Sofia was a graveyard of concrete.
Massive brutalist apartment blocks loomed over the convoy like tombstones. The windows were dark, staring eyes. The snow here was different—dirty, gray sludge mixed with industrial decay.
"Market Square," Marcus said. "Two klicks."
"It's a kill box," Marcia muttered, checking her railgun. "High ground on all sides. Perfect for snipers."
"That's why he chose it," Marcus said. "He wants us exposed."
"And us?"
"We hide."
"Hide where?" Narcissus asked. "I am a truck."
"Underground," Marcus pointed.
Ahead, the entrance to a metro station yawned open. The sign was rusted, Cyrillic letters fading.
"Galen," Marcus ordered. "Rig the trucks. Remote detonation on the fuel tanks. Turn them into bombs."
"But... how do we leave?" Galen asked, horrified.
"We steal his ride," Marcus said.
They drove the trucks into the square and parked them in a circle. A classic "circle the wagons" formation. Visible from the air.
Then they bailed out.
They dragged the refugees into the metro tunnel entrance.
"Wait here," Marcus told the Legion. "Do not fire until I give the signal."
He looked at Lucilla.
"You're up," Marcus said. "Center stage."
Lucilla swallowed hard. She was wearing her Board officer coat, but she looked like a child playing dress-up.
"Alone?" she whispered.
"He needs to see you," Marcus said. "Stand by the lead truck. Look scared."
"I don't have to act," she said.
She walked out into the snow. She stood in the middle of the circle of trucks.
The wind howled through the ruined skyscrapers.
Marcus, Marcia, and Narcissus crouched in the shadows of a collapsed department store, fifty meters away.
"Noon," Marcus checked his HUD.
Silence.
Then, a low hum.
It vibrated in their chests.
"Seismic?" Marcia asked.
"No," Narcissus rumbled. "Anti-grav."
The snow in the square began to dance. It swirled upward, defying gravity.
A shadow fell over the city.
It descended from the clouds.
A Board Hover-Carrier.
It was massive. A sleek, black slab of metal the size of a football field. Blue repulsor engines glowed underneath, kicking up a storm of slush.
"That's not a dropship," Marcus whispered. "That's a capital ship."
[VESSEL ID: THE BOREALIS.]
[CLASS: HEAVY TRANSPORT / GUNSHIP.]
It stopped, hovering a hundred feet above the square.
Searchlights snapped on. Blinding white beams swept the area.
They focused on Lucilla.
She stood frozen in the spotlight, shielding her eyes.
"General!" she screamed up at the ship. "I brought him! He's in the truck!"
A hatch opened on the bottom of the ship.
Ropes dropped.
Figures rappelled down.
They hit the snow silently.
Six of them.
They weren't human soldiers. They were tall, lanky cyborgs clad in white optical-camo armor. Their faces were smooth glass plates.
[UNIT: HUNTER-KILLER.]
[WEAPON: SONIC DISRUPTORS.]
"Hunters," Marcus hissed. "Elite guard."
The Hunters fanned out. They moved like liquid, their camouflage flickering as they walked.
One of them approached Lucilla. It raised a weapon that looked like a tuning fork.
"Where is Caesar?" the Hunter's synthesized voice asked.
"Truck 1," Lucilla pointed, trembling. "He's asleep. Sedated."
The Hunter signaled the others.
Three of them moved toward the truck. The other three scanned the perimeter.
"Wait for it," Marcus whispered.
The lead Hunter reached the truck door. It reached out a metal hand to open it.
"NOW!" Marcus yelled.
"GALEN! HIT IT!"
In the metro tunnel, Galen pressed the detonator.
Truck 1 didn't open. It exploded.
BOOM.
The fireball engulfed the three Hunters. Metal shrapnel shredded the air.
The blast wave knocked Lucilla flat.
"ATTACK!" Marcus roared.
He broke cover.
Marcia opened fire with the railgun.
THWUMP.
A kinetic slug hit a Hunter on the perimeter. It punched a hole through its chest plate. The cyborg flew backward, crashing into a statue of Lenin.
The surviving Hunters reacted instantly.
They didn't panic. They didn't run.
They shrieked.
It wasn't a vocal scream. It was a sonic blast.
WUB-WUB-WUB.
The sound hit Marcus like a physical wall. His vision blurred. His equilibrium shattered. He stumbled, falling to one knee.
[WARNING: TYMPANIC MEMBRANE STRESS.]
[AUDIO DAMPENERS ENGAGED.]
The Hunters turned toward them. They raised their sonic cannons.
"They're suppressing us!" Marcia yelled, clutching her ears. Blood trickled down her neck.
"Narcissus!" Marcus yelled. "Go bowling!"
The giant was already moving.
He charged out of the shadows. He picked up a frozen car from the street—a rusted sedan.
He threw it.
The car tumbled through the air.
It smashed into two of the Hunters. Metal crunched on metal. The cyborgs were pinned under the wreckage.
But the Carrier was still above them.
The belly guns swiveled.
BRRT.
Heavy autocannons tore up the pavement. Concrete exploded.
"Cover!" Marcus dived behind a fountain.
The ship was turning the square into a meat grinder.
"We can't fight a spaceship with swords!" Marcia screamed over the gunfire.
"We bring it down!" Marcus yelled.
"How? We used the explosives!"
"The battery!" Marcus realized. "The Nuclear Battery!"
"It's in the truck!" Narcissus pointed to the burning wreckage of Truck 1.
The lead truck was an inferno. But in the center of the bed, the green glow was still pulsing.
"It's critical!" Galen yelled over the comms. "The containment is failing! It's going to melt down!"
"Perfect," Marcus said.
"Narcissus! Get the core!"
The giant looked at the fire. Then at Marcus.
"It will hurt," Narcissus said.
"Pain is temporary, brother. Glory is forever."
Narcissus roared. He charged into the fire.
He ignored the flames licking his chassis. He reached into the burning truck bed.
He grabbed the Nuclear Battery with both hands.
His metal skin sizzled.
"THROW IT!" Marcus commanded. "INTO THE INTAKE!"
He pointed at the massive blue repulsor engine on the underside of the ship. It was sucking in air to stay afloat.
Narcissus stepped back. He spun like a discus thrower.
"CATCH!"
He released the core.
The glowing green cylinder flew upward.
It hit the intake fan.
CRUNCH.
The fan blades shattered the casing.
The nuclear material hit the anti-grav generator.
ZZZAAAAAAP.
A blinding flash of EMP energy.
The blue glow of the engine died instantly.
The ship listed.
It groaned. Fifty thousand tons of metal losing lift.
"TIMBER!" Marcus yelled.
The Borealis fell out of the sky.
It crashed into the far side of the square.
CRASH.
The impact shook the earth. Buildings crumbled. A wave of snow and debris washed over the square.
Silence followed.
The Hunters were dead or buried. The ship was a smoking wreck.
"We did it," Marcia gasped, standing up. She wiped blood from her ear.
"Check the wreck," Marcus said. "We need Titus alive."
They ran across the cratered square.
The ship lay on its side, broken open like an egg.
Narcissus ripped the cockpit hatch off.
"General!" Marcus yelled, aiming his sword. "Come out!"
Empty.
The pilot's seat was empty. The crew stations were empty.
"There's no one here," Marcia said, scanning the bridge.
"It's a drone ship," Marcus realized. "Remote piloted."
A screen on the wall flickered to life.
Static cleared.
A face appeared.
General Titus. He was sitting in a warm room, sipping tea.
"Impressive," Titus said. His voice echoed in the broken bridge.
"Where are you?" Marcus snarled.
"At the border," Titus said calmly. "Did you really think I would come to a frozen ruin to fight a barbarian? I am a strategist, Caesar. I don't duel."
"You lost a capital ship," Marcus said.
"I have a fleet," Titus shrugged. "You have... what? A few trucks? And now, you have a problem."
"What problem?"
"Look at the ground," Titus smiled.
Marcus looked down.
A crack appeared in the concrete floor of the square.
It spread. Fast.
CRACK. CRACK.
"The crash," Narcissus said. "The vibration."
The square wasn't built on solid ground. It was built over the frozen river.
"Seismic instability," Titus said. "You broke the ice, Caesar."
The screen went black.
The ground dropped.
"RUN!" Marcus screamed.
The entire Market Square collapsed.
The concrete shattered. The ice beneath it gave way.
The world fell away.
Marcus fell.
Marcia fell.
Narcissus fell.
They plummeted into the darkness of the subterranean river below.
The last thing Marcus saw was the gray sky shrinking into a distant hole.
Then, the cold water hit him.
Black. Freezing. Suffocating.
[SYSTEM SHOCK.]
[TEMP: -2°C.]
[CRITICAL FAILURE.]
Darkness took him.