To his left, the Siatian soldiers had taken up positions in the windows far enough back to be hidden in the darkness. Those still carrying sniper rifles, Private Thalen included, were laying prone in front, watching the ArcDefense Building carefully through the scopes. A network of trenches was dug out in crisscrossing sections around the building and Arcadians scurried back and forth between them and the doors. In some of the windows several stories up, Xaleyp saw the occasional glint of metal from armor or weapons. In front of the main doors which Xaleyp and Mian had passed through once before stood a group of three Arcadian officers issuing orders to their subordinates.

Beta stepped closer to Xaleyp at his approach, whispering, “So, have you made a decision yet?”

Xaleyp took a deep breath, looking over the Siatians that trusted him with their lives, that had no idea of anything that he was considering. He looked at Rach, who still wore her Arcadian scout uniform and stood somewhat nervously off to one side.

“Why does it always feel like I have no control over my own life?” Xaleyp shook his head and looked at the ground.

“Because you don’t, at least not yet.” The words came out in a matter-of-fact tone almost before he finished the question. “You have been, are, and will always be controlled by a higher power unless you actively seek to do something about it.”

Xaleyp let the words linger in his head, not saying anything, as he watched the flurry of activity at the base of the building. Everything he’d done so far in his life was because someone else wanted him to, because they wanted to get something out of him. Now, he was given an opportunity to take control, to do what he wanted to do, or was that just what Beta wanted him to think? For all he knew, she could just be leading him into a cleverly laid trap, waiting for the right moment to get rid of him.

He shook his head and returned his attention to the front of the building where the three officers remained. One of the three standing at the door was pacing back and forth, barking out orders as he went. He wore what appeared to be an officer’s cap and uniform, with a rugged, almost tired look on his face. Some Arcadians changed directions as they heard his commands, carrying supplies throughout the trenches and patrolling within the ruts. Their movements seemed to be unceasing, like an energetic anthill.

“Take him out,” Xaleyp whispered to Thalen, pointing to the man. He turned to look at the other soldiers with sniper rifles. “The rest of you, get ready to take out as many as you can. We’ll only have a few moments before the confusion fades, so let’s make it count.”

The private looked where Xaleyp pointed for a moment before peering through the scope. His tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he turned the barrel of the rifle slightly to lean up the shot. Thalen inhaled once, holding it as he lined up the shot, then depressed the trigger as he released the breath.

A narrow laser beam expelled itself from the barrel of the rifle with a sharp hiss of gas. It passed through the air at a blinding speed, disappearing into the neck of the officer before Xaleyp even know what was happening. His body collapsed under its own weight as more lasers began arcing over the trenches, burying themselves into other soldiers. With each shot, another hiss of gas filled the air of the destroyed office they fired from.

Shouts of surprise filled the air, carrying through the broken window to them, as the Arcadians attempted to figure out what was going on. They hid behind boxes of supplies and the walls of the trenches, though they were not high enough to protect them from the aerial assault. Some ran inside the building, pushing past those coming out and knocking them over.

Their surprise did not last, however, as they shouted and pointed towards the window the lasers were coming from. A cascade of bullets slammed into the metal of the walls around them. Pieces of the building fell away with the impacts, raining a shower of dust and sparks on the Siatian’s heads.

“Time to go,” Xaleyp said, helping Thalen up with a rough pull.

He led the group back towards the stairs, keeping his assault rifle aimed down the hall as they went. Slowly, the noise from the onslaught faded away, both with distance and with the Arcadians moving towards the building.

In the stairwell, Xaleyp stopped and listened for a moment, then, hearing nothing, began running up the stairs and pulling himself along by the railing. Attempting to get out through the ground floor would only end in one of two ways: either their deaths, or their capture, neither of which he wanted to happen. The other Siatian soldiers hesitated for a moment, glancing towards the stairs leading down before following him. Beta brought up the rear while Rach quickly fell into step beside him.

“I really am glad to see you,” she said, a smile touching her lips. The words were quiet and came out somewhat haltingly as she tried to catch her breath. “It just wasn’t the same being taken without even getting to be with my best friend.”

Xaleyp looked sideways at her as they climbed the steps, not exactly sure what to say. Part of him never gave up hope of being able to find her again, but now that she was actually there, what was supposed to happen?

“How bad was it?” he asked, somewhat absentmindedly as an explosion from elsewhere in the city shook the building.

“Not too bad, I guess.” She shrugged, continuing to look ahead. “It was sort of like school, if school involved learning how to shoot guns and being a good little soldier.”

Xaleyp couldn’t help but laugh in spite of himself, and Rach did the same, though out of the corner of his eye, he saw Beta glare at him. Before any of them had the chance to say anything else, however, there came an explosion from below, followed by a puff of black smoke ascending the stairwell. Shouts echoed from the bottom floor as a group of Arcadians surged into the building.

“Let’s move it along,” Xaleyp shouted out, helping the Siatians up the stairs and allowing himself to fall to the back of the group. Thalen’s face was completely white, and he staggered with each step he took higher. Xaleyp patted him on the arm. “You’re almost there, just a few more floors and we’ll be at the roof.”

Thalen nodded, though the words did little to help him feel any more confident about reaching their destination. Xaleyp looked down the central shaft of the stairwell, and the augmented vision of the visor with his CAM marked at least two dozen Arcadians at the bottom heading up. More, it showed the heat signature of a fire starting at the base of the building seconds before the smoke reached them.

“They’re razing the building!”

Xaleyp continued launching himself up the stairs, the exosuit pushing stimulants into his body to keep him moving. Words of shock and confusion came from the Siatians as they looked over the edge to verify what he said. He quickly caught up with them, tugging those in the back who had come to a stop. The thin stream of smoke turned into a thick plume rising to the top.

“Keep moving, we need to get out of here before this whole thing comes down on us.”

“They wouldn’t destroy the building with their own people inside, would they?” Rach asked, a somewhat worried expression on her face, as he reached her.

‟You’re the one who’s been an Arcadian for years, how about you tell me?” Beta said, pushing past both of them.

Xaleyp wanted to say that they would, especially if Ciovyr were controlling their minds, but thought better of it. Instead, he ignored the question, catching up to Beta at the door to the roof. A cloud of smoke from the fire had formed at the ceiling, pooling in the corners where it had no where else to go. Beta grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, releasing the smoke and allowing a barrage of noise in.

A starfighter was waiting for them at the roof, spiraling around in circles as it waited for the Siatians. The engines roared in the high altitude, piercing their ears before the exosuits had a chance to quiet it. Xaleyp pulled Beta out of the way just as a barrage of bullets slammed into the door, ripping it from its hinges and pulverizing it into thing shards of metal. They tumbled several steps to the next landing, where Rach and the other Siatians were gathered.

“Now what do we do?” Thalen asked, his entire body swaying in the suit. He coughed several times before he continued, “Can’t go down or we meet the Hellfire Brigade, and we can’t go up or we meet whatever the fuck that was.”

Xaleyp took deep breaths as he looked around the group of Siatians. They had made it this far, and they had nothing to show for it yet. They hadn’t even reached their destination to complete their mission, and now it seemed like they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not even considering the fact it was because of him that they were stuck here in the first place. If he did not want to get revenge, if he did not lead them into this building, if he did not bring them up the stairs, they might’ve had a chance of getting out. Now, they had nowhere to go.

“Tyrell, do you still have that rocket launcher?” The private nodded, and Xaleyp held his hand out for it. The weapon was heavier than he was expecting, but the exosuit compensated for his momentary weakness to keep it up. After turning it over several times in his hands, he looked over each of them, his eyes stopping on Rach. “I’m not letting any more of you risk your lives for what I caused. Once the starfighter has been taken out, you need to go and grapple to the ArcDefense building. From there, find Castellian and whoever else is in charge and capture them, then await extraction. Corporal Beta is in charge, so listen to her as if she were me, got it?”

A confused affirmation from most of the soldiers answered his words as the black smoke began to crowd the ceiling again. Beta, however, stepped down a few steps, shaking her head.

“All this way, all this destruction, and you think throwing your life away will make it any better? We’re already going to be risking our lives, whether you sacrifice yourself or not, so we work together to get out of this.” She looked over the Siatians and rubbed her hands together in thought before pointing to the door. Just as she did, another barrage from the starfighter slammed into the wall, tearing chunks of the building away and sending a cloud of debris to fall down the shaft. “We need some way to get someone — Xaleyp or whoever — into position to be able to take down that starfighter.”

A brief silence punctuated by the yells of the Arcadians from dozens of stories below followed her words. All of them glanced from one another, silently and mentally drawing straws and waiting to see if anyone would volunteer an answer. Finally, Thalen pushed himself up and raised his bloodied, hole-y hand.

“I’m on death’s door already, ma’am,” he said, his voice strained, “and I’m sure Emyr is somewhere waiting for me, so it would make the most sense for me to do it.”

“Thalen, what are you thinking?” Xaleyp asked, though he knew well enough what the answer was going to be.

“I’m thinking I’m dead already, sir, so I may as well make myself useful. If I can run fast enough, I can draw the attention of that starfighter away from the door long enough for you to get off a shot of the rocket launcher.”

“Not an option, private.” Xaleyp shook his head, trying his best not to look the man in the eyes, as the shouts from below grew louder still. “We’re not sacrificing someone so that we can survive.”

“Isn’t that what you were going to do, sir?” Thalen cocked his head to one side, staring unblinkingly at Xaleyp. “Sacrifice yourself so that we could survive and finish the mission? I’d say it makes a whole Hell of a lot more sense for me to be the one to do it than you.”

Thalen took several steps up the stairs towards the door, each one slower than the last as his strength began to ebb away. As he neared the top, he staggered sideways, pushing his hand against the wall to steady himself before turning back to Xaleyp.

“You better get ready, sir, because whether you like it or not, I’m getting us out of here, and I don’t want Emyr to see me waste my life for nothing.”

Without another word, before anyone could stop him, Thalen took a deep breath and propelled himself out the doorway and onto the roof.