S3, 15 The Battle for the Depths (GC) (September 26, 2016)

Corresponding text underneath each picture.

**5th September 2096: Present Day**

I was still several blocks away, but I could already hear gunfire coming from the demolition site. Tracks and I continued on towards the sound of fighting and just a couple of minutes later, the besieged demo’ site appeared ahead of us.

It was exactly as I’d feared – there were True Aurelian soldiers everywhere.

As we looked on, I wasn’t really sure what to do. I didn’t want to just go charging in!

I looked around to see if I could see Eris or Jay anywhere, but couldn’t. However, just a moment later, I did manage to spot an Imperium Commander nearby, ordering a couple of troops around, and so we jogged over.

Tank: “Excuse me, Commander.” I offered as I approached. He turned, frowning at me.

Com. Ferris: “Yes?” he asked sharply.

Tank: “I’m Chain Rockwell. I believe the Governor sent word ahead that I was on my way to offer assistance?”

Com. Ferris: “Ah! So you’re the one who started all of this!”

Tank: “Excuse me?”

Com. Ferris: “Are you, or are you not, the man who discovered this location and demanded that it be placed under protection?”

Tank: “Uh… well, yeah, I found it but…”

Com. Ferris: “Well there we go then! Ergo – you are the reason this battle is currently being waged in the middle of my constituency!”

He clearly wasn’t happy!

Tank: “Um…. Okay then. Sorry. It’s not exactly my fault. I was also with Jay Arathon…” I tried to explain but he cut me off again.

Com. Ferris: “I know full well who else you were with. What I *don’t* know is what’s so damned important inside of that building that it’s causing all this fighting!”

Tank: “With respect sir, the fewer people who know the truth, the better.” I replied, not wanting to tell anybody else about the city full of bombs, hidden beneath Qoter’s surface.

Com. Ferris: “Oh! I see! A smart-ass too! Consider yourself lucky that you’re the Governor’s pet. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t allow you anywhere near this site!”

I was starting to get angry with the Commander now. I’d done nothing to deserve this abuse, this hatred! I hadn’t *asked* to discover Old Qoter! I just had! And now I’d come to offer help and was receiving this treatment!

However, before I could respond, there was a cry from behind me and we all looked over to see two True Aurellians leaping out at us from behind a small pile of rubble.

My blasters were in my hands in seconds, but it wasn’t fast enough.

However, the True Aurellians also weren’t fast enough.

A Pax soldier in very flashy armour appeared out of nowhere, leaping from the top of a pile of large pipes and rolling in the air. As he did, he fired just two shots and both found their marks precisely.

The True soldiers dropped dead at the same time as the Pax warrior landed feet first in the dirt, like some champion gymnast. The Commander, Tracks and myself all looked on in surprise as our Pax saviour strolled over to us and pulled off his helmet.

Cap. Brass: “That was close!” he grinned.

Tank: “Brass!” I exclaimed as I realised who it was.

Cap. Brass: “Looks like I arrived just in time!”

Com. Ferris: “Well if you’d been here sooner, helping me to sort out the troops, rather than prancing around on the front lines, trying to be a hero, then that wouldn’t have happened!” he barked.

Cap. Brass: “Hey, I just saved your life!”

Com. Ferris: “Because it’s your job, *Captain*!” he retorted, putting heavy emphasis on his rank, reminding him of who was in charge.

Brass didn’t reply and so the unspoken threat obviously worked. Instead, he turned to me.

Cap. Brass: “So what are you guys doing here?” he asked.

Tank: “We came to see if we could lend a hand. The Governor informed me about what was going on so I came to help out.”

Cap. Brass: “That’s good of you.” He nodded. “We could use all the help we can get!”

Tank: “So what’s going on?” I asked over the sound of a nearby explosion.

Com. Ferris: “I’ll tell you what’s going on: Brass here was left in charge of guarding that building, but somehow managed to cock it up! Late yesterday, the True’s swarmed in out of nowhere and overran the building’s entrance.”

Cap. Brass: “I have no idea how they found out, but they knew exactly where to go.”

Com. Ferris: “Sounds to me like you’ve had a mole!”

Cap. Brass: “Well, possibly, but there’s not much we can do about it now. The True’s arrived, took out most of my men and got into the building.”

My heart lurched.

Tank: “What, they’re inside?!” I asked, horrified.

Cap. Brass: “Yeah, we think so.”

Tank: “But you *know* what’s down there! You know what’s at risk!” I argued, terrified that at any moment the ground beneath our feet could give way and send us tumbling into oblivion.

Com. Ferris: “Excuse me, but I am the senior officer here! I’m head of Knightborn’s armed forces, dammit! I need to know what’s going on!”

Tank: “Again, with respect sir, you don’t.”

The Commander looked like he was about to snap back at me, but at that moment targeted missiles zoomed overhead and exploded amidst the True Aurellians on the front lines. I visually followed the smoke trails and grinned as The Phoenix, Eris’s ship, flew in and hovered overhead.

The downdraft from the ship blew dust and dirt everywhere and I had to hold onto my hat to stop it from flying away in the wind. The ship hovered for a few more seconds and then drifted over to an open area, before gently touching down.

I watched as the entrance ramp lowered and the Archmage herself, closely followed by Jay, Caesar, Basher and Jace exited. I frowned when I realised that Keira wasn’t with them.

Eris: “Tank.” She smiled warmly as they approached and then embraced me when close enough.

Tank: “Hey, how are you?” I asked as I held her in return.

Eris: “I’m well, thank you.” She responded as we parted.

Tank: “Hey guys.” I nodded and exchanged smiles with the rest of the gang. “Where’s Keira?”

Eris: “There’ll be time later for a full update.” She replied and that worried me slightly. “I believe there is a serious matter to attend to at present? Commander?” she continued.

Com. Ferris: “Your Grace, I am Commander Ferris, head of the Knightborn forces. This here is Captain Brass of Pax Aurelia, who’s troops mine are currently assisting. As for the situation, I’m afraid nobody will tell me very much. All I know is that True Aurelian forces have managed to capture that building and we need to reclaim it.”

Jay: “That’s the one I was telling you about. The entrance to Old Qoter is underneath.” He explained to his wife.

Com. Ferris: “Wait, *Old Qoter*?” he queried, but nobody gave him an answer.

Eris: “Well, then it sounds like we need to get in there as soon as possible. How are the efforts going?”

Cap. Brass: “We’re slowly gaining ground. We simply have more men than they do. It shouldn’t be too long before we reach the building and then it’s just a task of smoking them out from underground.”

Eris: “Good. We need to get down there as soon as possible. We cannot risk them blowing up the planet.”

Com. Ferris: “Wait, what? ‘Blowing up the planet’?!”

Jay: “Yes, Commander. Bombs! A *lot* of bombs are down there! Enough to take down Qoter – Knightborn at the very least!” he finally explained.

Com. Ferris: “Why did nobody tell me?!” he demanded.

Eris: “Now is not the time, Commander.”

Caesar: “Okay, Jay and Basher with me. Jace, Tank, Tracks, go with Eris.” He commanded, taking control of the situation.

Cap. Brass: “Let’s do this!” he grinned, putting his helmet back on. “I’m coming with you guys.” He informed me. Commander Ferris stormed off in the opposite direction, grumbling to himself.

Caesar: “Let’s go!” he ordered and we split into the two teams he’d designated.

Having been here before, I knew the area better than the others and so I helped to guide us across the demolition site.

It was a lot more battle scarred than it had been the last time I’d been here. There were still destroyed junk robots littered everywhere and as we headed towards the remains of the hotel – the building underneath which lay the hidden entrance to the abandoned city, we passed the dumper truck that had somehow come alive and tried to kill myself and Jay when we were last here.

Not far beyond that was where the fighting was taking place. There didn’t seem to be a ‘front line’ as such. There were just groups of soldiers from all three factions shooting at each other all over the place.

We headed straight towards a group of True soldiers without slowing down. I got a little concerned, thinking that we should really find cover and start shooting, but instead, we kept walking.

Trusting Eris’s judgement, we marched onwards. Just moments later, the soldiers spotted us and turned their guns in our direction. I raised my own in response but before I’d had a chance to fire, Eris’s hand had flicked out and sent the entire group flying backwards through the air.

Tank: “God, I’d forgotten how much I wish I could do that!” I joked as we continued and Eris smirked in response.

We paused in the area that those True Aurelian soldiers had kindly just vacated for us and looked around.

Suddenly, I spotted a familiar red helmet a short distance away. I waited for the figure to turn around to make sure that it was who I thought it was and as soon as the skull faceplate was revealed, it was confirmed.

Tank: “Derek!” I hollered and the masked marauder looked for where the call had come from. I gestured and he jogged over.

Derek: “Tank!” he greeted and we shook hands firmly.

Tank: “What are you doing here?!” I asked.

Derek: “Oh, you know us! Can’t stay away from a good fight!”

Tank: “How do you even know about this?” I questioned.

Derek was about to respond but Jace interjected.

Jace: “True’s at 2 o’clock!”

We all began firing in the direction that the True Aurelian soldiers were approaching from and quickly felled three of their number. I ducked down behind a couple of crates to avoid the incoming fire and then sprung back up to continue returning shots.

Derek: “Why do we never meet under better circumstances?” he joked as he crouched down beside me.

Tank: “Tell me about it!” I replied as Brass shot down the last of our attackers.

Cap. Brass: “Okay, all clear.”

Eris: “Move up! Tank, lead the way.”

Tank: “You coming?” I asked Derek, looking into the black eye sockets of the blood-red mask.

Derek: “Where are you going?”

Tank: “To stop a disaster!” I replied, semi-jokingly. “We could use the guns.” I added.

Derek: “Sure. Sounds like my kind’a thing! Just give me a sec’.”

Derek called out to one of his team and began shouting instructions across to them. They nodded in understanding.

Derek: “Okay,” he said, turning back to me. “Let’s go!”

Together, the six of us moved out and continued towards what remained of the hotel. We moved on past the partially destroyed port-a-cabin that had once been the site office and headed towards the wrecking ball crane that, thankfully, sat motionless.

Tank: “I really don’t like that thing.” I muttered to Tracks as we got closer.

Voice: “Brass!” a voice called. I glanced to our right and found another familiar face jogging towards us.

Cap. Codder: “Oh! Hi Tank! You’re always right in the middle of it, aren’t you!” the Pax Aurelian Captain greeted as we came to a stop.

Tank: “Seems that way!”

Cap. Brass: “Codder.” He greeted. The pair had obviously met before.

Cap Codder: “Do you have any spare hands? We need some more men on the far side.”

Cap. Brass: “We’ve got our hands full at the moment, sorry.”

Cap. Codder: “Okay, don’t worry about it.” He clapped Brass on the shoulder and went to jog off again.

Cap. Brass: “Hey, join us inside if you can. We’re going to need as many guns as we’ve can get!”

Cap. Codder: “Will do.” He nodded and jogged away to gather more men.

Eris: “We need to move. We can’t afford to waste any more time.”

Jace: “Agreed.”

Together we moved on towards the gaping hole in the side of the building, but as we approached, we realised that it was still full of True soldiers.

Pax and Imperium forces had formed makeshift barricades near the entrance and were still exchanging fire with the men inside.

We came to a stop behind a stack of crates and joined in the shooting.

I spotted a True soldier poking out from behind a ruined column and took him out with a single shot to the head.

A couple of minutes later and Jay, along with Caesar and Basher joined us.

Tank: “Hey. Come to join the fun?” I asked, crouching behind the crates.

Jay: “Oh trust me, we’ve had some of our own!” he replied and we both flinched as the crate we were behind rocked under fire.

Eris: “We don’t have time for this!” she called over the noise.

Tank: “I know!” I called back and grimaced as an Imperium soldier dropped dead in a cry of pain and a splash of blood just next to me.

Caesar: “Look out!” came the cry and I turned to see a horde of junk robots rushing towards us.

We instantly began firing into their midst, but no matter how many we felled, it just didn’t make a difference! They swarmed over and around they wrecking ball crane and continued their creepy-looking charge towards us.

By now we weren’t the only ones shooting at them. Other soldiers from both sides of the battle had turned their guns on them, attempting to make a dent in their numbers, but to no avail.

The droids swarmed all around like angry insects and we could barely hold them off.

Eris: “Move! Now!” she commanded and shoved her hands out to each side. A felt a wave of invisible force pass over me and it slammed into the robots, throwing them backwards in every direction. However, no sooner had they crashed to the ground than they were back on their feet and charging us again.

Eris “GO!” she bellowed and I vaulted over the storage crates we’d been sheltering behind. I took several shots at the True Aurellians ahead of us as we ran and managed to clip the arm of one, sending him spinning away in a cry of pain. Other shots whizzed past me and I knew that the others were following me.

I passed through the huge hole in the wall and took down another True soldier as I came to a brief halt.

Caesar: “Don’t stop!” he ordered and I realised that the robots were still pursuing us.

Tracks let loose with his shoulder-mounted minigun and mowed down the first row of droids, but the rest simply clambered over them and continued on towards us.

Tank: “Why are they after us?” I asked aloud to nobody in particular, as I noticed that the robots were only coming for us and nobody else.

Derek: “No idea!” he replied hastily as he and Eris made it through the opening.

Eris: “Jay! Help me seal this!” she asked and raised her arms, palms facing the hole they had just passed through.

The rest of us continued firing out into the oncoming droid mass, but Eris and Jay stood side by side, eyes closed and arms extended, clearly concentrating. A few moments later and suddenly a purple veil spread across the opening, looking like some sort of translucent, skin-like membrane. We stopped firing and held our breaths as the junk robots crashed into the shield, but thankfully it held and the droids were prevented from coming any further.

Derek laughed at our success and I couldn’t help but smirk at the sight of the scrap robots piling up against the shield.

Eris: “We need to keep moving.”

Jay: “We’ve still got a long way to go.” He agreed and moved off, leading the way to the entrance to Old Qoter. The rest of us followed and just a minute later, we arrived at the tunnel door.

Jay: “That’s not a good sign.” He muttered as we found it wide open.

Tank: “We need to get down there. Now.” I confirmed and together, the nine of us entered the muddy, underground tunnel.

In our haste to reach the subterranean viewing platform, the walk seemed to take an eternity. Along the way we encountered a handful of True Aurelian soldiers, but the nine of us quickly made light work of them.

We had hoped that nobody had made it down this far – that nobody would already be at the plateau, but our hopes were dashed when up ahead, the tunnel began to grow lighter.

Jay: “Somebody’s triggered the lights.” He muttered quietly as we slowed our descent.

True Aurelian: “Hey!” a pair of True Aurelian soldiers were guarding the exit of the tunnel and turned their weapons on us.

Without a word and only a slight flick of her hand, Eris sent them flying back through the air out of our sight and seconds later we emerged into the underground cavern.

Caesar: “My God…” he breathed as everybody took in the dark, deserted city in the cave ahead of us.

Derek: “That’s… that’s a city…” he stammered, completely in awe.

Instantly I noted that there were little red lights everywhere.

Tank: “The bombs are primed.” I told everybody.

Voice: “Yes, they are.”

Suddenly, we remembered that we weren’t alone and came to a halt in the middle of the plateau. Ahead of us stood a single man, with unkempt hair beneath a military cap and an untrimmed beard, dressed in dishevelled military fatigues. Gone were his glory days. He looked incredibly tired and worn down and yet, he still held an aura of power about him. Despite his run down appearance, he was instantly recognisable.

Tank: “Corvin…” I muttered. General James Crovin, founder of Aurelia and leader of True Aurelia.

Cap. Brass: “What’s he doing here?”

Gen. Corvin: “I’m here to do what must be done!” he replied, aiming a handgun in our direction.

The majority of our group, myself included levelled our own weapons at him, but Eris held out her hands for a ceasefire.

Eris: “General.” She began taking, a step towards him.

Gen. Corvin: “Hold it right there.” He warned, pointing his gun at her. “I know who you are, witch. And I do not recognise your authority here.”

In the corner of my eye, I saw Jay’s lip curl into a slight snarl as the General threatened his wife.

Eris: “General. It doesn’t have to be this way.” She said, trying to placate him. “You are a legend, not just among Aurellians, but among the galaxy. Every world knows who you are.”

Gen. Corvin: “And so they should. I am their saviour!” he shouted and for the first time, I saw a hint of something else in him – not his military background, not his aura of power, something more… unstable.

There had been plenty of rumours and speculation flying around recently as to the General’s state of mental health, but they had been purely that – rumours. True Aurelian officials had denied that he was losing sanity and of course, nobody else could get close enough to say any different. And yet now, here he was and it was beginning to seem, to me at least, that the rumours had been true.

Eris: “You founded a nation of freedom fighters, you gave voice to the people’s concerns.”

Gen. Corvin: “And how they have thanked me for it!” he replied sarcastically.

Eris: “You were their leader when they needed you most.”

Gen. Corvin: “**I SAVED THEM**!” he bellowed and made everybody jump so that our trigger fingers twitched. His shout echoed around the cavern several times before dissipating. From behind us, we heard the sounds of multiple pairs of feet and just a few seconds later, eight True Aurelian soldiers emerged from the tunnel, weapons aimed in our direction. They fanned out behind us but did not shoot.

Eris: “You did. But they no longer need you.” She reasoned with Corvin.

Gen. Corvin: “Oh… they no longer need me.” He repeated, almost to himself and suddenly his whole appearance changed. Weight that he had been holding up, fell down upon him and his shoulders sagged. His high-held head drooped and he reached up and dragged off his military cap, letting it fall to the floor as his arms flopped limply to his sides. “I saved them…” he repeated quietly to himself. “And this is how they repay me.” He said and turned his back on us, trudging away towards the railings that overlooked the city.

Eris quickly turned and shot a frown at me and I shrugged in response. She went to take a step closer to him but another, new voice interjected.

Voice: “Don’t trust him.”

We all looked for where the sound had come from and for the first time, spotted two people, a man and a woman, tied up in the corner. The man, the one who had spoken, was dressed in a simple blazer and the woman wore a brown leather jacket.

Basher: “Who are you?”

Man: “We’re nobody. We like adventures and when we saw this place cordoned off, we decided to try and sneak in. Well, we got in and then found this tunnel – decided to see where it lead and… now we’re here.” He explained. “I can tell you now though, that dude is crazy! Whatever you do, and whatever he says, don’t trust him.”

We turned back to face the leader of True Aurelia and suddenly found that whilst we had been listening to the man in the corner, he had returned to where he’d been stood before. His original stance had returned and once more his gun was aimed at us.

Gen. Corvin: “Don’t trust him.” He mimicked. “Whatever he says. Whatever you do. He’s mad. He’s crazy. Crazy Corvin!” he babbled, getting louder as he continued.

Gen. Corvin: “**I SAVED THEM**!” he bellowed once again. “I rescued them! When they had nobody! I saved them from the clutches of the Imperial bastards! I gave them what they craved most!” he explained, calming slightly to the point where he sounded like he was about to cry. “Freedom.” He finished, tearfully.

Cap. Brass: “Sir.” He tried, stepping forwards. “You did. You led us from the darkness and showed us what life without the Galactic Imperium could be like. But this… this is not the way to go on.”

Gen. Crovin: “I did not give you permission to speak, Pax scum!” he growled and Brass, taking a deep breath, stepped back again.

Eris: “General, you are not well. That much is clear. Let us help you.”

Gen. Corvin: “I do not need help!” he retorted. “It is the rest of you, who need help!” he warned, brandishing his gun at Eris who was somehow managing to remain level headed. “YOU!” he shouted, pointing the weapon at Captain Brass. “You have betrayed me! Siding with the Imperials?!”

Brass did not reply and so Corvin returned to speaking to Eris.

Gen. Corvin: “They take and they take and they take and give nothing in return! How many lives did they end? How many people have to suffer before people realise that they will never be free?!”

Eris: “But the people *are* free. The Imperium is simply there to…”

Gen. Corvin: “LIES!” he barked, interrupting. “The Imperium are the watchers at the end of your bed in the night. The bogeymen your children hide from. They rule without mercy or justice. They are the polar opposite! They were formed from injustice and oppression and that legacy has continued until this very day. THAT is why I tried to save them!”

Eris: “And save them you did. But now, now all that Aurelia are doing is fighting each other. Aurelia are no longer fighting for their freedom, their fighting for their pride. You are leading people, good people, men women and children, to their deaths, purely because you are too proud to create peace.”

Gen. Corvin: "Peace? PEACE?! You speak of peace and yet you came into our galaxy creating war! Your kind destroyed entire cities! Think how many lives you and your petty family ended!”

Eris: “I know, General. And I live with that burden every day of my life. But may I remind you, that you also came into this galaxy. You are not natives here either and when you arrived you sent soldiers out to colonize worlds.”

Gen. Corvin: “Again, the Imperium! We only left Earth when we had to! When we were forced to! The Galactic Imperium chased us from our own homeworld! Our own planet!” he shouted with emotion. “They are nothing, but hate-fuelled monsters.”

Eris: “And what are you?” she retorted. “Is that not what you have become? You stand there, in your righteousness, spouting hatred against the Imperium – the law and the Governments. Not only that, but recently you have begun ordering attacks on civilians. On innocents who have nothing against you.”

Gen. Corvin: “Children of the Imperium!” he cried out. “Born of deception and lies. No doubt they would have grown up to join the Imperial armies.”

Eris: “And how can you be sure of that? How do you know that they would not have joined Aurelia instead?”

Corvin had no answer.

Eris: “Once, Aurelia stood a chance of gaining control. Of really freeing the people from the Galactic Imperium. But then you lost sight of what it really was that you were fighting for. Instead of fighting for freedom, you began fighting for yourselves. You began fighting the Imperium simply because that is what you did. There was no reason behind it, that’s just all that it was. You versus them.”

Then it was Eris’s turn to turn her back on him. She walked through our group and began to address the True Aurelian soldiers still stood behind us.

Eris: “How many of you have a real reason to be fighting the GI?” she asked and nobody responded. “How many of you know why you are fighting against the Imperium?”

True Aurelian Soldier: “We’re fighting the oppression that the Imperium bring!” one solider answered and there were murmurs of agreement from his companions. Companions that I suspected were grateful somebody had thought of an answer, because they couldn’t.

Eris: “And when in your life have *you* been oppressed by the Galactic Imperium?” she asked, addressing the soldier who had spoken, but he didn’t have an answer. After holding her gaze for just a second or so, he began staring at the floor and shuffling his feet.

Eris: “How many of you condone attacking civilians?” There was no response and so Eris continued. “Did you realise? Did he tell you that that’s who they were?” she asked, gesturing at the General. “Did you know that he had been ordering attacks on the defenseless?”

Slowly, one by one, each of the soldiers shook their heads with various looks of shock and horror on their faces.

Eris finished quizzing the soldiers and returned to facing Corvin, who had remained oddly quiet.

Eris: “You see. Even your men don’t agree with your actions. You are alone, Corvin.” She announced, turning back to face the legendary warrior. “Once you were a great leader, but now you must stop. You have gone too far. You are waging a war that has no purpose. The Imperium that caused you to create Aurelia has gone – changed long ago. And yet you did not see that – blinded by your own ignorance and your desire to defeat them. Even last year, when half of Aurelia, half of your nation, left you in favour of the very people that you have been fighting, you still could not see that you were wrong. You continued, calling yourselves ‘True Aurelia’, as if any others were false. And now here you are, alone. It’s over General.” The Archmage concluded. “Surrender and let this end peacefully.”

Corvin had started swaying ever so slightly from side to side during Eris’s speech and now was shifting weight from foot to foot, making incoherent sounds.

Gen. Corvin: “Peacefully…” he repeated. “Peacefully.” He muttered. “Peace. That is what Aurelia was fighting for.” He rambled, lowering his gun and turning around in a circle, looking up at the cave roof above us. “That’s what **I** was fighting for!”

Tank: “You’ve lost sight of yourself General.” I piped up.

From behind us came the sound of more footsteps and moments later half a dozen Pax Aurelian and Imperial soldiers spilled into the cave.

Caesar: “Hold your fire!” he shouted and Eris and a couple of others echoed his call. The soldiers froze in place, bewildered by the scene laid out before them, but did as commanded and just kept their weapons trained on the True Aurelian soldiers between us and them.

I turned back to Corvin, but to my horror found that in the few seconds we had been facing the other way, he had dashed forwards and was now stood next to the detonator that was linked to the thousands, possibly millions of bombs plated throughout the underground city.

Tank: “Shit!” I cursed and there were similar gasps from the others as their turned and realised what had happened. In a flash, everybody’s gun were back up. Ours focussed on Corvin. The True Aurelian’s focussed on us and the Imperial and Pax Aurelian’s focused on the True Aurelians. There was no uncertainty now. Everybody was alert and ready to do what they had to. The entire planet was at stake.

Corvin was shaking his head so fast that it looked like it was vibrating.

Gen. Corvin: “No, no, nope…” he muttered to himself, the pitch of his voice fluctuating randomly. “They deserve this. They *need* this!” he threatened, pointing to the detonation switch.

Cap. Brass: “No, they don’t, General. Nobody deserves to die. Especially not like this.”

Basher: “If you press that, who knows how much of the planet it will bring down.”

Derek: “Think about how many innocent people are living up there on the surface. They would have their very world ripped out from underneath their feet. The ground will give way and everything up top will come crashing down into this abyss. All because you are too proud to admit defeat! To create peace!”

There was a tense pause in which there was simply silence.

And then the crazed General spoke again, muttering.

Gen. Corvin: “Peace.”

And his hand moved to the detonator.

But before he could touch it, a single shot rang throughout the cavern and a round, bloody hole appeared dead in the centre of Corvin’s forehead.

As the Aurelian founder wobbled on the spot, everybody looked around for the source of the shot and found the female civilian who had previously been tied up in the corner, stood, free of her bonds, a smoking gun in her hand.

We looked back to Corvin, who was somehow still standing. And then, at long last, the insane leader toppled forwards…

Into the detonator.

There were cries of dismay and horror, but they were soon drowned out by the sound of explosions.

I looked out to the city in horror and saw multiple bursts of fire blossoming. A tower not too far from us collapsed and then in the distance, shafts of daylight appeared, as the cavern roof came down, brining homes, shops, innocent lives down with it.

Nearby, one of the huge support columns that held up the cave roof, high overhead, erupted and in a horrific roar, the roof collapsed into the cavern. The hole began to grow as more and more columns exploded and briefly, daylight shone down as the planet’s surface toppled in on itself, bringing buildings down with it. But then more and more collapsed and the light was blocked out by the falling debris and rising dust clouds.

Eris: “Everybody out!” she bellowed over the roar of the growing explosions and people’s cries of fear.

We turned and began to head for the tunnel, but just as the first few soldiers entered it, the ground beneath their feet gave way and they dropped, screaming, out of sight, as an explosion in the cavern beneath us brought that section of ceiling down, destroying the only tunnel out of here.

We were trapped. This cave, deep beneath the surface of Qoter, was to be our grave.

In the loudest explosion yet, one which made everybody jump in fear, the support column right in our midst detonated and everybody, myself included, screamed, as the rocky roof above our very heads came crashing down upon us.

**BONUS PICTURES**

The wrecking ball crane with the broken wall.

The tunnel entrance.

A look down the tunnel.

The underground cavern face-off.

An alternative picture of them in the broken wall.

And lastly, a group picture of the assembled, main cast.

As this is a group cross-over event, numerous of the characters featured in this episode were created by other authors;

Eris, Jay, Basher, Caesar and Jace created by Iris AD.

Commander Ferris, Dustin and Risa created by Werewolff.

Captain Codder created by Indy Beetle.

Derek Collins and gang created by Griffin.

General Corvin created by Thomas of Tortuga.

Karven created by Marley Mac.

Wyatt and Culver created by Matt Ridgeway.

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