Iron Phoenix

New London

"Kana", She looked up with a start. After burying her head in the manual for what simultaneously felt like eternity and no time at all, Kana was impressed. These tactics were on a whole different level than the ones the Cadet Corps had taught her. The whole time she read, her mind had flipped between analytical awe and utter intimidation as she realized she would have to fly as a part of this in a few short hours. Still, as she carefully committed the book to memory, she found it strangely calming. This Captain Roth – he was clearly a genius. Kana couldn't wait to meet him.

"We're almost there.", Holden continued with a slight smile. "Welcome to New London."

Kana looked out of the window and barely contained a gasp. The car was cruising along a mountainside road, the city stretching out majestically below. The sun had risen fully now, and the light danced on the gleaming glass skyscrapers towering below them, set like diamonds against the ocean. The ocean! Kana hadn't seen it in years, but today its beauty felt unrivalled, the sun bouncing off its rich blue surface, its vastness stretching past the mountains on the other side of the city and beyond the horizon.

"Pretty awesome, huh?", said the Colonel and Kana suddenly realized that she had her face pressed to the window like a little kid.

"Yeah... I mean yes ma'am." Kana replied, getting her brain back in check. She had read about New London before, of course – the most technologically advanced city in the world, humanity's symbol of progress and bastion of hope after half of Europe had been trampled seven years ago. It was quite a sight to behold. Looking down on it, Kana couldn't help but feel a little proud – humanity could be pretty awesome when it wanted to be.

***

Kana found herself clinging to the sides of her seat again as Holden angrily swerved through lanes of traffic. The streets were packed with far more traffic than she had ever seen and Holden navigated it with all the grace of a stampeding rhino. Eventually, gleaming skyscrapers gave way to gleaming apartment blocks and they began to leave the city, heading back towards the mountains.

The car drove up yet another mountain road and Kana noted the guards that became ever more present the further they went. Still, she hadn't seen even a hint of a massive military base as they headed up the mountain. Unless... As they rounded a corner, a hole in the mountainside gaped at them like a giant mouth, swallowing the car whole as Holden sped inside. It was much darker in here, dim fluorescent lights illuminating an underground parking lot, filled to the brim with hundreds of cars. Kana's eyes widened at the gaping cavern. She had expected a lot of LITE, but the whole base being built into a mountain, completely camouflaged from the world – now that was something quite special.

"Come on.", said Holden, exiting the car without a backwards glance, "We're on schedule for now but-", she glanced down at her watch, "ah, crap we're late!"

Kana hurried after her, taking in the massive cavern. The walls and roof were natural, with veins of mineral snaking across them and glittering in the glow of the fluorescent lights. The floor however, had been made of metal plating, leading up to a row of towering, reinforced doors. Kana had to give it to them – LITE certainly had a flair for the grandiose.

The Colonel pressed her hand to a scanner beside one of the doors and it beeped before sliding open. She turned to face Kana, "All the doors at HQ are palm keyed. Frankly, its much easier than the pass cards we used to use. You're hardly likely to lose your right hand after all – well, not working for LITE anyway!"

Walking down the brightly lit hallways, Kana wondered just how many pass cards the Colonel had lost over the years. She suspected rather a lot. Not to mention her bizarre sense of humour-