Serenity stood in the command section of her aircraft, scanning the shifting indicators that flickered across the holographic monitor embedded in the metallic console before her. Her voice cut through the hum of activity. "Speed is dropping, maintain gravity thrusters at thirty percent!" she barked. "Altitude must stay below thirty thousand feet! If it climbs, cut the thrusters!"
Her crew buzzed around her, all of them attending to various tasks . The monitor gave a sharp, affirmative ping, and Serenity gave the next order without hesitation. "Open the hatch!"
A low hum echoed through the ship, followed by a sharp hiss as the hatch unlocked and opened, revealing five cadets poised at the edge, wind whipping around them.
"Hold your dive!" Serenity shouted, her fist raised high. "Wait for it!" Her eyes tracked the horizon as they soared over Alkatraz. More aircraft came into view, each one with hatches yawning open, ready for the drop.
"Remember this," she called out to the cadets. "Survival is victory!"
Then came the final order. "Dive!"
The cadets leaped into the open air, plummeting toward the island below. As the hatch sealed shut with a resounding clank, Serenity's expression grew somber. She stepped back from the console, reaching inside her uniform to grasp a silver moon pendant hanging from a chain. "May the moon guide you," she whispered, the words barely audible.
Her voice returned to its steely command. "Let's move!"
The aircraft shifted course, drifting away from the island. Serenity sank into the chair at the heart of the command room, her gaze distant. Her new assistant, a lieutenant with concern written on his face, approached cautiously. "Are you alright, sir?" he asked, his voice trembling with both fear and respect.
Serenity looked at him, her hardened expression softening slightly. "I'm fine," she replied, nodding. "What's your name, Lieutenant?"
The lieutenant straightened, clearly surprised by the question. It had been five long years since Serenity had worked with a new assistant; her last had earned the same rank and now commanded his own forces, recruiting marines for the Sagittarium
"Rhodes, ma'am, Hackshaw Rhodes!" He nodded.
Serenity smiled. "Are you a Cryptid?" She demanded.
"No, not really ma'am," he said.
"Oh, you must be really talented then, if the Sagittarium offered you a position as my assistant," she exclaimed wide eyed.
"I am a bit okay," he said with a solemn tone. "I mean not as talented as you. Pardon me, but I read your file ma'am and I almost didn't want to come."
Serenity chuckled. "Things are not always as they seem," she said. She was about to say something else when the door to the command room chimed open and a staff walked in towards them.
"Ma'am, I am sorry for the interruption but something bizarre has happened," she said with a calm but urgent tone.
Serenity glanced at her without saying a word. "A group of cadets seemed to have managed to pilot a god-engine," she continued, with surprise evident in her tone.
Serenity frowned. "That's impossible," she remarked softly and then the staff showed her the footage. The screen scrambled a bit and a live feed of a giant machinery walking through Alkatraz popped up.
Serenity scrutinized the scene for a while. "It's not fighting," she noticed. "It's running from the safe zones…? Can you zoom in a bit?"
The staff complied and after few seconds of scrutiny, Serenity stood up. "General?" Rhodes glanced at her.
"Did the other aircraft pick this up?" She demanded.
"They have ma'am. Most of them have begun to turn around," the staff explained.
"Why am I the last to know things like this," Serenity sighed. "Tell them to turn back. I will handle this. Lieutenant, you are in charge!"
Serenity stepped out of the command room into the narrow corridor, its walls lined with an arsenal of military-grade weaponry. Rifles, shotguns, and pistols gleamed in perfect order. Without hesitation, she grabbed a rifle off the wall, slinging it over her shoulder as she strode toward the hatch. "Open the hatch," she commanded, her tone sharp.
"But, General, we're at top speed! You'll get blown off course…" the pilot started.
"Open the hatch," she repeated, not breaking stride as she grabbed a chute pack. There was no room for argument, and the pilot knew better than to challenge her twice. With a metallic hiss, the hatch opened, sunlight flooding into the cabin, casting long shadows.
Serenity smirked, the thrill of what was to come lighting up her eyes. She leapt from the back of the aircraft, the wind immediately whipping at her face, filling her lungs with a wild rush of air. There was no feeling like it—the sensation of absolute freedom. Mid-fall, she strapped on a mask to filter the radioactive air as she plummeted toward the ground below.
As the barren landscape rushed toward her, she pulled the chute, slowing her descent with a sharp jerk. She touched down gracefully, a few meters away from the God Engine. The distant sound of gunfire and screams filled the background, a vague reminder of the chaos unfolding around her. She moved swiftly, her eyes locked on the hulking monolith ahead.
The radiation thick air that was a result of the RPC (Radial Pulse Cannon) that was mounted on the four corners of the island. It was meant to increase radioactive zones, so that the cadets would be able to fight for the safe spot and in the end, eliminate the weakest among themselves and leave only the strong.
She jolted forward and soon enough she came face to face with the towering monolith called the God Engine. God engines were a relic of a world before the drowning and one of the few useful technologies that survived the catastrophe.
Whatever it was meant to do was lost to the void of history but in the current incarnation of things, it was used as the ultimate weapon. With a range that covered the entire realm, and a self guiding system, the god engine can destroy any location no matter how far it may seem.
To pilot it usually requires a neural link between the driver and the engine itself and it usually leaves devastating effects even on the best telepaths they have. If a kid was piloting this, it was beyond peculiar and the kid would probably become a mindless husk if no one got to them quickly enough. However if the kid remains unharmed, then she would be taking them straight to headquarters as an anomaly.
Although Serenity didn't think it was a kid driving the engine, she moved towards the entry tunnel of the engine and its large door hissed open and two people wearing suits and masks that protected them from the radiation emerged from the dark entryway gesturing for her to come inside.
Without hesitation, she followed. The hatch sealed behind her with a mechanical thud, the hum of machinery filling the chamber. As the lights flickered on, the two figures removed their helmets.
And there, standing before her, was someone she never thought she'd see again.
"Felis," she whispered, disbelief settling into her features.