June watched as those in the gymnasium cheered from Hailey's inspirational speech. Truthfully, she didn't like the idea of chasing after the aliens so soon. There was no telling what other tricks the Varnoss had up their sleeve. June had fought through enough battles to know that charging in blindly meant disaster.

But Hailey was right that they needed to take action. June had seen wave after wave of ships and troops fly over the horizon towards the coast. Probably assaulting whatever settlement survivors had built. It was only a matter of time before those fell and Three Cities was all that was left. And June wasn't about to trust aliens with mind control powers.

So while June and the rest had scavenged for materials to rebuild Three Cities, John and Athena had taken some guardsmen with stealth powers and tracked some of the Varnoss. They had succeeded in planting the tracking device on one of the boomerang craft used by the ambassadors. It had flown up back to the new mothership that appeared in the night sky. It had maneuvered to land on the moon like a pimple on a teenager's face.

The current plan, the one created by John and Athena, was to use the ship's aerial capabilities and engage the mothership in guerilla warfare. The specifics hadn't been worked out just yet but the two were confident a surprise attack would work. And even if it didn't, June knew that Three Cities had other weapons ready to be unveiled.

Nathan nudged June. "Meeting's almost over."

Coming out of her thoughts, June saw everyone filing out of the auditorium and back towards their stations. Alex, June, and Nathan were standing by. Nathan because he had to relay whatever whims the other godly worshippers had cooked up in the last few days, and Alex because she and June were about to undertake a mission with Porkins.

The portly pilot had found a place here in Three Cities with his crew. After taking a look at the engines, and utterly failing to comprehend how they worked, the piggish man had insisted on staying.

"I have to know how this beauty flies," She remembered him saying.

Now the Flying Hogs, David's troupe of flyers, had docked their cars on the bottom of the city. The cars had been outfitted with clamps to hang onto the bottom, like bats in a cave. A lattice of metal had been built around the cars into a makeshift hanger. There were plans to expand the area into a full-blown underground facility but getting Three Cities spaceworthy had been the main priority.

Speaking of the devil, David Porkins jaunted into the empty auditorium after the citizens left. Bounding over to Alex and June, he held out a hand to shake.

"Glad to have the two of you aboard!" He said.

June shook the man's hand and responded. "Glad to have you flying us."

She meant it too. Despite the man's rotund appearance and unfortunate name (she had seen the Star Wars movies) David was an amazing pilot. The other day he had joined Exertius the dragon in a game of tag and had nimbly evaded the exercising menace in his flying car. She marveled as he rolled out of the dragon's way with only inches of distance between them.

"Hailey, before we leave, the pantheon is requesting a few things," June overheard Nathan addressing Hailey.

Hailey sighed. "Alright what do they want now?" She said.

"The god of expectation, the goddess of mixing, the god of arguments, and spirit of transmission are all asking for an audience with you before the fight. And the goddess of orenda is granting us a blessing."

"Ugh, they couldn't have said anything earlier?"

June winced. Hailey's hardest job after picking up the broken pieces of Three Cities was dealing with the pantheon of gods that had arrived. Pellere had been the first of course, but afterward other refugees blessed by deities had requested to build their own shrines. Hailey had agreed but the various deities had been demanding more and more from her.

"I had been ignoring them until now," Nathan admitted. "I kept telling them there were more important things but none of them want to listen."

Nathan had explained to June that because he had placed the first shrine, he and Pellere were now considered the prime religion in the city. As such, the other gods had to go through Nathan first for any miracles and workings. Because of that Hailey had given him the authority to oversee all the clerics, priests, paladins, and other worshippers channeling their god's wills. He mostly ignored the daily requests, they were benign and somewhat useless.

It also didn't help that all the gods appearing in the city were a bit weird, to say the least. The god of expectation never wanted anything directly, all he wanted was the promise of something happening. The god of arguments brought miracle requests daily to argue about the unjustness of it all. The spirit of transmission kept asking to spy on all the communications in the city, for science. And June didn't even want to think about the goddess of mixing.

"Tell them to wait," Hailey said. "And thank Orenda I guess."

Hailey took a deep breath. "Okay, people we're moving out at nightfall! Get to your positions!"

"Your carriage awaits," David said as he ushered June and Alex away.

June followed along, taking the stairs down to the engines and under. The wind whipped at her face as she opened the door to the hanger. Alex's hair blew in the wind and into her eyes, once again confirming June's choice to cut most of it off. She looked down at the treadmill of ground passing below. The city had been flying around all of Midwest America, rescuing anyone in need while scavenging. She gripped the railing on the thin walkway and made her way to Porkins' flying car.

The vintage vehicle hadn't changed since she last saw it. It still had the same boxy shape with the biplane wings on the sides. She knew it was different, but on the inside. The chassis had been reinforced to withstand the pressures of space and the A/C had been imbued with dungeon essence to create cool air from nothing. But perhaps the biggest change was the engine, a small replica of the one powering Three Cities.

David opened the top of the car and hopped inside. He checked the condition of the car as Alex and June discussed their part of the plan. At the same time, June took off her pack and doublechecked all of her gear. She had packed for heavy fighting, storing five of the eraser bombs Jonathan had made for her. Following that was a shotgun and three different types of ammo. Next, June stored two oxygen breathers and a pair of air canisters. She zipped up the pack and stored two more grenades, normal frags, on the side pockets of her pack and clipped her vibrosword on her belt.

The last rays of the sun dipped under the horizon as June zipped the last of her gear into her pack. With a nod to Alex, she jumped into the back of David's airship. Her friend followed shortly after. With a whoop, David ignited the engine and readied his vessel for the coming fight.

The car roared to life as Three Cities flew up out of the atmosphere. June's stomach dropped as the ground shrunk. She involuntarily gripped the edge of her seat as the sun peeked out over the horizon again. The city rumbled as it broke out of the atmosphere.

June looked down at the shrinking blue jewel below. A crackle of a communicator took her attention. "Attention!" Barked John. "We are preparing to use the jump drive! Brace yourself!"

June gripped the edge of her seat tighter, knuckles white against the brown upholstery. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alex whispering to her satchel, no doubt to comfort one of her cats. David was staring out into the vast darkness of space.

June felt a lurch, and then the world blorped. Blue streaks mixed with black and grey to form new colors. It felt like an infinite amount of time compressed to a point. June saw a fish swim through a pot of chicken soup as the colors whirled together. And then it all stopped.

The strange world June had visited spat her out with a sploo and June saw a blurry moon. Her vision swam as her senses settled down from the acid trip of a journey. As they focused she caught a glimpse of the enemy peeking out from the edge of the moon. Fighters and other spacecraft swarmed down to the planet below. The swarm separated into clouds striking at what looked to be California, Russia, Japan, and surprisingly Brazil. Flashes of light burned in her vision as the clouds of fighters attacked.

"Fighters at the ready!" The comm crackled.

June saw David flip a switch and felt the car detach. Engines rumbled and June felt the car jolt forward, leading the way. The planes broke away from the flying city on an attack run. The city circled below the pyramid spaceship and unleashed a barrage of attacks to the underside. While this happened David led his troupe to the top of the ship in a pincer attack. The churn of machineguns vibrated the car, a dull sound breaking the silence of space.

The Varnoss reacted to the surprise attack with speed. The clouds of fighters turned away from Earth and made their way back, but it would take precious time. But the mothership was not without defenses. From each of the four points emitted a glow, each a different color. Red, brown, gold, and ebony swirled out of the points and mixed into a shield tightly hugging the Varnoss craft.

Lasers, missiles, and gunfire from Three Cities splattered over the shield. Each impact created a flash of color that rippled across the shield. David's fighter squad blasted at the top, creating more ripples. As each ripple traversed the shield they collided with each other. The collisions ricocheted faster and faster until a burst of red shot out towards Three Cities.

The city's barriers held as strike after strike of red light hit the dome. Three Cities continued firing, drawing as much attention as they could. It was a battle of shielding now, and June was confident they could win that. The comm on David's dashboard crackled again. "The trump card is charged! Prepare for the assault!" Shouted John.

David and the other fighters pulled away from the Varnoss mothership as the turrets in Three Cities started to glow with power. Brighter and brighter it glowed until June couldn't look at it anymore. She squinted as the city fired. Brilliant rainbow light shot out of the dome and connected with the shield. The light spilled over the Varnoss' shield and enveloped it.

The rainbow light mixed with the light of the shield and the two fought in a clash of color. Red hit blue and brown fell to orange as Three Cities attack ate through the shield of the pyramid.

"Go!" John called.

"Dive! Dive! Dive!" David yelled as the fighters turned back towards the mothership.

June readied herself. It was time wreak havoc.