S2, 15 The Great Fire of London (GC) (November 5, 2015)

Click HERE for the previous part of the group cross-over event.

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**LOCATION: London – East Communications Outpost - Earth**

Clambering over a collapsed radio mast that was wrapped up in a knotted mess of sparking cables and other antenna, Mikal and Guston arrived at the Communications outpost that Colonel. Cosor had sent them to investigate.

Weapons at the ready they reached the broken-down door.

Mikal: "Hello? Anybody home?" he shouted inside.

There were a few seconds of silence before a quiet voice came back.

Voice: "Who's there?"

Mikal: "Imperial-Aurelian assistance. Who are you?" he shouted back, not moving in case it was a trap. Guston stood beside him keeping watch over the nearby area.

Voice: "Oh, thank goodness!" the voice came again and this time Mikal identified it as being a woman. "This is Grace Hollinsworth of Cadet Squad 23." she called. "Please, we need help!"

Mikal nodded to Guston at the identification and lowering his weapons, they entered the outpost.

Inside, it was a mess; It looked like it had seen a lot of fighting. The equipment was in tatters and the walls were riddled with both bullet holes and laser scorch marks. Dead Collective soldiers littered the main corridor and Mikal and Guston had to step over them as they made their way inside.

Guston: "Where are you?" he called.

Grace: "In here!" she replied from a back room.

The pair made their way to the room's door and carefully looked inside. However,, no trap was awaiting them, just a room full of battered and bruised cadets.

Mikal looked them all over. Some were bloodied but none of them seemed seriously injured.

Mikal: "What happened here? Why didn't you report in?"

Grace: "We got here and secured the area, just like the Colonel told us to. But just as I was about to transmit our code back to him, they attacked."

Guston: "The Collective?" he checked and Hollinsworth nodded.

Grace: "They came at us with what seemed like everything they had. They took out the communications system,"

Guston: "We noticed." he interjected, remembering the collapsed tower they had climbed over on their way in.

Grace: "Yeah. They took that out and then bombarded us. We managed to hold the first wave off. Kept them outside. But when we had beaten them, they sent more and the second wave managed to make it inside."

Akabé: "We nearly didn't make it." one of the alien Cadets added.

John: "Please, if they come again, we won't survive." another pleaded. "You have to help."

Guston: "Why haven't you left?"

Grace: "We feared that they were waiting in ambush. But now you're here, we know that they aren't waiting for us. We can leave."

Mikal: "Okay. Follow us. We'll take you back to Cosor." he told them.

A couple of minutes later, the Cadets had gathered their gear and the group along with Mikal and Guston were stood ready to leave by the door.

Guston: "Okay, stay close." he told them as they left the building.

There was an explosion just feet in front of them, sending them tumbling back inside and lighting Mikal's jacket on fire. he patted it out just as lasers began to strike the ground and wall around the door.

Miakl: "Look's like they're back for round three!" he announced, drawing his gun again.

**LOCATION: London – The Landing Pad - Earth**

The landing pad seemed deserted as Kayne and his fellow squad members reached it. Apart from the sounds of battle from fighting taking place out of sight, the place was strangely quiet.
Weapons at the ready, the squad cautiously made their way along one of the sides of the platform, between the pad itself and the neighboring buildings.

Jacob: "Wait, hold up." he put up his hand, signalling them to stop.

Kayne: "What is it?"

Jacob: "Look. Dead Collective soldiers." he gestured to three bodies laying sprawled on the ground near to a crashed Collective fighter.

Kayne: "And? So the reports about them scouting ahead were correct."

Jacob: "Yeah but..."

Kat: "Who killed them?" she finished, getting the point.

Jacob: "Exactly. Where are the Imperial soldiers?"

Thane: "Or Aurelian." he reminded him.

Voice: "That's far enough." a voice interrupted them from behind and they all froze. "Turn around, all of you. Slowly."

They did as they were told and turned to face the man who'd been speaking.

Renegade: "Cadets?" he laughed and both Juggernaut and ALICE chuckled along with him. Jacob though, who was stood slightly behind them, looked worried. "They're sending cadets into the field?" he asked incredulously.

Kayne: "We're not Cadets!" he replied indignantly, gently pushing his way to the front of the group. "Colonel Cosor has temporarily promoted us. Just for this battle."

Renegade: "So... you're just uptight cadets then?" he smirked and raised his gun to Kayne. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you all where you stand? The GI are a plague." he sneered.

Kayne: "Because we are the only thing the stands between this galaxy and it's destruction at the hands of The Collective." he replied, almost with an air of authority.

Renegade's smirk slowly vanished and was replaced by an almost-impressed smile.

Renegade: "What's your name, kid?" he asked.

Kayne: "Kayne Arrowsmith. We are..." he paused realising what he was about to say. "Cadet Squad 6 of the Reconnaissance & Intelligence Operations Taskforce."

Renegade smirked again at the mention of them being Cadets, but still he lowered his gun.

Renegade: "Well Kayden, of... wherever the hell you said you were from, I like you." he told the younger man.

Kayne: "It's Kayne. From Reconnai..."

Renegade: "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don't make me change my mind so soon after I've decided that we're not going to kill you."

ALICE: "We're not?" the robot asked almost desperately.

Renegade: "No." he replied and ALICE moaned like a disappointed child.

Juggernaut: "So what are Cadets doing out here?"

Jacob: "We have been tasked with securing this landing pad."

Juggernaut: "Is that so?"

Jacob: "We could use some help. If you're willing." he added.

Renegade: "Ha! You wouldn't catch me working for the Imperium! Never in a million y..." but before he could finish, the ground around them was struck by numerous lasers as they came under attack.

Kayne: "Cadets, prepare for battle!" he shouted and the squad all looked around for the source of the shots.

Renegade: "Here they come!" he pointed across to a small alleyway where Collective soldiers had started to emerge.

Jacob: "So you'll help us?" he asked.

Renegade: "I'm not helping the Imperium!" he shouted back as the lasers started to fly again and he returned fire. "I'm just saving my own skin!"

Juggernaut: "You okay to fight?" he asked Jacob who nodded rather shakily in reply, his gun in his hand.

Kayne: "Defend the platform at all costs!"

**LOCATION: English Airspace - Earth**

Dr. Gadera's stomach lurched as the bomb transport took a dive and performed a barrel roll to evade an enemy fighter.

Com. Sev: "We've over the UK now Doctor. Not far to go." he reassured over the sounds of the battle raging outside.

Cap. Golrath: "Keep it together, Nate, you've got one right on you." he warned over the coms.

Nate heeded the advice and drove his fighter into an upwards rolling turn, before bringing his nose around to point back the way he'd come. The Collective fighter was caught out and a single shot from Nate's cannons made light work of the ship.

Aboard their new ship, still seated in the co-pilot's chair, Eris, using her powers, did everything she could to help protect both them and the other Imperial and Aurelian ships out in the battle.

Jera: "Eris, you've got one coming in at 11 o'clock!" the voice warned but Eris had already spotted it.

Reaching out with her powers, she grasped hold of the fighter's aft engine and squeezed hard. It erupted in a fireball and the craft spun helplessly away.

Aboard the bomb transport, the pilot messaged down to Commander Sev.

Pilot: "We're over London now, sir!"

Com. Sev: "Good. Inform me when we've reached the designated landing site." he commanded.

Pilot: "Yes, sir."

Max: "HAHAHA! TAKE THAT PUNY COLLECTIVE LAMPSHADES!" he cackled as he shot down another enemy fighter.

Cap. Golrath: "Max, look out. You've attracted some attention. You've got three fighters headed your way, 5 o'clock."

Max: "ERROR. MY TIME CLOCK STATES IT IS 3:38 STANDARD EARTH BANANAS."

Cap. Golrath: "No, I meant behind you!"

Max: "WHY WOULD THE TIME BE DIFFERENT BEHIND ME?"

Cap. Golrath: "No..." he tried again, exasperated. "The enemy fighters are..."

Max: "NEVER MIND." he stated as the three enemy craft shot past overhead, spitting lasers at him as they went. "I SEE THEM NOW. COURSE... RECALCULATING."

Eris: "Commander." she spoke through the coms directly to Sev. "Where do you plan on landing?"

Com. Sev: "There is a landing pad not far from the front lines. It is the only one that isn't either controlled by the enemy or too far away."

Eris: "And where is said platform?"

Com. Sev: "We should be coming up on it any time now." he informed.

And surely enough, less than a minute later, the moving dogfight had reached the skies over the front lines.
Pilot: "We've arrived, sir!" he informed Sev.

Com. Sev: "Good. Set us down!"

Pilot: "Uh, negative on that, sir!"

Com. Sev: "Why not?"

Pilot: "The area isn't secure. There is a battle taking place on the landing pad. It looks like The Collective have got there."

Com. Sev: "Dammit!" he cursed, trying to think of what to do. He flicked back on his open com channel. "Attention all craft, hold the enemy at bay for as long as we can. We cannot land yet. I repeat, we cannot land yet. The landing pad is NOT secure. Circle the area. Do not leave the vicinity. The priority is still to protect this transport." he commanded.

Aboard Eris's ship, Basher shook his head at the controls.

Basher: "There are too many of them." he ground out through gritted teeth as he concentrated on keeping them all alive.
Even as another Collective ship was knocked out of the sky by a shot from Kiara's cannon, Eris knew that Basher was right. There were simply too many enemy ships. To prove her point the wreckage of an Aurelian fighter that had been destroyed somewhere up above them hurtled past the canopy in a ball of flames. They were effectively flying over enemy territory, which didn't help the situation, Eris considered. But then with that thought, an idea struck her.

Reaching out with her mind, she sought to find one man on the ground she knew she could trust...

**LOCATION: London – The Front Lines - Earth**

Lieutenant Henry Codder was currently stood in the area of the forward command post that had been set aside for strategy, speaking to a man in a black jacket and wearing a hood. The strategy area had been put together inside the delivery bay entrance at the rear of the same building where Colonel Cosor's command centre was located. The area was raised off of the ground to allow the usual delivery lorries to unload with more ease and had a small flight of stairs for access.

Lt. Codder: "Will you need any men? A team?"

Dart: "No, that's okay. I know some people."

Codder nodded.

Lt. Codder: "Okay. Well, if you could get that done, that would be brilliant.

Dart: "I'll see what I can do, but no promises. I expect it'll be harder than you're imagining."

Lt. Codder: "But I doubt that would stop a man of capabilities, now, would it?"

Dart: "No, I suppose not. Lieutenant." he saluted and Codder nodded, accepting the un-asked request to take his leave.

The hooded man turned and jogged down the access stairs, just as Tank arrived. The two men passed each other and Tank waited at the top to be called forwards.

The Lieutenant, now examining a readout on a tactical holo-display table, noticed him and motioned for him to enter.

Tank: "Sir." he greeted. "The results you requested." he announced, holding out a datapad.

Lt. Codder: "Ah, thank you. That's all." he said taking the pad.

Tank turned to leave, but as he got halfway down the stairs, he felt the, by now familiar, tendrils of power snaking their way into his mind and Eris appeared before him.

Eris: "Tank, we're in trouble!" she explained hurriedly. "The bomb you're waiting for. We're here, above the city. But they can't land because the landing area isn't secure yet. You need to persuade whoever is in charge down there to send everybody they can spare to take control of the landing zone. We're not going to last much longer up here in the air. There are just too many of them." she pleaded. Tank wanted to reply, but didn't know how, if it was possible at all.

Eris: "But I don't think that's the only reason we're struggling up here." she continued. "I think that Azgoth has got Battle Overseers down there somewhere. Overseers hide somewhere, usually well protected, and use their powers to influence the direction that the battle is taking. In other words, they use their powers to control the tide of the fight. They need to be taken out, Tank. If you can take them out, then everybody stands a much better chance - both up here and down there." she explained.

Eris: "Wait, let me see..." she paused and in his mind, Tank could see her with her eyes closed, concentrating. "Yes. yes, ten of them, I think. They're aboard *The Shard*. Up on the observation deck. Please, Tank. You have to do everything you can to take them out." she pleaded and after simply looking at him with big eyes for a few seconds, the message ended and Tank could see the ground in front of him again.

Tank: "Eris..." he whispered.

A few minutes later and Tank had rushed over to Colonel Cosor's command area. he had completely forgotten about Ramson, but luckily he was nowhere to be seen when Tank arrived. In fact, Tank couldn't even see Cosor because the area was so crowded with people. Mostly marauders by the looks of them. Drifters and pirates mostly. He made his way through the crowd towards the front and as he emerged, he found a familiarly masked man talking to the Colonel.

Col. Cosor: "Ah! There you are! I was beginning to think you'd run away!"

Tank: "Sorry, sir. I was helping Lieutenant Codder."

Col. Cosor: "Ah, fair enough. Uh, this here is Derek Collins." he introduced the man stood beside him in the bright red skull-like helmet.

Tank: "I know, sir. We've met before." he replied, smiling at Derek.

Derek: "Tank. When we parted ways, we said that we'd hopefully meet again under better circumstances; seems that our wishes were not to be." he greeted. "It is, however, good to see you again."

Tank: "Likewise."

Col. Cosor: "Oh good, good."

Before he could say anything else though, Tank continued.

Tank: "Sir, I've been contacted by one of the people running flight support for the bomb transport." he explained, not naming Eris or even mentioning that she was Collective, in case Cosor decided not to believe that she was on their side. "They're in trouble." he continued and as if to prove his point, several ships flew overhead in an almighty roar, the Aurelian ship in the mix shooting lasers as it went. "But there is a way we can help."

Tank repeated what Eris had told him about The Collective Battle Overseers and about them needing to send support to the landing pad.

Col. Cosor: "Hmmm..." the Colonel muttered once Tank had finished. "They seem very well informed, whoever they are. How come we've never heard of these 'Battle Overseers' before? And how do they know about them?"

Tank: "Please, sir. I know that this source is trust-worthy."

Col. Cosor: "Hmm... Collins, what do you think?" he asked, looking for a second opinion.

Derek: "If Tank vouches for them, then so do I." he replied with a nod to Tank, who smiled his thanks in return.

Col. Cosor: "Very well then. After what you did for us, Tank, I trust you and if Collins says the same then everything is good. The two of you can go and sort out these 'Battle Overseers'. Take some of your squad with you, if you like, Collins, but not all of them. I need some troops here. And on your way, tell Lieutenant Codder to come here."

Tank: "Yes sir!"

Derek: "Yes sir!" they answered in unison and Derek turned to all people all stood around, who Tank now realised were the rest of Derek's gang.

Derek: "Okay, Dawn, Natasha, Bruce, Shadow and Sean, you're with us. Derran, Cobra, Assassin and Spike, you stay here and do whatever the Colonel wants. Oh, and let Octavian out if you're going to be doing any fighting. I'm sure he'll come in handy." he said, smirking under his helmet.

**LOCATION: London Airspace – Above The Front Lines - Earth**

The mass of swirling ships continued to swerve and dive and roll and try to out-maneuver each other in their deadly dance of death as the Imperials and Aurelians, along with Eris' team, did everything they could to protect the bomb transport and also just to stay alive.

Jaze: "You've got incoming at 4 o'clock, Nate."

Nate: "Right, I see him." he replied and dropped into a barely-controlled spin that had the effect of practically killing his forwards momentum. His attacker, seemingly overconfident, roared past far too fast for anything more than a few wild shots at him. Nate, triggered his own guns and easily blew the enemy's engine up, letting him spiral down to the wasteland below.

Cap. Golrath: "Max, look out, you've got..."

Max: "CHICKENS!!!!" he bellowed with wild glee as he chased after two Collective ships. "YOU CANNOT OUTRUN MAX TICKLE!" he shouted.

However, what Max hadn't appreciated was that The Collective ships he was chasing were working in tandem. And as he headed straight after them, they both split off flying in separate directions, arcing around to come in behind him. Not knowing which to follow, his reactions weren't fast enough and he simply continued heading straight.

A single shot to his port engine knocked it out and sent him plummeting.

Cap. Golrath: "MAX!"

Max: "HMM... RECALCULATING..." he stated. But it was too little, too late and seconds later his fighter plunged into the side of *The Shard*, ripping it's way through the outer hull, in a fiery ball of light and smoke.

**LOCATION: London – East Communications Outpost - Earth**

Mikal: "On your right!" he shouted a warning to one of the cadets, who was stood at the long window across the room. The cadet reacted well and turned to shoot the Collective drone who had been approaching from the side. The cadet squad, along with Mikal and Guston were still attempting to hold off The Collective, but they were losing ground fast.

Guston slowly backed into the main room through the doorway, firing at out of sight enemies as he came.

Guston: "There are too many!" he shouted to his friend.

Mikal didn't respond, trying to figure out a plan.

Grace: "We have to retreat!" she replied as she took several shots out of the window.

John: "We can't hold them for much longer!" he cried as he and one of the other cadets charged back into the room from an adjoining corridor.

Guston: "Mikal!" he shouted angrily.

Mikal: "Dammit!" he cursed. "Okay, everybody out the back. Protect each other. Guston and I will bring up the rear! Go!" he ordered and the group did as they were told.

As Mikal and Guston backed out of the room, the former chucked a grenade back through the door. Collective soldiers began filing into the room through all of the entrances; If they had left it a second longer, it would have been too late.

The grenade went off as the pair reached the Cadets at the rear entrance. They looked around - for the moment it was all clear. But it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Mikal: "Okay, let's go! Stay close and watch each other's backs!" he told them as they set off in the direction of the Imperial/Aurelian front lines.

**LOCATION: London – Base of *The Shard* - Earth**

There was an explosion as the charge Derek had set blew a hole in the side of *The Shard*, big enough for them to be able to get inside through.

Tank: "Everybody ready?" he checked and got a lot of nods in confirmation.

Derek: "Everybody stay tight." he ordered as his gang started to file through the hole, led by Tracks.

Voice: "Hello Tank." the woman's voice came from behind as he watched the group enter the ship and made him jump. He spun around, weapons ready, but relaxed when he found Jax, the blue-skinned experiment, standing before him.

Tank: "Oh! Jax! What are you doing here?" he asked, aware that they were in a hurry.

Jax: "I'm not sure..." she replied with a thoughtful frown. "I just felt... drawn to Earth. I don't know why."

Tank: "Um... okay?"

Jax: "I followed it. Whatever 'it' is. Whatever drew me to the planet. I followed it and it led me here, to London. There is so much destruction here." she said sadly.

Tank: "I know. So, what are you doing now?" he asked, trying to get away as Derek re-appeared in the hole, wondering where Tank had gotten to.

Jax: "I've been helping the authorities." she explained. "Doing what I was created to do. Kill The Collective." she continued in a slightly scary tone. But it was then that an idea struck Tank.

Tank: "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "Come with us!"

Jax: "What?"

Tank briefly explained what they were doing, about how they were going to have to fight their way through the ship and kill the Battle Overseers.

Tank: "... and with your help, your natural ability to nullify their powers, it would make our task so much easier!"

Jax thought for a moment before replying.

Jax: "Okay. Let's go."

And with that, she stepped past both Tank and Derek and entered the ship.

Derek: "So... she's made of Ossillium?" he asked, confused.

Tank: "Yeah. Long story." he replied and followed Jax inside. Derek shook his head, still none-the-wiser and followed suit.

**LOCATION: London – The Landing Pad - Earth**

The battle had spread out over the landing platform now, with more Collective soldiers arriving as fast as they could be killed.

Juggernaut, Renegade and ALICE had become separated from their companions and were across the platform, using some storage containers for cover.

ALICE took a hit to the shoulder, but being a droid, felt nothing and continued firing back. Renegade took out a grenade and tossed it over the boxes.

The Collective drones scattered, allowing them to pick a few more of them off as they did so, before the grenade went off, killing several more.

Jacob had received a nasty burn to his side, but was still standing with Kayne and the other cadets of Squad 6. They were also using a stack of crates as cover from the ever increasing numbers of Collective soldiers, but it was clear that very soon they were going to be overwhelmed.

Jacob: "How long do you think we can keep this up?" he shouted over the din.

Kayne: "As long as we're alive!" came the grunted, determined reply.

Baxter: "So, not long, in other words!" his friend semi-joked as he picked off another drone.

Kat: "This is stupid!" she shouted angrily. "We need to find a way out of here or we'll be dead in minutes! Oh, scrim!" she cursed as one of the containers they were sheltering behind was destroyed by enemy fire.

They all sheltered their faces from the flying shards of metal but when they turned back, they were face to face with the enemy. A line of Collective soldiers had formed right in front of the storage crates and they were now trapped with nowhere to turn and no way of escape. The Collective had taken the platform.

Lt. Codder: "Okay gang! Light 'em up!" the new voice shouted over the battle sounds as he and the rest of Colonel Cosor's reinforcements arrived.

In seconds, the soldiers who had been about to kill Jacob and the Cadets had themselves been killed, as the Aurelian Lieutenant along with Spike from Derek's gang and an entire squad of mixed Aurelian and Imperial soldiers moved into the fray.

Lt. Codder: "Need a hand?" he called to the men he's just rescued, none of whom had quite recovered from their close encounter yet.

Baxter: "You could have got here a bit earlier!"

Lt. Codder: "Ahh... suit yourself."

Codder turned, raised his gun and started blasting away.

On the other side of the platform, more Imperial and Aurelian soldiers led by Colonel Ramson and accompanied by three of Derek's men, Cobra, Derran and Assassin, had arrived to assist Renegade and his companions.

Col. Ramson: "Come on you three! Do NOT let the enemy take this platform!" he commanded as he strode past.

Kayne and several of the other Cadets cried out in a mixture of surprise and fear, when a giant white animal resembling some sort of cross between a wolf and a bear leaped into view and ripped a Collective soldier apart in his enormous jaws.

Spike: "That's Octavian!" he explained to them with a smirk as the beast lashed out and killed another two soldiers with one swipe of his paw. "He's with us!"

Thane: "Thank f\*\*k for that!" he swore, breathing a sigh of relief.

Lt. Codder: "Here!" he shouted and tossed a rocket launcher to Jacob who only just caught it with a worried expression on his face.

Lt. Codder: "Find a suitable vantage point and start shooting!" he told him, also throwing him a bag of missiles.
Jacob: "Y, yes, sir!" he stammered, looking around for where he might possibly be able to get a good shot from.

As the pad was surrounded by buildings, there seemed only one suitable place. Or rather, any number of suitable places...

**LOCATION: London – Inside *The Shard* - Earth**

A blast of yellow energy, conjured by a Collective mage, surged down the corridor, narrowly missing Derek as the team made their way further up through *the Shard*.

Tank fired off several lasers down the corridor as Tracks did the same. The team had gotten nearly halfway up the ship without any great difficulty, mostly thanks to Jax's protection. But now the enemy seemed to have realised that there were intruders aboard and they had sent more men to wipe them out.

Their progression had slowed to a standstill and now they were struggling to break through the enemy defences.

Tank: "Jax! Why aren't your powers working?" Tank asked loudly over the ringing gunfire.

Jax: "I think the mage at the far end of the corridor is weaving some sort of counter-protection!" she replied, taking a couple of shots.

Tank: "Derek!" he shouted to his comrade, who was stood on the opposite side of the corridor in a narrow cut-out for protection. "Somebody needs to take out that mage!" he shouted, pointing to the man Jax had indicated.

Derek nodded and whistled. Shadow glanced over to him and the pair exchanged silent hand signals.

Switching to Ossillium bullets, Shadow carefully made his way further up the corridor. Once he reached a suitable position, he nodded back to Derek, who in turn threw a circular, almost flat disc Frisbee-like up the corridor towards the enemy. It sailed threw the air and landed right in their midst.

Just seconds later, the disc detonated, sending pulse waves out in every direction. The soldiers were thrown off-guard and knocked over with ease. Even the mage was thrown backwards against the wall. Shadow took the opportunity and dispatched him with a single bullet.

Dawn: "Nice throw!" she complemented Derek, her husband.

However, the battle wasn't over. The gun fight continued, but now without their counter-protection, The Collective soldiers fell much more easily.

Derek: "Jax, move up!" he commanded and she did as he bade, making her way further forwards. Tank went with her and took out another two soldiers as he went.

It didn't take long before the enemy were down to just a couple of men, who instead of dying with honour, decided to turn and run away along the adjoining corridor.

The rest of the team moved up to the junction and took a quick breather.

Derek: "Okay, the elevator bay should be at the end of the next corridor." They had been following the signs on the ship's walls, following the directions to the upper levels, steadily working up towards the observation deck.

Derek: "Jax and Tracks take point." he commanded. "Tank, you follow with Dawn and Nat'. Shadow, Sean, you two are next. I'll bring up the rear. Ready?" he checked and got confirmation from everybody.

Derek: "Okay, move ou..."

But before he could finish his command, the wall next to them exploded outwards as two men, Collective soldiers, crashed through it, flying through the air, closely followed by a hulking humanoid figure.

Max: "HAHAHAHA! PUNY COLLECTIVE BISCUITS!" the cyborg laughed as he crushed one's head under his foot and kicked the other one half way up the corridor.

Tank: "Whoa!" he exclaimed and the team all trained their weapons on Max, who only now noticed their presence.

Derek: "Who are you?" he demanded.

Max: "I AM MAX POWER. WHO ARE YOU?"

Derek: "I'm asking the questions!" he replied, shifting the grip on his gun.

Max: "ANYBODY CAN ASK QUESTIONS." he declared. "IT IS A HUMAN TIGHTS."

Tank cocked his head slightly, not understanding. The rest of the group did similar.

Derek: "What are you doing here? Are you with The Collective?" Derek asked, deciding to ignore the cyborg's last answer.

Max: "HA! DID YOU NOT SEE THE MICE-MEAT I MADE OF THOSE THREE?" he laughed, indicating to the two men laying dead nearby.

Sean: "Mice-meat?" he muttered.

Natasha: "I think he means mince. And two, not three."

Derek: "So if you're not with The Collective, who are you with? Why are you here?"

Max: "I AM CORPORAL MAX POWER OF AURELIA! I AM HERE TO HELP PROTECT THE BOMB FROM THE PEANUTS! BUT MY SHIP WAS SHOT DOWN AND I ENDED UP QUACK!"

Sean: "'Collective' and 'here'?"

Natasha nodded.

Derek: "So you're part of the bomb convoy?" he asked, knowing about the plan.

Max: "THAT IS FIDDLESTICKS!" he confirmed, nodding.

Derek looked to Tank, who shrugged, not having got a clue either.

Derek: "Okay, 'Max', could you help us then? We're working with both the Aurelians and the Imperials to try and stop The Collective. Could you help us?" he asked basically.

Max: "I CALCULATE THAT, YES, I WOULD BE ABLE TO HELP YOU."

Derek waited for him to say more but the cyborg remained silent.

Derek: "Okay, WILL you help us?" he asked, more specifically.

Max: "OKAY. YES, I WILL HELP ELEPHANTS."

Derek nodded in satisfaction.

Derek: "Good. Right, everybody, let's go!" he gave the order and everybody, still slightly baffled by their new companion, set off up the corridor towards the elevator bay.

**LOCATION: London – The Front Lines - Earth**

Colonel Cosor's command location had come under attack as The Collective gained more and more ground. He had fortified the area some more but now was having to stand and fight. He had grabbed a bigger rifle from a passing cadet, instead of just using his pistol and was now stood along with a dozen other men, firing over the sandbag wall.

Troop: "Sir! They've succeeded in taking the Eastern command post! Our forces are having to fall back!" a messenger frantically informed the Colonel, as he crouched down behind the wall, reloading his rifle.

Col. Cosor: "Dammit, they can't take this base!" he shouted and without waiting for a reply, stood up again and continued firing. A huge ball of blue light flew past overhead and smashed into the corner of the building, blowing a big chunk to pieces.

Col. Cosor: "LOOK OUT!" he shouted as debris rained down all around them. Luckily he escaped uninjured but he had to cover his mouth, coughing as the plume of dust from the rubble washed over them.

Col. Cosor: "Send word to Commander Arkay - we need reinforcements!" he told the messenger who nodded and ran off again.

**LOCATION: London – Abandoned Shop - Earth**

Mikal, Guston and the cadets were currently holed up in an abandoned shop. The Collective were still after them and they were still having to stay alert, fending the enemy off. The front wall of the shop was in ruins, however that provided a good amount of cover for them, while allowing them plenty of space to shoot back.

Grace was knelt behind a destroyed pillar, taking cover from the enemy lasers. She stood up and fired a few shots back at them but didn't succeed in hitting anything.

Brainslor: "We have to keep moving!" he shouted.

Guston: "Okay, leave! Be my guest!" came the reply, as he indicated to their only way out, which was currently directly between them and The Collective soldiers.

Takeshi: "We need to push them back!" one of the other cadets stated.

Mikal: "Well, duh!" he replied, annoyed as he took aim and shot down another enemy soldier.

Grace: "Hey! We're going to have to work together to get out of this! So less of the sarcasm!"

Mikal raised his eyebrows at her, but she was facing the other way, lining up another shot. Guston muttered in his ear,

Guston: "That told you!"

John: "Frag out!" he shouted, tossing a grenade out of the building. Several seconds later the blast came, accompanied by screams from the injured or dying soldiers that had been caught in it.

Mikal: "Good work, keep it up!"

**LOCATION: London Airspace – Above The Front Lines - Earth**

The ship took an almightly lurch and in the loading bay, a siren began to wail.

Com. Sev: "Captain! What was that?" he demanded into the speaker.

Pilot: "We're hit!"

Outside, the ship was trailing thick, black smoke from a hole in the starboard wing.

Cap. Golrath: "Commander, are you okay?" the Aurelian Captain asked anxiously.

Com. Sev: "We're fine!" he replied, looking around the men with him and getting confirmation nods from them all. "How bad does it look?"

Cap. Golrath: "I'd be lying if I told you it looked anything but bad, sir."

Com. Sev: "Captain, are we still fly-able?" he asked into the direct coms.

There were a few tense seconds of silence before the reply came.

Pilot: "I honestly don't know, sir! I'm trying and we're still airborne but I don't know how long for!"

Sev cursed.

Com. Sev: "You're a tech aren't you?" he asked Kirin. "Is there anything you can do to help from in here?"

Kirin: "Sorry sir, but no."

The Commander shook his head.

Eris: "Commander, I can help keep you aloft, but not forever." she told him via the coms.

Com. Sev: "Any help is better than none!"

Eris: "Keep us level and as close as you can to that transport." she told Basher before leaping up from her chair, letting it swivel as she went, and dashing away up the corridor.

Cormal': "Problem?" he asked from where he was just sat in the living area, doing nothing.

Eris: "Nothing to concern yourself with." she replied tersely.

Eris: "Jay, we've got work to do!" she told him as she passed the gun emplacement where he was stationed.

Eris reached the top of the boarding ramp and hit the release button. With a blast of air, the ramp slowly started to descend and once it opened fully, un-phased by how high up they were and at the wind rushing around them, attempting to rip them out into the sky, Eris, followed by Jay, walked out onto the angled ramp.

Eris: "Concentrate your powers on that shuttle!" she told him through his mind. "We need to keep it aloft."

Pilot: "We've got an engine failure! We're going down!" the pilot of the bomb shuttle shouted into the com.

Com. Sev: "Scrim! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" he bellowed.

The rightful heir to The Collective throne closed her eyes and raised her right hand, her palm extended towards the Imperial transport that carried the bomb. After it's engine failure, the ship had began to slowly tilt nose-down and it was now picking up speed.

Jay, slightly more uncertain about the task at hand, stepped forwards to stand beside her and copied her actions.

Together they stood side by side, arms out, concentrating on the Imperial ship.

Slowly but surely, the bomb shuttle began to level out.

Jay was concentrating hard. He'd long gotten the hang of telekinesis, but this ship was by far the biggest object he'd ever had to move. With the wind rushing around them, Eris's hair was blown across his face, but instead of breaking his concentration, Jay used the scent to relax. Feeling her presence standing close beside him, his concentration levels raised and so for did the shuttle.

It was still only moving slowly, but at least it was no longer falling out of the sky.

Aboard the transport, everybody breathed slightly more easily again. Sev was just about to speak to Dr. Gadera when a mental message from Eris entered his mind.

Eris: "We can only keep you flying for so long, Commander. You MUST tell your men on the ground to secure the landing area! You MUST land soon!"

**LOCATION: London – The Landing Pad - Earth**

Despite the Aurelian and Imperial reinforcements, Azgoth seemed to have thrown everything he could at taking control of the landing platform and as such, The Collective still had the upper hand and were still threatening to overwhelm their opponents.

A blast from a Collective Mage tore through four Aurelian soldiers, killing them instantly. Kayne, stood just beside them, staggered backwards in horror. He recovered quickly though and managed to kill two more soldiers before taking cover once more.

Lt. Codder: "Come on!" he cried, egging the enemy on, despite their current situation. He shot down three drones in a row before having to pause to reload. As he did so, Octavian the hybrid beast roared nearby and ripped another man's arm off.

Renegade tossed a grenade into a group of nearby enemies as they concentrated fire on ALICE. The grenade went off and took them all with it, giving ALICE time to recover and start firing back again.

Col. Ramson: "Where the hell is that bomb ship?" he demanded as he managed to join up with Lieutenant Codder.

Lt. Codder: "They're here, apparently, but they can't land until we've secured this platform!" he replied, blasting down another two men.

Col. Ramson: "But we're never going to be able to take the platform!" he argued back. "We need that bomb to do so!"

Lt. Codder: "Catch 22, Colonel!" the Lieutenant replied with a lopsided smirk that said 'And we can't do anything about it.'

Nearby, on the rooftop of one of the buildings surrounding the landing pad, Jacob fired off another rocket into the enemy forces. He'd taken a while to figure out how to use the weapon but he'd gotten the hang of it now and was using it to great effect.

Jacob: "Just like that." he muttered, pleased with himself as he began reloading.

Green lasers bit their way into the rooftop from above, making a path towards him and with a shocked cry, Jacob staggered backwards. The lasers passed by, thankfully missing him and he looked up to see a Collective fighter swinging around, getting ready to make another pass.

Frantically he reloaded the rocket launcher but in his haste the missile got jammed.

Jacob: "Oh no.... no, no, no." he pleaded with the lump of metal, desperately trying to get the rocket un-stuck while alternately glancing up to follow the fighter's progress.

He kept pleading with the weapon as the fighter began its second pass, shooting lasers at the rooftop. Jacob hit the side of the launcher, once, twice, in a last-ditch effort to get it working again, and on the second hit, the rocket clicked into position.

Without haste or even aiming properly, Jacob swung the launcher up and fired it at the on-coming fighter. At such a close distance, even without aiming, it was almost impossible to miss and the rocket hit home in an almighty explosion. The lasers stopped hitting the roof, however, there was nothing Jacob could do to avoid the new threat heading straight towards him - the fighter itself.

Desperately, he turned to try and find a way out, but there was none. The only way off the roof was either the fire escape door, but that was at the opposite side of the roof, or to jump.
He glanced over the edge - a good 4 stories high.

Looking back towards the ship however, he didn't get a chance to decide.

The fighter crashed into the rooftop in a secondary explosion, and the fireball swiftly engulfed the entire rooftop. The structure gave way and the whole lot collapsed into the rooms below.

Click HERE for the next part of the group cross-over event.

All character credits and also Bonus Pictures for the entire group cross-over will come at the end of the event.

As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it.

TIMELINE