The night before the raid was quiet—too quiet. The rebel base, usually buzzing with energy, had fallen into a tense hush. Generators hummed low, boots shuffled through the halls, and every voice seemed to carry the weight of what was about to come.
I sat alone on a steel bunk , staring at my hands. Chrome fingers reflected the dim light, scarred from the drone battle. No matter how much I cleaned them, ash clung on them. Lira leaned against the doorframe, arms folded, watching me.
"You keep looking at them," she said softly. "Like you're afraid they'll change."
"Maybe I'm afraid they already have," I muttered.
She walked in, sat beside me. Her rifle rested against the wall. "Helen won't admit it, but she needs you. Tomorrow's raid—it's suicide without you."
"Or with me," I said. "If the Dominion flips a switch inside my head, I'll kill you before I can stop it."
She didn't flinch. "Then prove them wrong."
Before I could answer, the intercom crackled: "Final briefing. All squads assemble !."
The docks were a maze of shadows and steel. Rebel boats rocked gently against the tide, their hulls patched with scavenged armor. Helen stood on the pier, cloak snapping in the wind. Her officers spread maps across a crate, illuminated by a flickering torch.
"We strike fast and vanish faster," she told the assembled fighters. "The Dominion garrison at Port Veyra holds fuel and supplies we need. If we take it, they bleed. If we fail…" Her gaze swept over the crowd. "We don't fail."
Eyes flicked toward me as she spoke. Some suspicious. Some curious. None trusting.
Helen's stare locked on me last. "Vale, you'll be with the vanguard. Break their defenses. Clear the way for the rest."
I nodded. "Understood."
The rebels boarded in silence. Engines rumbled low as the boats slipped into the dark sea. Neon lightning flashed across the storm-wracked horizon, painting faces in ghostly blue. I stood at the bow, scanning the waves. Every sensor in my body was on edge.
Lira joined me, gripping her rifle tight. "First mission as one of us. Nervous?"
"I don't get nervous," I lied.
She smirked faintly. "Good. Because I do enough for both of us."
The Dominion fortress loomed from the fog—black towers stabbing skyward, searchlights sweeping the waters. Gun turrets bristled along the shoreline, their barrels glinting.
Helen's voice carried over the comms. "Stay low until the signal. Wait for the breach."
A moment later, the signal came.
The sea erupted with fire. Rebels launched rockets from hidden compartments, streaks of light slamming into the fortress walls. Explosions rippled through the night, tearing open steel. Sirens wailed across the port.
"Go!" Helen barked.
Engines roared. The boats surged forward. Gunfire rained from the towers, tracers whipping across the waves. One boat exploded in a blossom of fire, screams swallowed by the sea.
I leapt before ours even touched shore. My frame slammed into the beach, sending sand and shrapnel flying. Drones poured from the fortress gates, weapons blazing.
"Covering fire!" Lira shouted, diving behind a wrecked barrier. Rebels fanned out, unleashing everything they had.
I charged headlong into the machines. Plasma bolts tore across my plating, burning hot, but I didn't stop. My fists crashed into the first drone, caving its chest. I ripped its arm free and hurled it into another, sparks bursting as they collapsed together.
The fortress guns swiveled toward us. Massive cannons thundered, blasting chunks of beach into the air. Helen's voice cut through the chaos: "Kieran! Take them out!"
I sprinted across the sand, leaping onto the gun platform. The crew turned too late. My hand drove into the cannon's joint, tearing free cables. It exploded in a shower of fire, sending me flying into the rubble. Systems screamed warnings, but I forced myself up.
Another turret locked onto the boats. I hurled debris at its barrel, then launched myself forward, ripping into the machinery until it screamed and fell silent.
Behind me, rebels stormed the breach, pouring into the fortress. Lira's voice rang out through the smoke: "We've got a path! Move!"
Inside, the battle raged through shattered halls. Dominion soldiers—flesh and steel blended—fought with brutal precision. I tore through them, my chrome hands dripping with sparks and oil. Rebels followed in my wake, shouting with something like hope.
But for every victory, more enemies appeared. Alarms blared. Reinforcements thundered through steel corridors. We were outnumbered. Outgunned.
Then I felt it—a pulse in my mind, sharp and cold. A command. Dominion code, threading through my systems like poison. My vision flickered red.
"Kieran?" Lira's voice cut through the haze. "Stay with me!"
I staggered, hands trembling. My sensors screamed conflicting orders—kill, obey, resist. For a heartbeat, I saw the rebels as enemies, red targets outlined against the walls.
No. I clenched my fists, forcing the code back. Pain flared through every circuit. I roared, tearing free of it, smashing my fist into the wall until the visions bled away.
Helen's voice echoed distantly: "Vale! Focus!"
I turned, optics blazing. "I'm still here."
We pushed deeper, through fire and blood. Finally, the supply depot loomed—fuel tanks and ammo crates stacked high. One shot could turn it into an inferno.
Helen raised her rifle. "Plant charges. We end this now."
Rebels scattered, setting explosives. Dominion forces surged for a last stand, drones pouring through the smoke. I met them head-on, body battered, systems screaming, but I didn't stop.
The last charge armed, Helen shouted: "Fall back!"
We tore through the corridors, fire licking at our heels. The fortress shook as explosions thundered one after another. A final blast ripped through the sky, a tower collapsing into the sea.
The rebels' boats raced from the shore, waves battering against the hulls. Behind us, Port Veyra burned—a beacon in the night, ashes rising into the storm.
Lira slumped beside me, chest heaving. She glanced at me, a wild grin on her soot-streaked face. "Not bad for your first raid."
I didn't smile. I stared back at the burning port, smoke curling into the dark.
Ashes of tomorrow. That's all we'd left behind....