s pistol free from his waist and pointed it towards the rooftop soldiers and pressed the trigger. The gun kicked back at once, and his arm nearly went numb from the sudden force. His shot missed the Arcadian, instead tearing a large chunk out of the metal roof and forcing them to duck behind cover.

Out of nothing but pure desperation, he checked the time on his CAM again: One minute. Just one more minute they would have to hold out, then their rescue would be there.