In a flash of a second, we were in another city, halfway across the world.

It was raining.

Flashes of light lit the sky. Thunder rolled. A massive billboard was advertising MEDIEVAL TREBUCHET DISPLAY AT MERSEYSIDE MARITIME MUSEUM - LIMITED TIME OFFER. The ad stood out, undimmed, in the pouring rain.

“We had to reach in the middle of a storm,” grumbled Soundwave.

“That’s not just a storm,” Sergeant Banner said. “Those are aircraft hitting alien ships.”

“I’m heading out,” Driver Nine said. “I have six more pickups waiting. Godspeed and good luck.” With those words, the Traveller walked off to set up another portal.

The soldiers began to grab gear off their trucks. Lady Lumina looked around. “Where’s the coordination centre?”

“There,” replied one of the soldiers, pointing to a hastily erected tent flying the Union Jack.

“We need to report in. Get our drones,” rumbled Viking. “Belessar, Nanocloud. You coming?”

“In a minute. Lieutenant, I need someone to help Nanocloud get to the support wing.”

“No problem,” replied Doyle. “Nanocloud - what are your abilities?”

“I can see things far off,” replied Anne. “Exact details, like a video camera but undetectable.”

“Duncan.” Doyle turned to a soldier standing next to him. “You’re assigned to Nanocloud. Relay any information you get to us.”

The soldier saluted and took up position

“I can’t ask you to take a man out of your formation,” I protested.

“PFC Duncan is a scout, Belessar. He gets close to the enemy and reports back. If Nanocloud can see enemies from a distance and tell him?” Doyle shrugged. “That does the job. I’m assuming from her name she controls nanomachines?”

“Er, yes.”

“Then she can use those to scout and tell Duncan, and he’ll pass it along to the platoon. Nanocloud, is that workable?”

My sister nodded vigorously.

“Let’s get you to the support wing,” said Duncan.

I resolved to thank Doyle properly afterwards. Having someone to look after Anne in the chaos that would develop would be a massive help.

“The British Army’s here,” Sergeant Banner remarked, gesturing at a group of soldiers in green uniforms that were rapidly approaching us.

Minutes later, we were in the middle of a makeshift camp, getting organized for the fight.

“Supports are here,” a British Army captain informed Anne. “You’re the first one to arrive, though we expect many others soon.”

“How many ultras are here?” Quintana interrupted. “And where are the drones?”

“More importantly, where is the enemy?” Lumina asked.

“Drones’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” replied the officer, “and the aliens have landed in several spots around the city. The biggest deployment is at Bramley-Moore. They landed right in the middle of the stadium.”

“What stadium?” asked Viking.

“Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium - it’s the largest football stadium in Liverpool, home of Everton. You know Everton, right? …. No?.... They’re the best football team in England. That’s their home grounds.”

“Why’d the aliens land there?” asked Nanocloud.

“Large open space,” pointed out Soundwave. “They tend to prefer those for landing their craft. Any civilian casualties?”

“A few,” replied the captain. “There were maintenance staff getting the stadium cleaned for tomorrow’s big game. At least four hundred dead, and the surrounding homes are being evacuated.”

‘Evacuated’ in this instance, with the aliens close by, meant soldiers were going into the line of fire and pulling out civilians. Ouch.

“Any estimates on the numbers?” I asked.

“We haven’t been able to get a good read,” replied the officer, “but at least three spacecraft landed. Minimum of a hundred aliens, maybe more.”

“I can get you solid numbers,” Quintana said. For a fraction of a second, she turned invisible. “They won’t see me coming.”

“No, wait!” exclaimed Nanocloud. “I can get you the information in ten minutes.”

“How?” asked Lumina.

“I control bots that can scout out a location,” Nanocloud replied. “I’ve got several on the way now.”

“And you’ll get a good count on the aliens?” scoffed Quintana. “It’s your first battle, kid. Stay out of the way and stay alive, that’s the best you can hope for.” The ultra dashed off, fading into the thin air as she went.

Nanocloud stiffened, visibly upset.

Lumina pursed her lips. “I apologize for Quintana’s abruptness,” she said. “She is experienced at this type of mission. Counting enemies in the middle of a firefight is not easy. While your contributions are valuable, Nanocloud, Quintana has her own way of getting actionable intelligence - and past experience has shown us that remote drones and bots have a high chance of being spotted by the enemy. In any case, we need to get moving. Captain, the drones?”

“A few camera drones have arrived,” replied the captain. “We can equip most of you. I’ll log Quitana’s departure time and have a drone assigned to her once she reports back in.”

Nanocloud was seething. “My nanobots are already at the stadium,” she hissed to me, “and that bitch is still sauntering along, not even halfway there.”

“Let’s put our irritations aside for a bit,” I replied, grabbing stuff from the Gladiator and stashing it in my Inventory. “What can you see?”

“Uh… three large ships. A bunch of aliens setting up a perimeter - mostly Raptors, but a bunch of Sarnak too. There’s an especially large specimen screaming at the other Sarnak.”

“How tall?”

“About eight feet?”

A Sarnak Sergeant. Maybe Tucker would get his wish today. “Any others?”

“Two bear-like creatures puttering around.”

Grizzeloids? I’d have to be careful.

“Oh, and there’s one Raptor with a golden helmet of some sort.”

“A golden helmet?” I thought for a second. “... might be their captain. The one we fought in New York had a strange headdress too.”

“Yeah, there’s basically bunches of them getting off and setting up. At least a hundred Raptors, maybe two hundred. Sarnak too.”

I whistled mentally. This was a big raid. “They spreading out from the stadium?”

“At the moment they’re just fortifying. Setting up barricades, mostly.”

“Let’s get moving,” called Lumina. A camera drone floated near her head. “Belessar, you joining us?”

“Lieutenant Doyle?” I asked. “Will you be with us?”

Doyle nodded. “Sure. We’re ready to move.”

“There’s no need for that,” replied Lumina. “Lieutenant, I’m sure you have other missions to undertake. Belessar can join us for the fight.”

“My mission is to accompany Belessar,” replied Doyle, “and assault any targets of opportunity as they present themselves.”

“We’re very happy to have you, Lieutenant,” I said. “Lady Lumina, surely working with the troops would give us more tactical flexibility.”

Lumina sniffed. “Fine. But they’ll only slow you down.”

“Given the opportunity, ma’am,” commented Doyle, “I’m sure we will be able to keep up.”

“We’ll see,” said Lumina. “We move in five minutes.”

We departed from the camp in a crude formation - Lady Lumina and Viking leading, with Soundwave just behind in his armor, followed by me and Doyle’s platoon.

“Tucker,” I grinned as the soldier marched up to me. “Ready for another fight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Tucker grinned back. “L-T gave me orders - stick close to you.”

“And keep me out of trouble?”

“You bet.”

I spotted a familiar object on Tucker’s back. “You brought the laser rifle!”

Tucker shrugged. “L-T said I could use it as a backup weapon. You know, it’s not too bad. Just not an M22, that’s all.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Tucker. Let’s go kill some aliens.”