Anji gritted her teeth as the capsule she is in vibrated even more violently as they continue to fall from the sky.

A female voice with her annoying calm voice declared. "Main Parachute deploying now. Main parachute deploying now."

And then, "Warning, main parachute is not deploying. Repeat, the main parachute is not deploying. error detected. error detected."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Anji shouted. She started smashing into the controls that a moment ago she is too scared to touch just in case she jinxed something.

Several thuds outside made her aware that something attached itself to her capsule. She peered toward a small window in the capsule and saw a Blackguard climbing the side of her capsule. She stared at him.

Anji could just imagine the dedication and skill of the soldiers who jumped from a burning starship into a small capsule to... what? protect her from flying debris?

There were a few of them attached to her capsule now and moving around it. Despite herself, she felt herself calming down with the presence of these warriors. She knew in her heart that they will do everything in their power to save her life or die trying.

She felt the immediate decrease in the speed of her fall and she realized that the Blackguards either fix the problem with the capsule chutes or deployed their own chutes.

Outside the capsule, Alpha Codex 4 strained to keep his hold of the escaped capsule. It was a hard tasked since, despite the inherent strength of each Blackguard, the fact that the capsule was too smooth and leaving them no surface to hang on making it really hard for them to stabilized the device.

One of the Blackguard lost it's grip and flew away silently. The other 3, including Codex 4, grimly held on tighter. After a minute more, Alpha Codex concluded that the parachutes are not slowing fast enough and the capsule cracked like an egg when it reaches the ground.

He gave a quick command using hand signals and then positioned themselves below the capsule. At 10 thousand feet, All three of them deployed the boosters they used for tactical jumps in their boots in a sustained 2-minute boost as precalculated before they touched the dirt.

Anji felt them stop in mid air then drop like a sack of potato a minute later. There was a clang then a screeching sound as metal on metal pressed on each other before the capsule fell on its side.

One of the Blackguards tore the metal door open the moment they landed and monitored Anji as she emerged out of the capsule, shaken but definitely alive. 2 Blackguards are around her nursing her like mother hens, checking her for any torn muscles or broken bones but Anji just shooed them away.

"Where is Alpha Codex 4?" Anji asked. The two blackguards turned to one side of the capsule and there below her was Codex 4, his arm crushed and trapped under the heavy capsule.

"Help him!" Anji said, horrified by the state her primary guardian was in. Only one of the Blackguard left to help their commander, the other Blackguard stayed with Anji, guarding her back.

With much effort, the lone Blackguard is able to pry Codex 4 from the capsule, unfortunately, his arm was torn off. "I'm fine," Codex 4 answered the question in Anji's fine. "More importantly, you are not safe here. we need to move."

Despite his injuries, Alpha Codex 4 led the small party into the deserted ruins. 4 other Blackguards joined as along the way until we reached the edge of the spaceport and it was total chaos.

The cemented desert field of the spaceport landing field was covered by the remains of the frontal third of the desecrated K28 destroyer. Debris was everywhere. The massive doggies, as Anji started thinking of them in her head, were running around, checking for survivors and checking the hulks for anything to salvage.

When Anji saw this herself, her anxiety to the people she knew grew even higher. "Where are the others?" Anji asked the grim Codex, who just grunted at her.

"Representative George flew 4 KM to the east., but don't worry, the contingent of Blackguards I sent him are intact and is now leading him to this location as well.

The Lady and Commander Burgo are in that debris over there and are already consolidating their forces. That is also our objective as of now."

Anji stared at him with big worried eyes. "... and the prince?" She asked quietly.

Codex 4 hesitated. "We don't know, Elder," He said honestly. "I have no contact with the prince or the Blackguards I sent to guard him."

"He's missing?" Anji said helplessly. A picture of the goofy beagle-like huge head of the prince came to her mind and she worried even more. Codex 4 stared at her for a moment more before turning around and started walking again.

When they reached the crash site, the former crews of the Destroyer Butt Scratcher were openly staring at the small group walking toward the center. Some recognized the blackguards and started telling their friends until a buzz was in the air.

Codex 4 ignored all of them. He continued to lead them into the center wherein a visibly distraught Lady Kurda noticed Anji and ran towards her.

"The prince! Have you seen where the Prince is? You are the last one seen with the prince, Where is he!?" She said almost hysterically. 4 tentacle whisker grabbed Anji's hand tightly enough that Anji winced. But she immediately stared Codex 4 down when he stepped closer to stop the lady.

"Come down lady!" Commander Burgo said behind her. "I am the last one with the prince and I saw him enter the escape capsule before I entered mine. Those capsules are notoriously unreliable, but the fact that he entered one gave us a good chance that he is just somewhere in the field and is safe. We are already in the process of reactivating one of the personal scanners and with his embedded telemetry codes, we will know where he is soon enough! So, please calm down and wait for the good news."

He turned to Anji and nodded to her, then his eyes return back to Codex 4. Anji can see that the doggie's intelligent eyes noted the arm and the rest of Codex 4's surviving Blackguard. "The representative? Is he alright?" He asked directly.

"He's fine," Codex 4 answered immediately. "He is somewhere in the east, with a contingent of my men. He will be safe."

Commander Burgo simply nodded. "And you are here because?"

He jerked his head towards Anji. "I still have other Brykar citizen's to protect. And I am ordered to assist you in whatever you need."

Now the Commander smiled. "Good, we need your help. We need all the help that we can get. Our last surviving drone reported seeing a large number of Eratix irregulars concentrating over the north and northwest, a few miles away from us. They are preparing for a massive assault."

"How many?"

"About 4 thousand Eratix. Maybe more."

"But why?" Anji said. "We are not at war with them, and so is the K28 empire."

"Thus it matter?" Asked Codex 4. "They know we are here and we know they are coming. Whatever their reasons, it is not good for us!"

The other blackguards turned to the small maid behind the Codex and even with the glass mask covering them, Commander Burgo did not miss the fact that the Blackguards tensed up as if they are afraid. For themselves? highly unlikely. But for the female maid? But why?

"How about your convoy? They should be here already," Codex 4 asked him, and his curiosity about the maid was interrupted.

The Commander nodded. "They are on their way. It was pure luck that they are already moving when the bastards set up a coordinated roadblock all the way to the underground train station that will bring us to the barker side of the continent. Even so, the last few road blocks are delaying them. The opposition is negligible, apparently, the Eratix don't have much in terms of MPGs so the convoy can just blow past them."

"MPGs?" Anji interrupted.

"Magnetically propelled rockets," Answered Codex 4. "Eratix primary weapon of choice. the most modern version can even destroy our Mechs."

"Ours as well, but like I said, they don't have much on the road. The main problem our convoy is having is the damn narrow roads. If those scums throw enough in the street, they can make an impromptu barricade. Our convoy is still rolling but they are being delayed all the same."

"I will not leave without my son, Commander!" Screamed the lady. And the commander simply sighed.

"How long before they arrive?" Codex 4 insisted.

"If nothing else happens, a couple of hours."

Codex turned north, looking at the expected route of the attack with unnerving intensity. "If we can just hold for at least 4-5 hours then I can send you as much reinforcement that you could possibly need."

Commander Burgo frowned then he look up in the sky, observing. "So you have a ship following our Destroyer," He said as a statement, not a question.

"Yes, a stealth ship," said Alpha Codex 4 honestly. They are behind us with a 12-hour delay. But we expect that they already received our message and they should be cutting right through space right now to get here. More likely about 4-5 hours they'll be here."

The commander thought about it. "We might need your people, but the Barkers will be here a bit earlier. No offense, But I'll call it a win if we didn't need to use your tin cans."

"None taken," Codex said before jerking a thumb towards Anji. "Just as long as you can take her to safety then I'll help you with everything you need."

For the next 2 hours, the survivors of the Destroyer Butt Scratcher busied themselves by forming a defensive line around the carcass of the ship. The hulk of the frontal part ship can hold at least half a basketball court and the leadership used it as a command bunker.

By now, everyone knew that the destruction of the destroyer was not an accident. Whoever is in control of the spaceports made an unprovoked attack against them and it was obvious that they are coming to finish the job.

Several other survivors from the crash made their way toward the landing pad and were welcomed with open arms. Everyone can hear sporadic fire coming everywhere and they can only imagine the faith of some of their comrades caught in the open.

Anji watched the doggies, which she started calling them in her mind, as they went about their business. Many of them are scared since as always, their emotions are like an open book to her, but they go through with their work with a fatal professional pride. Everyone cheered when the technician is able to activate one of the salvage shield generators and a blue dome appeared on top of them. They check the available juice for the shield and Commander Burgo ordered the shield down and will only activate it with his express order. That told everyone that the shield had limited power.

Trenches were dug all around the command center and farther north near the fences. Then using the metal sheets from the ship, the engineers and technicians built strong points and bunkers at strategic positions. Unfortunately, dawn came and went, and they are now enveloped in darkness. the minimal light source is deliberately available since any form of light will only make the attacker's job easier. A few light towers are positioned near the fence and ready to be activated to help the defender once the battle is joined.

Thirty minutes more passed and one of the scouts up north came running down Commander Burgo's trench and reported that several buses with men inside are assembling just several meters ahead of the fence line. The buses are on their 3rd or 4th delivery by then and the scout estimates that there are already 700 to a thousand Eratix near the concentration point.

And there is no reason to believe that this is the only assembly area for the upcoming attack, Commander Burgo thought bitterly.

The complete destroyer crew amounts to 560 K28 personnel but barely a third of that survive the crash and are here to defend the crash site. Just over 50 of the 172 survivors are severely wounded and cannot join the fight either. They are sent to the largest cover near the front wreckage and 4 orderlies and 2 other crewmen with medical training are taking care of them with the limited supplies.

The crash site is covered by the hills and thick forest to the south and west where Anji and her Brykars came from. The North and east are spacious and flat. At least at the north, though were most of the main building of the spaceport resides several miles away, are blast walls designed originally to protect the buildings from the massive wind drafts of landing spaceships.

The K28 military structure is a bit rigid and encumbered by the other powers standard, but it serves them well throughout the years that they never really change it. The smallest tactical unit is a squad made up of 5 K28 soldiers. 2 or more squads is a team led by a sergeant who traditionally also led one of the squad.

2 or more teams is a platoon and a company is made up of 2 or more platoons. 4 or more companies made up a battalion which is the main fighting force of a K28 regiment which is normally made up of 4 of this battalions. A few regiments made up the division.

Commander Burgo organized the survivors into a mini battalion with 2 full and 4 understrength companies. One understrength company stretched themselves out to cover the western hills and forest, 2 understrength companies occupied the blast walls and faced the north while the main force of 2 full companies are arranged toward the fences where Burgo expected the main attack.

The last understrength company plus the Brykar are stationed near the command station and serves as his only strategic reserve force.

When everything is arranged, there was nothing else for them to do but to wait.