Wolfe winced as the first volleys of artillery barrages boomed an hour before the timed assault on Io. He tried to block the disturbing thoughts flooding in his mind but he always failed. He cowered in cold sweat and impulsively flinched with every reloading artillery crunch. The pieces were several kilometers away from their position but his enhanced senses and scarred pass amplified each roaring round. Earlier, he shied away from the mustering battle group and found himself on a cliff overlooking the city.

A hand shook him off momentarily from his ordeal and returned when he saw who it was. Knight Vyse nodded at him as he startled from another thumping crash of an artillery round. He knew he could always be himself with Vyse, his longtime friend, his superior.

“How many years was it since Sierra?” Vyse asked.

Wolfe quivered, both from the question and from another set of barrages.

“A-About Nine? Ten years ago?”

The Prime Lord Knight nodded, “So it was most a decade since Jane died.”

Wolfe froze. His sister’s name was somehow a paralyzing trigger word. No one had talked about Jane for a long time. Not since when he finished his Knight training. His sister. His protective and loving sister.

“..Wolfe, I’m losing you again.”

He only moved and pulled from his trance when Vyse shook him harder. He stared at his feet, embarrassed at his hopeless state. Vyse or not, he should not act what he did. Disturbed. Shocked. Afraid.

“It’s okay to be afraid Wolfe.” Vyse said. Wolfe glanced at the him briefly and look once more at his feet in confusion.

“It’s natural to be fearful, especially in times like this.” Vyse continued, “I’ve been there before. I’ve seen it too many times, especially on Knights like you and I. I know that shell shocked look too well Wolfe.

“..B-but they taught us to control our emotions in the field because it would fog our decision-making and focus—“

“—Ah, we may be Knights but we are also human Wolfe.” The Prime Lord Knight cut him off, “I’m not saying what you said is not correct but it’s okay to be you sometimes but you are feeling right now is something only you can fix, willingly at that.”

“—What do you mean?” Wolfe asked, jolting from another recent volley.

“Jane.” Vyse said as a massive crack of artillery blasted the air around them, “Who I meant is Jane.”

Wolfe’s head inadvertently covered his ears and he fought himself from collapsing on the red sandy ground. Vyse reassuringly held his shoulder and he relaxed a bit.

“There was nothing you could do back then Wolfe.” Vyse assured him, “I know, I went there multiple times myself, it was always almost the same result, she dies or turns into something worse.”

“…I-I—I couldn’t save her Vyse.” Wolfe muttered.

“No one could Wolfe.” Vyse replied, “The only thing we could do now is to let go and move on, to prevent it from happening to someone else.”

The initial artillery bombardment on Io stopped and the horizon plumed with red dust clouds. The cowering Wolfe straightened slowly and warily removed his hands from his ears.

“Sometimes what we can only do is to face them head on.” Vyse added, “You’re a Knight, Wolfe. The Best of the best. The Elite of the elite.”

Wolfe nodded, more involuntary than of confirmation. His old friend went from confidant to his superior ranking officer and that meant he should be his better self now, his duty, his burden.

Vyse started walking away when Wolfe stopped him.

“Did Jane die or turned to something worse?”

Vyse turned just enough for Wolfe to see the shadowed half of his face.

“Some things are better off left unsaid.”

Vyse then continued walking, leaving the rattled Wolfe with his thoughts.

SOLAR YEAR 2429, LEO SYSTEM, SECTOR ONE, PLANET RED 420, 1600 HOURS, THE NORTH OF IO TWENTY EIGHT HOURS AFTER INVASION

The swiftly setting sun beat heavily on Red 420’s surface, casting long brooding shadows. The distant rumble of artillery pieces also followed suit. Clarahart wiped her forehead with the cuff of her sleeve. She had been routinely double checking each vehicle and weapon pieces under the searing Red 420 sun for an hour now. The last sputters of shots signaled the end of the preliminary assault, and the start of their mission.

She was almost at the end of the convoy when someone called her attention behind her.

“Knight Simmons is it?” the voice repeated.

She turned and tried to salute in response but failed. “Prime Lord Knight, Sir!” she managed to stammer.

The Prime Lord Knight was in full battledress, his faded armor joined by twin katanas sheathed skewed in parallel behind his back. He was also fitted with modified greaves and breeches, and like the Prime Lord Knight’s armor, designed with the lightest materials that offer maximum protection. Probably mined from Mars or on one of the mining colonies on Jupiter’s many moons Clarahart thought. Only the best of UTSF were given such equipment.

“I see our logistics are in good hands,” Vyse said, nodding towards her tablet and resting a hand on the nearest truck’s fender.

“Just doing my duty sir,” Clarahart answered simply.

The Knight tapped the fender with three sharp clangs and sighed, “Small talk isn’t my strongest suit Knight Simmons so I’ll get to it, I have a task for you Knight Esquire.”

“—An-Anything Sir.”

“I need you to keep an eye on Wolfe.”

“Sir?” Clarahart said in confusion, “Is there something wrong with Lord Knight Vlacic sir?”

“Yes.” Vyse paused, “and no.”

The Prime Lord Knight walked a few steps closer, and to Clarahart’s realization, was to keep their conversation move private.

“You were in Wolfe’s batch in the Knights Academy and were in several other battles before Red, and I know you can tell something is different about him. Something has…changed.” He said close to a whisper.

The female Knight only nodded. The Prime Lord Knight had confirmed her suspicions ever since they had rescued Wolfe after the fight against the GEOM Fireflies almost two days ago.

“—I knew him before he became a Knight and he has tendencies that he kept contained.” Vyse continued, “And I can’t watch him throughout our mission, can you do it Knight Esquire?”

“Uh-Uhm, Yes Sir!” Clarahart battled her hesitation. Thoughts of what Wolfe was hiding from her and Reid since their time in the academy that the legendary Prime Lord Knight Kunze would give her such a task terrified her.

“Good, I’m relying on you Simmons. If you need anything just come to me.” The Prime Lord Knight said as he pointed on her tablet.

It was about a few meters off when Vyse heard rushing on feet behind him and turned around. Sure enough, Knight Clarahart Simmons was there hesitant; of what it was he wasn’t sure.

She was staring at her feet for about ten seconds when Vyse broke the silence.

“What is it Knight Simmons?”

The female Knight glanced at him and back towards the ground, she did this at intervals as she spoke, “U-uhhm, I know it’s not my place to ask b-but I-I..”

Vyse smiled and it disarmed the nervous Knight, “It’s okay Clarahart, what is it?”

“I know the divulging of a Koenig Knight’s potential is classified sir and..I-I just wanted to know what—“

“-What Saito’s power is?” Vyse finished her question. Clarahart stared back to ground and did a slow nod. Vyse held back his grin.

“Koenig related information is classified information well above your jurisdiction level Knight Simmons,” Vyse said in a mocking tone, “But since I somewhat owe you now Knight Simmons and you are part of a joint assignment with the Koenigs that I may disclose some information regarding Lord Knight Saito.”

Hearing the title of Saito made the anxious Knight straighten up, she was sure that the Prime Lord Knight knew why she was eager to know more about Saito but she didn’t care. If there was another one like her, she needed to know.

The Prime Lord Knight leaned in and whispered to her ear. What he said made the Knight Esquire smile. She tried to contain her happiness as she thanked him and tried to finish her checklist. The Prime Lord Knight then went to the other direction and frowned, it was clear that what he said was the right thing to do. It wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the whole truth, Vyse reflected as walked off the other direction towards his assembled command.

It is a Knight’s duty to raise morale of the men, and women.

Expertly hidden in the shadow of a dune were over a thousand men, in full battle gear, checking their equipment and armaments. The Black Ravens, donned in their ebony and fire colored armor, fitted their protective goggles over their priceless eyes. Vyse needed close quarter specialists and the best recon units for the mission and it was fortunate that three hundred Black Raven Knights survive the prior battles, half of which fought under Wolfe’s command. He passed the commander of the Black Ravens, field promoted Knight Marshall Alexander Silvus. The aging man saluted him and Vyse returned it. Aging was more of an adjective regarding his lifetime not of his physique. He was old but has a body almost as if he was in his prime. His Sharp unnerving eyes earned Knight Slivus the epithet “Silver-Eye.”

The reinforced Lion Streaks was almost the opposite of the Black Ravens. In their signature orange and dirty white colors, the Streaks “Deadheads” trained by Lyon to be a vanguard force specializing in quick raids and short to medium firefight engagements. They were also excellent support vehicle specialists. From driving Dunes to piloting Atlas transports, the Lion Streaks were one of the best. Lord Knight Reid was showing the officers how to use the recently issued “pocket javelins” in response with the emergence of Aboms. Abominations are resilient against most type of shot-based weapons and the sleek, retractable, impact triggered explosives were one way to counter the thick skinned monstrosities, penetrating their tough outer layer and injecting them with a funnel shaped explosive. Reid caught sight of him and hesitantly saluted, an act more of drilled training rather than that of respect. Vyse saluted back. From what he read on Lord Knight Reinhold Kruger’s profile, the boy is a loose cannon, A wild card, A recruit discovered in one of Luna’s prison, has an excellent battle record. Vyse walked on, the boy will have his use.

He crested the dune that shadowed his men and carefully peeked over the ridge. So far they were successful in concealing their motive and strategies but the GEOMs will eventually be aware of their plan to infiltrate Io through an abandoned mining facility two kilometers from their position. Vyse caught sight of a lone black spire, half buried in the crimson sand, its thin long shadow an anomaly in the red barren expanse. He checked his wrist watch. They should have been back by now.

“We are back by now, sir” A female voice said beside him.

“It is not like you to be late Antoinette.” Vyse said, not turning at the hooded, petite, blonde girl, “How’s your sister and our friend Howard?”

“VIP is secured Prime Lord Knight, and my sister is fine as well.” She answered.

“Who said she was fine?” Vyse pressed.

“Her.” Netta answered, tapping her temple.

“Amelie, with Knight Lyon occupied Captain Hawkins safety is in your hands.” Vyse bellied and Antoinette nodded in reply, confirmation telekinetic reception, “and Saito.”

“..Yes Prime Lord Knight.” A dark cloaked figured suddenly appeared on his other side, the Koenig’s bald head gleaned with the setting sun’s reflection.

“..What do you have for me?”

“—I have scouted the facility and its surrounding and taken care of the GEOM skeleton crew assigned to guard its entrance. I have surveyed about two kilometers in and it is an almost intact as the map suggests.”

“Good. We proceed as planned.” The Prime Lord Knight commanded. The two bowed in reply.

“Oh and Saito,”

The Knight looked up, “Yes, sir?”

“How does Knight Simmons know your name?” Vyse asked.

Saito was silent for a moment before he answered, “Because she asked sir.”

Vyse looked at him with a smirked, “Okay Saito and Netta, you are dismissed.”

“Sir!” they saluted and disappeared.

Vyse looked again at the horizon. The red desert was blanketed in rapidly receding golden light which made its many crystalized particles sparkle under the smoky dark sky. A beautiful and dangerous place, much like Infatuation is Vyse thought, casting a glance on his wrist watch once more.

When Sergeant Parks woke, it was so pitch black he thought he was blind, or dead. When his eyes had adjusted with the darkness he found that he and his squad, with the exception of Dawson, was huddled inside what seemed to be a shell crater dug deeper with entrenching tools. It was circumvented with a hurriedly made short stone wall. His head was bandaged. He touched his head wound and it stung. He found Ynu tinkering with his damage radio set beside him and heaved his aching body towards the mechanic.

“Sitrep Private?” He asked, he tasted dried blood as he spoke.

“You weren’t out long sir. GEOM attack busted us up real good, waves of them after the mind blast that they kept talking about, destroyed most of our equipment. The m-blast decimated half the hill we were hiding on.” He muttered traumatically, still tinkering with the broken radio.

His eyes now accustomed to the dark, Sergeant Parks saw what he was talking about. The hill they had hiked earlier was almost even out; part of the Ionian Skyline was now visible on the night sky.

“Where’s Dawson, Ynu?” He questioned as he sat as comfortably as he could against the sandy edge.

“He’s scouting the perimeter with the Chasers sir.”

As if on cue, Dawson and two other men appeared from the other side of the flattened hill but none of them were donned in their heavy armor.

“I see you have awakened Sergeant.” A clean-faced muscular Captain greeted him. He and the sergeant beside him wore black under armor and brandished tube-launchers, drummed fast-fed rocket launchers that dwarfed the two Spawn Chasers. Sergeant Parks was amazed that they were able to carry such weapons without their power armor.

“Sergeant Hyun Parks sir!” Parks instinctively saluted. His arm felt it was about to fall off.

“At ease Sergeant.” The Captain knelt on one knee and laid his heavy weapon beside him, “I’m Captain Alasdair Stainton and this is my first Sergeant Halstead Weaver, 114th Spawn Chasers.”

“What happened to your other man sir?” Parks asked, remembering the soldier one of them carried as they retreated from the blast.

The Captain shook his head, “Corporal Gardner unfortunately did not make it.”

“I’m sure he was a good soldier sir.” Parks replied.

The Captain nodded, “Yes a good soldier. I’ve lost quiet a number of good soldiers today Sergeant.”

“Did we get hit by a GEOM psionic attack sir?”

“Yes we did Parks, they hit us hard. We and your man right here scouted ahead and confirmed that the Hax had completely annihilated the Mars’ Finest. Also, it appears that at least fifty percent of our combat strength of our first wave here has been annihilated and unfortunately, in our last transmission with HQ before the blast, we were the lucky ones.”

Sergeant Parks remained stoic; it wasn’t the first time he heard such terrible loses. Private Ynu beside him was surprised and started mumbling chants.

“..They cut right through us sir.” Parks reported, “Our Company were torn to pieces sir and we hadn’t seen a friendly until you.”

“..Well son, I’m afraid to tell you that this is the farthest extent of our push and it’s time to consolidate what remains of our forces.” The Major replied, “I’m sorry about your men Sergeant, but it looks like we’re a joint squad until we link with the others.”

“Sir!”

The Major nodded and slumped next to the Sergeant and closed his eyes, and endeavor for a quick respite.

“Excuse me sir, I couldn’t help to ask but what do we do now sir?” Parks asked.

“Well there’s not much we can do about that Hax with what we’ve got but I’m sure the Knights are on it as we speak.”

“I mean what do we do now about our mission sir?” Sergeant Parks clarified as he sat upright.

The Captain smirked as if the Sergeant had passed some test, “Why, what we were trained to sergeant. Do or die. Now get some sleep unless you want to substitute my man for first watch. I’m sure he’ll be happy to oblige.”

Sergeant Parks limped towards what was left of the blasted hill and positioned himself on its highest point. The desolate carnage appeared before him. The scorched crystallized sand smelled like roasted almonds combined with something rancid Parks did not really want to think about.

Death was busy. The carnage awed him. He has seen many wars and acts of destruction but this is surely one of the worst if not the worst. Smoldering wrecks and blackened remains littered the newly created no man’s land. He tried to avoid all the abandoned human bodies. Thousands of deceased service men and women left behind to rot or be eaten. Some still had functioning green tags and as much as the Sergeant tried to avoid looking at the bodies but due to his tedious post he eventually read some of them.

Most of the dead humans on the barren swathe of desert in front of him were Spawn Chasers. Parks now knew why Captain Alasdair Stainton offered him to relieve his Sergeant’s watch duty. The sight of their dead comrades was too much even for the bold and noble Spawn Chasers. Parks noted the intermittently exploding energized power packs; it looked like the Abominations had somehow ambushed the Spawn Chaser vanguard since the volatile unspent ammunition of their power suits were discharging and they were a lot of the random explosions—enough to light the night for Parks to witness the post-slaughter.

The desert evening air was freezing. He sat on lip of the foxhole to escape the damp makeshift freezer. Parks shuddered as he attempted to warm himself by wrapping his arms around him; his breath came in as wispy mists. His mind wondered back to the Hax mind blast attack as he tried to ignore the cold but how he was knock out cold did not comfort him any better.

He couldn’t make out the ominous bulb head of Hax in the darkness. Somehow he knew it was there. The feeling made him wonder about his lost squad members, the regiment and of Saturn. He never believed the propaganda UTSF kept spreading about the Knights especially with the ones leading the attack on Io. All the media-spun legends and far-fetch fictions they feed to civilians and ailing service men to keep on fighting but at this moment, as he gazed at the massacre in front of him, he prayed that they were true.