The dumping grounds stretched out before them like a field of rusted bones. For Shivam and his friends, it feels like yesterday when they were here trying to fit in for survival running around and hiding.
Jagged spires of scrap metal and blackened Dominion vehicles rose from the earth like the fossilized skeletons of some industrial beast. The earth was dry, cracked, layered with old soot and ash from failed detonations and burned-out war machines. The air stank of oil, dust, and silence the kind that settles before a shift in history.
Shivam stood at the forward edge, his breath steady. The others flanked him in practiced formation Naina crouched behind a twisted slab of armor plating, Aanchal perched atop a bent transmission tower for high vision, Aman gripping the reinforced haft of his spear, and Dikshant already sending a clone to scout the nearest ridge.
Behind them, the echo of marching feet. Vidhart's troops disciplined, armored, eyes burning with purpose spread out across the far bank of the trench, moving like they were one mind instead of ten thousand.
The message had been sent. The blackout had struck. Now came the next move: the gate.
"There," Aanchal said, her voice soft in Shivam's comm. "Seventy meters west. You can't see it, but I caught the shimmer. The entrance is buried under two collapsed haulers and a hull breach shell."
Naina nodded. "Energy signature confirms. Still active barely. The Dominion never finished disabling it."
Shivam gave the signal. His team fanned out with silent precision.
Dikshant's clone moved first, leaping over the jagged steel and activating a misdirection beacon. In response, a half functional auto turret whirred to life and discharged a single pulse round too slow, too old. The beacon drew the fire away, and Naina followed, disabling the turret in two swift gestures, her hands glowing faintly as the Aether code unraveled in her mind.
Aman stepped forward next, his shield forming in phases across his arm. With a calculated strike, he bashed the ruined haulers aside, clearing the wreckage in two precise blows. Beneath the debris, the ground gave a faint hum. There it was. The teleportation ring.
Shivam stepped forward. His boots hit the dust with purpose, his aura humming low, steady, confident. He crouched, pressing his hand to the ring's baseplate. It was embedded deep in the ground, circular, etched with Dominion war code and ancient Noctirum filigree. It had not seen use in years. But it still pulsed beneath the surface. Waiting.
"Mansi, we've found the gate," he said.
"Coordinates confirmed," came her voice through the comm. "Send me a pulse reading. I'll ping Suchitra to start the override process."
Naina crouched beside Shivam, placing her fingers just above the outer ring. Her sight flared invisible patterns began to glow across the surface.
"Energy field intact. No Dominion alert nodes have been triggered. They really thought this thing was dead."
"Not for long," Aman muttered, glancing up at the blackened skyline. "Let's crack it open."
Above them, Vidhart gave the silent hand signal. Half of his force broke off into sweeping arcs, forming a mobile perimeter around the gate's radius. The other half took the high ground. There was no resistance no fire, no guards. Just the black wind and the whisper of old war machines groaning in the heat.
Aanchal scanned the distance, then nodded to Shivam. "No movement. No traps. They weren't ready for this."
Shivam rose slowly; his silhouette etched against the crimson tinged horizon.
"They will be," he said. Then he turned back to the gate.
"Let's make sure we're already inside by the time they notice." The gate was buried like a secret one the Dominion never quite managed to kill.
Its circular base sat lodged beneath the ground, its upper ring partially submerged beneath old machinery and slag. Black coils of forgotten Dominion cabling weaved through the soil like fossilized veins. As Shivam approached the structure, his presence seemed to stir something. The ring vibrated softly beneath his boots; the energy dormant for years now recognizing something new.
Aanchal moved first, landing beside the rim with practiced grace. Her hand brushed over the etched glyphs, and a faint blue shimmer responded light rippling out like a reflection in disturbed water.
"It's listening," she said, her voice hushed with quiet awe. "It knows we're here."
"Let's make it sing," said Naina, sliding beside her with her gauntlet already interfacing with the panel. The Aether glyphs responded immediately, lines of ancient code unfolding across the surface like pages in a forgotten book.
On Shivam's signal, Aman drove his spear into the center conduit, releasing a controlled shock of Noctirum resonance. The energy buzzed through the platform, surging toward the outer rings. Lights came alive in sections flickering on with growing momentum. The platform thrummed louder.
In the distance, the Dominion's forgotten emergency sensors picked up the flare. And so did others.
Beyond the ridgelines, beneath layers of rusted metal housing and sewage fed shanties, a cluster of half hidden eyes peered toward the sky. Grounds men refugees and laborers forced into the waste pits outside Vedhyra watched as streaks of blue energy lanced upward into the clouds. For the first time in years, something changed in the air. It wasn't a bomb. It wasn't death. It was… power. Controlled. Radiant. Alive.
One of them, a boy no older than ten, clutched his grandfather's arm. "That glow," he whispered, wide eyed. "Is it him? The one from the recordings?"
His grandfather squinted toward the horizon. He'd seen the holograms barely believed them. But this wasn't footage. This was real.
"Maybe," the old man murmured. "Or maybe it's the storm they've been afraid of."
Back on the field, Dominion scanners crackled to life.
Three patrol ships, barely functional in the wake of the blackout, dropped from the horizon in a scattered triangle. At their lead, a skimmer touched down, releasing a trio of armored troopers and two automated infantry bots enough to stall, enough to kill, if they caught the rebels off guard.
They didn't.
By the time the Dominion team stepped into range, Aanchal had already vanished. She appeared behind the lead guard in a blur of steel, slicing through his exo suit's power spine with surgical precision. He collapsed before he could even raise his gun.
Dikshant's clone darted right, drawing fire from the second bot while the real Dikshant circled behind a shredded loader tank. A perfect throw the knife hit the bot's shoulder joint, releasing a controlled electric burst that fried its sensors. It twitched once. Then crumpled.
Naina's arrows followed, streaking through smoke and hitting the exposed visors of the remaining guards before they even knew she had drawn.
The last bot turned only to be met by Shivam, walking calmly through the haze. His fist struck the ground beside the machine, and the shockwave flipped it end over end into a slag heap. He leaped into the sky and punched the patrol Ships into the ground like they are made of cotton.
No shouts. No cheers. Just power and precision. From the ridge, the Grounds men watched in silence. The rebels didn't run. They didn't scramble. They didn't scream.
They moved like they belonged here.