●　● Malate District, Manila, The Philippines

Helmet strapped down and visor online, Isaiah sat nervously in the dark of his cockpit as if waiting for a signal. His screen showed the various weather readouts, and one showed wind speed and direction. He could hear the muffled echoes of the shouts and gunshots from outside, knowing the police had already begun to crack down on the crowds with their tear gas and rubber bullets, hoping to get everyone out of potential harm’s way.

“Wind speed steady. It’s now or never,” he indirectly commanded, now looking at a radar screen. “Five, positions ready?”

“Ready,” a male’s voice came back in immediate response.

“Two and three, wait until the net is up. One and four, only launch if the city sends their armor.” He then focused on a squad already on the move towards Infinity’s Marikina Base. “Six, that leaves you four on the move. Stay on course, do not engage their first launch.”

“Understood,” another voice replied.

“It’s never too late to back off and regroup,” Rex’s voice came up after such prolonged absence.

The voice came back, unexpectedly. But this time, however, Isaiah felt his presence as an absolute menace, not as a mere nuisance. “They’ve made their choices, and you clearly have made yours,” he responded firmly through the temptations of anger and humiliation. “Many are aware of your true intentions if you weren’t able to tell by now. After we break through, what little that you have left will join me like the others.”

“You’ve grown beyond arrogant, now acting as if you are in any position to order me around. You don’t even know what you are accusing me of.”

“Hmm,” Isaiah let out as he continued to hold back his emotions. “I’ve fully confirmed that you simply can’t let your own win. That much I know, and that much is clear now.”

There was a long period of silence between the two before the sound of Rex disconnecting gave cause for a long sigh of both relief and tension. He had hoped Rex would have given off some semblance of admittance of guilt concerning the orbital strike moments ago, but it just showed how hard that outcome would be to bring about.

“Cable, that’s your side’s cue to get moving as well. Rex thinks he isn’t done with us yet.”

“Roger, that, Reaper,” Marian responded. “Not surprised after all. All operations underway.”

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●　● Infinity Marikina HQ, Manila, The Philippines

Sebastian had already switched his music over to the busy communications channel that linked the makeshift control center to their connected orbital sweeper satellite. He paced his breathing to help keep his nerves calm, trying his best to follow every piece of information he deemed important.

[Seeing more violent riots just broke out, this means someone injected an opposition group into the mix because there sure as hell weren’t any such conflicting messages or demands earlier. This means we have to definitely keep the fight away from the western end.]

He continued listening as he started to adjust his helmet straps nervously. He then reached out and felt around the cockpit door area for a lever, finding it where he remembered it to be. It was not a standard component, but with the way he knew how to find it so quickly, it was as if he had been training to use it under certain circumstances.

[And with how quiet it’s been other than those few incoming targets, this is definitely a trap… especially with national guard distracted by the seafront riots. I’d bet they are waiting for us to make the first move, and I guarantee they’ve been listening in on our plan so far.] He then took in one last big breath. [Ugh. This is what I dreaded. I feel like shit for what I am about to do, but it seems to be the only way people who get things done operate here.]

“Stand by to launch and execute assignments in one minute!” Sebastian heard Al’s voice bark out to the group, signaling him to click into the channel and respond.

[Negative!] He shouted back in his native tongue with heavy guilt, but also with a renewed sense of energy. [We need a change of plans! We cannot fall for their obvious setup!] Speaking without worry of losing himself or anyone in translation freed up his mind more than he’d have ever thought of, and it was like the words suddenly flowed from his mouth without hesitation. [Look how much the local guard is preoccupied over port-side, exposing our every side all at once!]

Al took a moment to respond, as did everyone else, as evident by the few seconds of tense silence. It was also likely due to the gap in automated translation responses. “I thought the same as well, but no one’s engaging the targets. Someone has to, so get to it.”

[Sir! Sorry, but this isn’t the military! If you are going to fire me, so be it, but we aren’t about to walk into the hornet’s nest like they want us to! Hear me out!]

“You got thirty seconds!” Al replied with an impatient sigh.

[Let me take my squad west and keep Ayala’s Ap50 squad here on standby, putting the other two Ai squads outside on perimeter! Make them make their move first! Because if anything, we know the Cloak will come from the port!]

“What makes you say that!?” Kerry suddenly entered the conversation.

[Those shots that blew up the damn boats carrying whatever the hell it was on their way to get after us- it was all coming from the sea, so where would their welcoming party be waiting?!]

“We’ve already tried to confirm that, Navarre! We can’t know that!”

[Of course! No one knows anything!] Sebastian grew desperate, knowing time was already running out. [Let me call this! I just have a strong feeling about this, and it’s better than supposedly smart guesswork! And who knows, maybe the local guard will take notice and move to help!]

A final few, grueling seconds passed before the words from Al that he had hoped for urged him to stomp on his thruster pedals: “Alright, go! Hurry, they’re already closing in too closely!”

.

.

Passersby not far from the barricaded street intersections watched from afar as four LTAC silhouettes rocketed up from the base one by one, each slowly taking a descent angle toward the bay side of town. And just seconds from then, several rockets fired up into the sky straight above, detonating after just under ten seconds of flight. The explosions had everyone reeling, taking cover from what they thought was an attack of some sort, only to hear ensuing silence amongst the usual noises from town.

From a few blocks away, Marian looked up to the sky, slightly hanging out of the window enough to get a good view through her oculars of scattering particles throughout the sky. “That should blind the satellite connection for a good half-hour. Direction, west-west, four Ap50s, most likely the Colombiano leading them.” … “How do I know? It’s the only one with modifications, and he was the only one sent to Space and back, remember?” She then sat back down and buckled back in, pulling out of the curb space where she had parked and back into the traffic lane. “If you are going to send it, send it now before they have time to fully react with their backups still at base. It’s definitely now or never… Do or die time.”

She clicked her headset to off as she took in a slow breath, nervously gripping the wheel as she slowed down her approach toward a red light. It was slowly sinking in that her choice to follow Isaiah to the end wasn’t as acceptable as she had once originally thought. She never thought that he’d be walking into a potential death trap in such a manner all by himself. She shook her head, wishing she had tried harder the moment they lost Tamaz to call off the whole operation and regroup elsewhere. The ending she worked towards, and the progress she felt they had made in getting toward her own personal goals seemingly started to fade away all of the sudden, and that sun would set right there in Manila.

“No, not this time,” she mumbled aloud with a grimace, changing lanes as soon as the light turned green and took a different route than the one planned, heading in the direction of the Marikina Base rather than the bay side of town.

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Back at the control room at the Marikina base, monitors for the various sensors and relays were all going silent one by one as their connection with their satellite rapidly destabilized.

“Perfect time to not have a good gust blowing,” Al grumbled, hands at his hips as his mind raced. “How did they get jamming to stop direct laser connectivity?”

“ATRA smoke,” Tricky was quick to answer as her hands continued typing away at her input panel. “You don’t remember this technology from the last war? Many of the major cells save these for times like this, but now we are on the receiving end instead of the giving end.”

He thought to suspect more was hidden behind her response but hesitated, figuring it would have to wait. “You… have a way around it, I assume?”

“Connecting us to our backup towers. It will connect our LOS with some relay towers across town. We can’t talk to the satellite, we’ll stay blind, but we won’t stay deaf.” She finished up a command line as she closed two smaller holographic panels with a swing of her swivel chair to face him. “There, done. Transmissions channels are open again.”

“Thanks, Tricky! I know that was you!” Devin’s voice abruptly burst over the line.

Sam hadn’t realized how buried her attention was in trying to make sense of the problems that had popped up so suddenly, but hearing that voice brought her over to where Al and Tricky were in a hurry. “Dad! I am here for nothing if none of our systems are up!”

“Good, now you can sit back and rest instead,” he spoke back, waving off her complaint as he turned back to his station, ignoring her offended reaction. “Get Navarre’s eyes and ears uploaded to the main screen!” he now barked to the staff in the room. “I need to see what he’s got a look at so far!”

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Sebastian’s unit came to a soft landing at an empty lot where buildings once stood, giving him a clearer look toward the west. Each of the four stood still, however, almost as if in no hurry.

[There is no movement,] Sebastian thought aloud, watching his L-Tracker monitor using the onboard limited range sensors. [We can’t see far out, but they were moving this way and should’ve been near by now. I think they stopped once we launched.]

[Hey, bro,] Andre suddenly commented in his own Spanish. [What are our chances the Rex or whoever guys are listening in on us now that we are on Underground relay towers?]

[We get that, Andre,] he answered back impatiently. His LTAC continued to scan the area carefully, ignoring the constant passing of cars on both sides, looking on leerily. [Risk or not. We can only use what we have, and they were aware of us already.] He straightened up in his seat, taking in a long breath as he finished deciding how to react. [Form up.] “Flex 1. Form A. Pattern 4.”

Kerry remembered every one of their packages they memorized during their trainings, unsure of the correctness in Sebastian’s choice but nonetheless followed along, lining up behind him with her rifle at the ready. Her eyes narrowed in on her L-Tracker, giving her wrists a rest as she relaxed her shoulders. “Roger, in line. Hey, are we OK to operate like this in threes?”

“No choice,” Andre answered nervously as he too stepped into his position. “Alright, in line.”

Sebastian remained in silence, keeping all attention to his sensors. Several minutes passed by as constant radio chatter from the control room and the other pilots on standby back at the base or out on the perimeter. Occasionally, Sam’s voice would also pop up, but that was the voice he had tried hardest to block out. But it was a sudden sense of vibrations going up his feet through the pedals. [Ears!] he shouted with a jump before shouting it out again in confirmation. [Ears!]

The channel suddenly fell silent, almost as if everyone was suddenly waiting anxiously for the next response. The last time Kerry and Andre heard that shout was their first week in Dhaka months back. It ran a shiver down their spine, hearing that same word shouted before the Cloak and its forces ran roughshod through their base. They of all knew the most to remain absolutely quiet as they listened in on their vibration sensors, which many called their “ears”. These weren’t used very often, but rather for objects moving underground. But since there were no subway tunnels there, this could only mean they were using it for something above ground.

[It stopped,] Sebastian mumbled quietly, easing up on his grip. [Hold pattern, hold silence,] he continued in an almost whisper. He then thumbed through a command that separated his squad’s channel from the main, preventing any unnecessary chatter from interfering unless tagged through as urgent. Closing his eyes, he went back to focusing on the vibration sensors that remained silent. And as minutes passed, even after a series of rockets elsewhere fired up and added to the particle storm above, his squad remained motionless. And with the radio silence, they were unaware of the battle that broke out near the main compound entrance where Devin’s group was in full engagement.

Andre noticed something else, however, amidst the continued agonizing silence. “We need to ease over to the other side of the street,” he whispered, looking around at the fact they were standing in the shadows of the larger high-rises nearby. He could see the afternoon sun pouring into the empty lot just meters away, and it was awfully inviting given the current circumstances. “We can’t see any dust they might kick up.”

“Or any chance they give off something on our IR sensors, which the sunlight might help with,” Kerry added in an equally hushed voice, shifting around uncomfortably in her seat. The armor plates restrained her movement more than she thought they would initially, leaving her feeling somewhat suffocated in a situation already difficult to breathe in.

They then saw Sebastian start to turn his LTAC toward the other side of the street, keeping on rollers, hoping not to cause too much interference. And just as he finished his rotation, he paused, waiting for the others to match up before he could signal them to move. Switching one of his camera angles to his rear, he waited until the two were ready and still.

And a split second later he felt the vibration sensors pick up a crunch like rollers on asphalt, and his heart sank into his gut, knowing good and well Kerry and Andre both had just stopped moving. “Turn around!” he belted out in English, knowing there would be no time for wait for the translation software, and slung his Ap50 through a full 180-degree spin, rifle up.