Verniers were strapped to my machine.
The problem was, even if I successfully flew the thing out there, was I expected to just cling to the enemy like a cockroach in summer? I understood the part about entering through the breach, but was it even possible to fly that gracefully?
Verniers worked fine in the vacuum of space, but within an atmosphere, they were little more than a glorified parachute. If we were actually meant to fly, we should have been in aircraft. This entire operation was never intended to work this way. The only reason we were doing it was because our opponent was a biological nightmare that defied logic.
...There was no point in overthinking it. I just had to do it.
"Leo, I’ve finished the aiming calibration."
Claire was on board with me this time. That made the stakes feel far too high. I really didn't want the two of us to go out by slamming into a wall and exploding.
I double-checked our flight route from the cockpit. The plan was to approach the target via a light carrier, with the understanding that the ship was entirely expendable. After that, it was pure guts.
This isn’t an operation! I fumed. I’ll kill the idiot who thought this up!
I would never forgive the moron behind this plan. Given how sloppy and reckless it was, there was no way it was my wife’s idea. Feeling a sudden surge of irritation, I opened a channel to her.
"Hey, wifey. Who actually came up with this plan?"
"His Imperial Majesty himself."
Right. That damn Emperor... Why did he have to stand in my way at every single turn? I was starting to feel like I’d never find true happiness until that guy was dead. His utter lack of respect for our lives was vintage Emperor behavior. Just die already!
"Well, if it's His Majesty’s command, I suppose it can't be helped," I said in a flat, monotone voice.
It was one thing to complain on a train, but any communication near my wife was likely being monitored.
"Hmph. You understand, then. Failure will not be tolerated. In fact, if we fail, we’ll all be wiped out! Kah-hah-hah-hah!"
Her "black joke" wasn't funny. At all.
Just as the mood turned sour, a palace-wide broadcast cut through the air.
"[Operation begins in three minutes. Please move to your positions and stand by.]"
"Oops, nearly time. I’m counting on you, Leo!"
"Yeah, yeah. See you later."
It’s fine, I told myself. It’s fine. Once this battle was over, I could finally pass the baton to Edge.
Melissa’s machine pulled up alongside mine.
"Yo, Captain! I’m heading out first!"
Melissa was whisked away on a conveyor belt. I followed shortly after.
The light carrier we boarded was a fully remote-controlled vessel. Usually, no one would use such an ultra-high-end piece of equipment remotely due to the sheer cost and liability, but it took off without a pilot nonetheless. Loaded to the brim with explosives instead of a crew, the ship was a one-way ticket—a funeral procession on a suicide mission.
I’d heard rumors of a retrieval ship, but who knew if that would actually happen? Despite the grim reality, the others seemed strangely upbeat. They kept saying that as long as I was there, everything would somehow work out.
Talk about heavy responsibility!
A few minutes later, an announcement blared over the comms.
"[Launching super-heavy weapon: Planet Buster. Impact is projected to annihilate everything from District 12 through District 7. All personnel must ensure their safety belts are secured.]"
The Planet Buster. It was a weapon that took abandoned colonies adjacent to the Empire and dropped them as makeshift missiles. In short, it was a colony drop. If this didn't work, the next "shot" would be an actual asteroid.
While it wasn't on a course to strike the Imperial Capital Planet directly, the impact would still vaporize five districts, each of which was roughly the size of a surface nation. It was a brute-force tactic only possible because the battleship-type Zork was so massive that its path was predictable.
It was a completely insane plan that proved the leadership didn't care if they burned the capital to the ground, so long as they took the enemy with them. I was dead-set against the move, but my opinion meant nothing to the Emperor. For that matter, everyone outside the inner circle was against it.
Are they all morons?!
Veronica’s voice crackled through every soldier's terminal.
"Glory to the Empire! Planet Buster... FI-I-I-IRE!"
A heavy, bone-deep thud slammed into my chest. My entire body began to vibrate from the inside out.
The monitors displayed a live feed. The colony, transformed into a spear of scorching white heat, plummeted toward the battleship-type.
"Gwaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The battleship-type Zork let out a deafening roar. It caught the scorching spear with its bare mass, trying to shove it back toward the heavens. It was a visual so terrifying I couldn't tell which side was supposed to be the villain.
"Good! You fell for it! Detonate!"
Boom!
"[Deploying airbags.]"
Massive balloons inflated to absorb the shock as a violent tremor rocked the ship. My nose felt suddenly stuffed; when I touched it, my hand came away red.
Damn it. The pressure had burst the blood vessels in my nose. This job was seriously bad for my health.
"Leo! Are you alive?!" Claire called out over the comms.
"My nose won't stop bleeding."
"Me too! I just used a hemostatic agent! There’s some in the dashboard, use it!"
I blew my nose and then jammed the nasal spray into my nostril. It stung like hell.
Pshu.
"Aaaagh! That hurts!"
"[Light Carrier Soga has sustained heavy damage! Commencing emergency landing!]"
Of course it is! That blast was ridiculously powerful. The sky had turned a hellish, bruised red. If our positioning had been even slightly off, we would have been vaporized instantly.
We were being treated as the ultimate disposable pawns. Yeah, I was definitely going to kill the Emperor. I couldn't let this one slide.
The battleship-type’s head had been completely blown away, leaving a massive, gaping hole in its wake.
"[Commencing ejection!]"
Without a second's delay, we were fired out. I went first.
"I'll kill you all!" I screamed.
Fueled by pure, unadulterated hatred for the Emperor, I was launched from the catapult. I fired the verniers, aiming straight for the crater in the Zork's head.
"Ahahaha! This is great, Captain!" Melissa cheered.
I wasn't having any fun at all.
"Claire, we are definitely surviving this," I told her.
"Right. Let's get home alive."
I'm not dying here. I'm going to make it back if it's the last thing I do!
We streaked through the sky at ultra-high speeds. A swarm of flying-type Zorks intercepted us. It was supposed to be impossible to aim while flying like this, but—Oraaaaah!
Despite my complaining, I managed to pull it off. I picked off the flying-types with my self-defense beam rifle, prioritizing the yellow ones since I knew they were suicide bombers. Thanks to our experience with atmospheric entry from satellite orbit, we navigated the chaos with surprising skill.
Whenever I couldn't dodge, I blocked with my shield. It was actually easier than the fight at the Duke's place, but it was still too much for the other pilots. One by one, they were picked off and fell away.
This mission required the kind of piloting skills usually reserved for the Imperial Guard. It occurred to me then—were we being groomed as future Imperial Guard Knights? It seemed the lessons forged on the battlefield were finally paying off.
Wait, I was the only one without a shield.
"Why?! Why didn't I get a shield?!"
"Probably because you can dodge everything just by looking at it!" Claire shouted back.
"Claire! You’re just as bad! You’re the one with the eyes that can track them!"
Claire was busy shooting them down with the battery. Her accuracy made my performance back on the train look like amateur hour.
Three flying-types charged us. I grabbed the head of the first one, used it as a stepping stone to vault higher, and then sliced the second one in half with my chainsaw. Claire shot the third one right out of the sky.
As a final flourish, I kicked a yellow suicide-type toward a swarm approaching from the front. It exploded, wiping out the entire cluster in a chain reaction.
I finally slid into the breach in the Zork's head.
"I'm gonna die! I don't care how many lives I have, this isn't enough!"
"But we made it," Claire said calmly.
Now the real work began. Let's go. For the sake of the future!