They were ready to deploy. His father chose the best five squadrons for this mission. Leaving the main ship, they all maneuvered into formation, heading toward the planet. While he was giving commands from his RX500 to the other pilots, his voice boomed over the comlink.

“Remain in formation until we reach the surface. All ground units are to disembark and take up fighting positions. All RX ships, maintain over watch, and scan for targets.” Then he added. “No one fires until I give the signal.”

Each squadron acknowledged his commands. With great velocity, they reached the planet's atmosphere. As they begin to descent toward the surface, after a few minutes, the city was in sight. Again, over the comlink he gave orders to the others. “Transports, maintain one hundred fifty meters from the surface. Break off and deploy east of the tree line.”

They split into two groups, each landing on either side of the open field, deploying all fighters simultaneously. As fast as they touched down, they took off again and returned to the main ship. Breaking off from the RX units, he touched down with the rest of the ground forces. Looking to the sky, he watched the RX units moving to overwatch positions. Activating the HUD in his helmet, he began scanning the surroundings.

One hundred yards beyond the treeline were the cities massive stonewall. In front, was a vast open field, littered with large boulders. There was only one main entrance into the city, which looked to be sealed up. Every fifty yards along the tall wall were rounded lookout towers. They were empty as well; even the landing pad was abandoned.

After a few scans, he noticed something was off. There was no visible security, as if it were a ghost town. “All RX units, what do you see?” He asked, and then the response came. “Scanners are clean, no sign of movements Sir.” With apprehension in his voice, he said. “All ground units proceed with caution, and call out any movement.”

After clearing the treeline they came up to the first set of large boulders for cover. He was about to give the order to advance toward the city, when over the comlink one of the pilot's voice came in.

“Movement in one of the towers. It looks to be...oh shit!”

Then two shots fired, blowing up the ship with an eerie greenish glow. Over the comlink another pilot's voice came up franticly. “RX 1 down, movement in the other towers!”

From the top of the towers, he saw massive turrets emerging, lighting up the sky, and targeting all RX fighters. On impact, they made a bright greenish color again. Immediately, he gave orders to all units to take them out. It surprised him, how easily these projectiles were penetrating the ship’s force shields. Looking back toward the city, he noticed some of the turrets by the entrance started aiming downward at them in the field.

“All RX units.” He yelled through his comlink. “Take out those damn turrets now!”

In an instant the two turrets near the main gate blew up into large fireballs, but there were more and they were firing those strange green projectiles into the sky and toward the ground. Now, they all were concentrating their firepower on those turrets, both from the sky and from the ground.

While taking cover behind one of the boulders he aimed his plasma rifle at one of the smaller turrets and got a couple of good shots off, shutting it down. Then, he and the other soldiers targeted another one on the wall. However, he couldn't get a good shot at it at first and the turret aimed at them, firing a projectile into the soldier beside him.

On impact, the man's body instantly disintegrated with a dark bluish color. There was nothing left behind, only dark ash. With a horrified face he watched as another one of his soldiers turned into ash. He couldn't comprehend what was going on, having never seen anything like this in battle.

While his soldiers were firing from all directions onto the wall blowing up another turret, he had an idea. Quickly, he called up to some of the pilots through his comlink. “RX 3 and 4, concentrate firepower on the north wall. Make a hole! RX 6 and 9 fire on the gate!” Then he added. “All remaining units keep firing on those damn turrets!” As the RX units concentrated their firepower on the walls, the ones firing at the gate successfully blew the huge gate into pieces, and that is when he saw the last turret destroyed by one of his ground units. Then the walls on either side of the destroyed gate opened up with a huge explosion. Now there was a way inside of that wretched wall, he thought angrily.

“All units!” He called. “Full attack! Scan area for more technicals. All remaining RX units stay on course.”

Signaling to the ground units, they approached the wall while scanning the surroundings. Entering through the large holes, they started taking fire from what seemed to be a small security force. Quickly he gave the command for suppressing fire and ordered four men to flank around to the left. Just as the final soldier was about to take cover he was struck by one of the rounds, disintegrating him to ashes with a dark blue flash.

He suddenly realized both the turrets and security force fired the same type of lethal projectile. Grabbing a shoulder fired plasma launcher from the soldier next to him, he yelled out.

“Give me cover!”

Standing up and aiming the plasma launcher toward the barricade where the security force was taking cover, he fired the rocket, sending everyone with large parts of the barricade flying back toward the main building. He gave the order to advance, and then he said.

“If any of them is still alive, execute them.”

Taking up positions in front of the building, he turned to one of the soldiers with the plasma launcher and then he said.

“Shall we knock?”

On his signal, in an instant, the large gate went up into flames, and at the same time from the building shots erupted hitting the soldier turning his body and the launcher into ash. Shooting inside, they took out few of their guards, but entering the building was not an easy task. He was losing men rapidly. This is not how it was supposed to be, he thought furiously. These primal people were using some kind of unknown projectile, which turned people to ash, and this scared him. Then another one of his man came up and fired another plasma rocket into the opening. Screams and agonized voices were coming from the inside after the impact, and while thick smoke was billowing through the opening, seeing the right opportunity, they all entered at once.

Scanning the interior, his HUD picked up at least forty people inside all in gear with weapons. Some were down from the previous blast, but others were in position behind columns and large metal barricades. The fire erupted once again from both sides. Quickly firing his weapon he took out three more guards, then suddenly his weapon flew out of his hand landing on the far side of the room; destroyed.

Rolling behind one of the barricades, he drew his sidearm and started to fire, while all around him his people were dying, turning into ash. Behind his helmet, he was breathing hard and heavy now, while his back was drenched with sweat underneath his armor, but then he saw something.

Behind the large white metal chair was a female soldier in full gear hunkered down firing her weapon. Quickly putting his gun away, and flanking around, he charged at her with full force, knocking her to the ground. They rolled toward the huge windows, but she quickly pushed him off and jumped to her feet, as did he.

Bringing her weapon up, he quickly knocked it out of her hand. He reached for his sidearm, but it wasn't there. He then noticed it was on the ground behind her. I must have lost it when I tackled her, he furiously thought.

Kicking his gun away she reached behind her back and brought forward a staff like weapon, then swiftly pressing down on the middle, both sides simultaneously extended into a larger staff, the ends lightly glowing with an orange hue. With a quick move, she slashed at him with her staff, which made a buzzing sound in the air, barely missing his chest plate. He swiftly ducked down, and lurching forward; he slammed into her legs, bringing both of them down, pinning her underneath him. Straddling her, he knocked the staff out of her hand, and while she tried to fight him off, he grabbed hold of her black helmet and quickly pulled it off.

He was expecting to see red, but instead long, dark brown, wavy hair spilled out of the helmet, and her dark almond shaped eyes were wide with fear and anger. With a sudden move he got up, pulling her with him. Reaching behind his back he brought forward his sword, activating the electrical surge on the surface of the blade. He was about to strike her down, but as he looked into her dark and fearful eyes, he stalled for a second.

Fehera was on the other side of the chamber firing at the enemy when she saw someone tackling Deva, and then overpowering her. Running toward them she saw he was about to strike her down. Quickly, she pulled her helmet off and screamed.

“STOP!”

As he turned around, he placed her body in front of him, making a human shield of her. While his sword was at her neck, he stared at the red haired girl who stood just a couple yards away from them. Fehera’s eyes were wide with fear and worry. She was panting hard, her white chest plate moving with each deep breath. Then her expression became somewhat pleading, he noticed.

Behind her, the whole room went quiet in an instant. All eyes were on them as she spoke in a small, pleading voice.

“Please…. don’t hurt her. If you want to kill someone, please let her go and take me instead.”

“Fehera, no!” Deva’s horrified voice came out like a squeak. Her captors grip tightened, and she quickly quieted down.

As he looked at her through his visor, he wanted to find out what she was up to. This had to be some kind of trick, he was sure of it, but he knew what needed to be done.

“Throw down all of your weapons now!” He ordered with an authoritative yell.

Slowly, she reached behind her and brought forward the same staff-like weapon like the other woman had and dropped it at her feet. Then she reached down to her right thigh and removed the sidearm from the holster and dropped it.

“Is that it?” He asked.

Not saying a word, she just nodded in agreement.

“Come here, and don't even think about doing anything stupid, or your girlfriend will get hurt.” His helmet muffled his calm voice.

Fehera slowly approached them, not taking her eyes off of Deva’s fearful pleading eyes. She knew she had to make this choice or her best friend would have been dead by now. As soon as she was within arm's reach, quickly he grabbed hold of Fehera’s right arm, and then he pushed the other woman away.

As he held her in front of him, Fehera’s wide brown eyes locked onto Zadur’s, and then she motioned for him to stand down. Zadur couldn't believe Fehera was now a hostage to these people. Deep down he somehow knew she would sacrifice herself just to save her friend’s life. This is what made her a great leader, even if it backfired in times like these. Helplessly, he watched as she was pulled along by the tall soldier toward the large opening what was once the chamber door.

Through his comlink, he commanded all remaining soldiers to stand down and return to base, and then he called for transport. With her in front, they left the building. Outside, while passing by dead bodies and destroyed RX fighters, she tried to keep her eyes straight ahead. She didn't want to look at the massacre it just hurt too much.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, bringing a nice cool breeze, lifting her bright red hair and blowing it in front of his helmet visor. He annoyingly pushed it away, thinking how the color red was considered to bring bad luck on his planet, but on this one, it brought the opposite, he thought with a small grin. When they reached his ship, he ordered the ship back to base. With grieving heart she stepped into the transport, leaving her beautiful planet behind. The large ship slowly lifted off then quickly rose into space.

Fehera was sitting in one of the metal side seats, while the tall soldier was standing right in front of her, holding onto a horizontal metal rod above her head. Judging by his gear and voice he looked to be the same one from the day before. The one with no respect, she thought distastefully. His dark blue and gray gear was large, making him look big and bulky. He was still wearing his helmet, but she wanted to see his face and look into his eyes to see what type of man he was. She wanted to talk to him, but not this way. Glancing up toward his helmet, she noticed he was looking down on her. Almost like reading her mind, he reached up and slowly removed his helmet, and then dropped it next to her, making her flinch at the loud sound it made on the surface of the seats. However, what she saw next was something unexpected.

He was young, maybe just a couple of years older than her. He had long, straight, dark brown hair, which he wore in a bun on the back of his head. He had a straight nose and his mouth was surrounded by dark brown short-cropped beard covering the lower half of his face on either side reaching all the way to his ears. He had dark, nicely shaped eyebrows, but the most striking thing was on his face, his piercing, deep-blue eyes, which were penetrating into hers right now. She had to look away quickly; he was not what she expected.

Noticing her uneasiness he asked.

“Is there a problem?”

Looking back at his face, she sarcastically said.

“A problem? Really? You almost killed my friend, killed my people, then captured me and most likely will kill me too, then you're going to take my crystals.” She paused and then she asked. “Who are you?”

With a calm and composed expression, he lowered himself in front of her. While his face was only inches from hers, he noticed her beautifully shaped dark brown eyes, which were intensely looking at him, were encircled with golden rims. Interesting, he thought with amazement. Then, he proudly said. “My name is Vathar Gilvad. I am the son of Acus Gilvad.”

For a second he paused and then he continued. “My father is the most powerful man in this galaxy. My family conquers others, and they eventually all bow down to us.”

A small grin appeared on his handsome face as he said. “You as well will be one of them.”

She was fuming inside, but her face looked calm and cold. Then in one quick motion, she grabbed her mother's knife she kept hidden in her body suit and lunged at him hitting him, just at the neck, where his gear met flesh.

However, her aim was off and it glanced off of the metal gear. In a split second, he grabbed her hand and squeezed her arm just above the wrist, making her drop the knife, which made a loud clang against the metal deck of the ship. In an instant, his face turned deadly serious and angry. As she looked into his piercing blue eyes, she also noticed something else, disappointment. Holding her wrist, he looked down, and with disbelief, he asked.

“Really? A knife?”

With a sudden move, he grabbed the back of her neck and pressed down hard. She felt a small, sharp prick, then her vision started to blur, and everything went black. As her body slumped into his, he gently lifted her up and laid her on the seats. Looking at her like this, even after what just happened, he somehow found her very interesting, despite the red hair, he thought amusingly.

◆◆◆

“What are we going to do now?” Deva frantically asked while they were still inside the town center, where others had started to clean up after the battle.

Looking at her, Zadur replied. “I don't know, but I know one thing, she’ll be back. You and I know how hardheaded she is, but she is a very smart woman too, and I have full confidence in her. She will find a way to come back.”

“She shouldn't have done that Zadur.” Deva said sourly. “I don't think he was going to kill me.” But as soon as she said those words, somewhere deep inside she knew if it was not for Fehera’s intervention, she most likely would be dead by now. This knowledge really infuriated her just to think about that. Whoever was behind that helmet, she hated him with a passion.

“I’m not so sure about that Deva.” He replied. “I think Fehera did what needed to be done to save your life. You should be grateful to have a friend like her.”

“I know Zadur.” She replied with a sorrowful face. “I just hope she’ll be fine and come back to us soon. We both know she’d be no use to them if she were dead. They would not hurt her, she is way too important to all of us.”

“Yes Deva, she is.” Zadur replied with a depressed tone.

Turning toward the other side of the room, he was heartbroken to see the devastation and the death toll of the battle. This was his first time to witness so much destruction done by an intruder. These people were, indeed, very dangerous and now he knew exactly what they were capable of. Walking out of the building, looking around he truly wanted to cry, when he saw all the desolation and horror that engulfed the surrounding areas. Looking up toward the sky, he hoped Fehera was okay and hoped she would find a way to come back, because he would never forgive himself to lose her like this.