New York in ruins, 2157. Collapsed skyscrapers, green alien smoke poisoning the air.
The air tasted of death and molten metal.
From my position atop the half-collapsed skyscraper we had converted into our last bastion, I could see Zephyrian ships forming a metallic net that blocked out the sun. Manhattan had ceased to exist months ago. What remained was a necropolis of twisted concrete and pulverized human dreams.
(Three years of war. Ninety-seven percent of humanity exterminated. And this is what's left.)
—Morrison, report situation —Commander Voss's voice resonated through my exoskeleton's internal communicator.
—Two hundred forty-seven operational personnel, sir —I replied, adjusting the telescopic sight of my plasma rifle—. Ammunition for two hours of intense combat. Supplies for three days if we ration.
I lied about the supplies. We had food for one, maybe two days. But morale was the only thing keeping us standing, and I wasn't going to be the one to destroy it with the truth.
My Grim Reaper MK-VII exoskeleton emitted a warning beep. The left arm had been functioning at sixty percent since last week's confrontation. The alien plasma scars had penetrated the armor and marked my skin like cattle. Thirty-two years old. Fifteen years of experience. A veteran who had seen entire continents fall.
Communications crackled with desperate reports:
—Base Delta-7 silent... repeat, Delta-7 not responding...
—European Sector lost. Confirmed. No survivors.
—Australia... Dear God... Australia has gone completely dark.
Only eight resistance bastions remained on the entire planet. The last embers of a civilization that had once touched the stars.
I pulled out the wrinkled letter from my armor's inner pocket. The ink was already faded, but I could recite every word from memory. Sarah. My squad mate for eight years. The woman who had taught me to laugh even when the world was falling apart.
"Bruce, if you're reading this it's because I finally got someone to deliver my message to you. Base Omega-3 is under siege. I don't know if we'll be alive when you arrive, but I need you to know something: I regret nothing. Every moment with you was worth it, even knowing it would end like this. Take care, heroic idiot. With love, Sarah Chen."
Presumably dead eight months ago when Base Omega-3 went silent.
—Morrison! —Commander Voss's voice pulled me from my thoughts—. Unified Command has just confirmed Operation Last Dawn.
I put away the letter and activated the general communication channel. My soldiers' voices filled the air. Jackson meticulously cleaning his assault rifle for the fifth time in an hour. Miller checking the plasma grenades. Rodriguez writing a letter that would probably never be delivered.
—Understood, sir. Mission details?
—Coordinated attack on the main mothership. All eight bastions will attack simultaneously. Objective: destroy the control core or die trying.
(Suicide attack, in other words.)
I looked at my soldiers. They all knew what this mission meant.
—Soldiers —I activated the general communicator—, we've just received our final orders.
The bunker fell silent. Even the wind seemed to have stopped to listen.
—We're going to attack the mothership. I won't lie to you: the odds of surviving are practically zero —I paused, seeing their faces—. But we have one chance, just one, to make our extinction mean something.
If we're going to become extinct, let's do it fighting. Let's do it as humans.
The silence broke when Miller started banging his rifle against the ground in a slow, steady rhythm. One by one, the rest joined in. The metallic sound filled the bunker like a primitive war drum.
I went to the communications terminal and began recording my final message:
—My name is Bruce Morrison, Captain of the 47th Earth Resistance Battalion. If you're listening to this, it's because humanity has ceased to exist. Sarah, if you're alive somewhere in the universe... this is for you. For all of us. For what we were and what we could have been.
Through the shattered window, I saw the first explosions on the horizon. The other bastions had begun their assault.
It was time to write the last chapter of humanity with blood and fire.