A deep roar echoes through the caves. Everyone is scrambling to their stations around the area. We are left to walk through the center of the chaos, and walk up a long flight of stairs toward the top of the underground base.
"Get the ships ready for evac!" Earl yells. "I want them ready to fly when I give the word!"
"Yes sir!" Everyone yells.
"Come on." Earl says turning to us. "Follow me."
We head up another flight of stairs, arriving at hidden tower embedded into a rock. We can see out into the open fields for miles in all directions, a full 360 degree view. An embedded glass-like material surrounds us on all sides, likely to keep out bugs and dust. The land is bright as day, though the sun is no where to be seen. As we approach the side of the wall everyone is gathering on, we get a view of the station above. Its hard to see with it being so high up but enough of its more defining visuals were recognizable that we could make out what's going on. The entire station has rotated a full 180 degrees, with the dome part of the structure facing the sky. A bright light, as bright as the sun, sits on the other side increasing in power with each second, lighting up the ground below.
"What is that?" Clara asks
"They are opening the door again." Earl says.
"Sir!" A man yells. "We have ships, inbound."
"From where?"
"From the station, sir."
"Shit, get the defenses online."
"Wait!" Clara says, jumping in front of him.
"What is it?" He asks.
"I can stall her."
Earl, a bit confused, shakes his head.
"The queen? No, It is too dangerous."
"I know! But I know her too. I know how to stall her long enough to get a shot."
"I cannot spare any men. Who is going to do it?"
Dern without hesitation raises his hand.
"I'll do it." He says.
Clara, clearly half expecting Dern to step up, smiles at him, but he doesn't do the same. Instead he just looks away, still angry at her.
"Alright." Oniv says. "Lets get to work. We'll set up a perimeter and give you enough time to evac."
"I can work with that." Earl says.
"We'll need weapons. Angel, you'll cover left flank, Ill cover right, and Dern will provide sniper cover from the center. Axton you are going down there with her.
"But sir!" Clara yells.
"There are no exceptions for this matter. If you think I am letting you go down there alone you are fucking crazy!"
She grunts before glancing at me and waking back down the stairs. I follow behind her.
20 minutes would pass before anything significant would happen. Our weapons were given back to us allowing me to enjoy my hammer again. I deploy it and rest it against the ground, using the staff on the end to lean on for resting. Clara stood ahead of me, staring into the clouds, thinking.
"Do you think she will come?" I ask.
Clara snaps out of train of thought and turns to me.
"Huh? What?" She asks.
"Do you think she will come?" I ask again.
"She has to. She looks to make an example out of me."
"So why does she hate you so much?"
She doesn't answer. She thinks for a few moments, then sheds a tear. In the same moment, the ground starts to share. The clouds light up and a ship falls from the sky. Its rockets were being burned to help slow down the ship on its descent.
"I am so sorry, Axton. I didn't mean to get you all caught up in this."
I could see all the tears in her eyes as the ship drops down behind her.
"You seem to misunderstand something." I said as I approach her and lay my hand on her shoulder. "This is the Brotherhood. We stand by each other to the end."
She smiles a little.
"Besides." I continue, "It's not often we get to take on a psychotic bitch, right."
"Yeah." She says, giggling a little
She then nods before wiping away her tears and preparing her weapon. The ship finally touches down, kicking tons of dust into the air and blocking our vision. When it finally settles. The door disengages and opens, and we stand at the ready.