The Ghost

Chapter 10

The shockwave has thrown me a good distance across the room and taken the air out of my body, the air strike alarms are howling, there is fire around us and Traveler, seemingly knocked out, has fallen somewhere to my left.

"Traveler!" I gasp, as soon as I can breath again- "Jeremy!"

I try to stand up, witnessing how a metal shield descends and clicks into place to replace the broken window. Traveler is coming back to her senses, and Jeremy, clearly injured but already on his feet, is fighting off the fires with a chemical spray.

"Natalie!" Traveler screams, her face and hands cut by the broken glass that has fallen everywhere.

"I am here!"

A second blast shakes the mountain, even scarier and more powerful this time. Jeremy is trying to protect Traveler, both of them injured and bleeding... my mind cannot think clearly, but I am conscious enough to grab my Kalashnikov and a few beloved photographs before getting the hell out of here.

"Purple bombs!" Jeremy yells, coughing in the smoke- "To the Command Hall, now!"

We dash out of my shattered room, running through the corridor outside and reaching the elevator in no time. Twelve more blasts hit the mountain during our travel to the lower stories of the base, the alarms howling all the time- We enter the Command Hall a few minutes later, and what we discover is a full-blown scenario of war:

Jab Scryer is screaming orders and running from one screen to another, everyone scrambling to start the counterattack. Jeremy dashes to claim his battle station, and then, another purple bomb hits the mountain and the Command Hall is shaken while electric sparks fly everywhere.

"Seven Starlights coming from the Northwest!" a red-haired woman screams, pressing keys really fast- "Speed: three thousand miles an hour, purple bombs again!"

"Icefire missiles in position!" Jeremy yells, and then I hurry to join my uncle and watch the largest screen of all.

"Fire!"

I look at the screen, watching how twenty missiles soar into the sky on their way to hit the enemy aircraft. The first missiles hit them a few seconds later and, as usual, their energy shields protect them from the explosions... However, we have added purple energy to our missiles recently and there is something different this time:

We celebrate when four Starlights disappear from the screen-

"Four down!" Jab howls, his harsh voice barely audible above the alarms- "Artillery ready!"

The mountain is shaken by the power of our own artillery as we try to hit the attackers, but they evade most of it and we are hit once again a few seconds later. The red lights are everywhere, and the powerful alarms keep howling while wave after wave of Starlights keep dropping purple bombs on the mountain...

Traveler is trying to help the injured staff, and then a cold, brown-haired woman speaks all of a sudden:

"Commander Scryer, they are calling us-"

"On speakers!" Jab orders, and the cold, awful voice that comes from the sound system is one that Traveler and I know very well:

"This is Seeker Catherine of the Northern Star Command" she says, cold and emotionless as ice- "I have twelve Ghost Battalions advancing- We demand your complete and immediate surrender..."

"What are we going to do?!" Traveler screams, terrified to hear Catherine's voice speaking to all of us.

"Come out peacefully and we shall treat you nice before your Inceptions."