When War Calls(59)

With more weight to hold, he lowered himself down from the truck carefully and readied to fire upon the assembly, but stopped as he saw much of it had disbanded. He searched out the greatest gathering of soldiers as his target near the centre, took aim and pressed in the trigger. There was a loud bang that sent him flying backward, causing the gun to fall and hang around his chest.

But he hadn’t fired the gun.

What had happened?

Jaden looked up in a daze to see a soldier standing in front of him.

‘Well, what do we have here?’ asked the soldier with a sneer. ‘Get up. Now, peasant!’

Jaden struggled to stand, slightly concussed and confused. He felt dizzy, lost, and fell backward once more as the soldier struck him again.

‘You defy me, peasant? Stand up!’

The soldier readied a deadly blow to Jaden’s head with the back of his gun, holding it high before swinging it downward. Through blurred vision Jaden saw the blow coming and only just managed to duck and roll out of the way. He used the wall to help himself up, expecting the soldier to be on him again, but the man had remained where he was as a deafening roar came from above and a black triangular-shaped jet with blue flame streaming out the back swooped low across the fort. The soldier turned in a half-circle, following it with his eyes as an expression of fear washed over him. Five more jets immediately followed, and the entire fort was lit with explosions as bombs found their targets on the ground, while the centre was protected with a shield of orange light.

‘Enemy fighters incoming!’ yelled the soldier in alarm, but then realising Jaden was making his escape, forgot about the commotion in the sky and gave chase.

Jaden ran away at full pace, too quickly for the soldier to catch him, the thought repeating over and over in his mind, they’re here … they’re finally here!

The soldier followed him until he reached the ramp he had come down earlier, and then, as if deciding it was too hard to take the same route, gave up and ran back into the heart of the fort, allowing Jaden to go free.

Only minor damage prevailed from the initial air strike, but a lone jet soon made a hit on one of the defence shield towers, sending it crashing down upon panicking Alliance troops.

The men cried out that the shield was down, but it was no use; for each repair effort attempted, another strike would further the damage already done. Men were losing their lives rapidly. The Alliance had been left almost completely defenceless against the attack. Soldiers took cover while others began to man anti-aircraft cannons, and it appeared that they had successfully hit one of the supersonic aircrafts as a large load of fuel began to fall across the fort. The soldiers cheered in victory, but they were soon silenced, as the craft was able to gain altitude once more and retreat over the mountains. The soldiers then focused on the next low-flying jet, doing their best to stay focused as the roar deafened them again, but they soon fled, as a bomb was released at the beginning of the trail of fuel left by the previous jet. An entire strip through the heart of the fort exploded then in tall orange flames, and just as the Callibrai had before, the Alliance men now screamed in agony as they fought desperately to extinguish themselves any way that they could.

Alliance Koda fighter jets were soon airborne from the badly damaged runway in the north, flying after the blue-flamed demons. Those on the ground launched anti-aircraft missiles, making two hits as they were rewarded with speeding balls of flame crashing into the mountains.

The fire that engulfed the centre strip soon spread to some structures, causing further explosions as the dangerous materials within were met with the intense heat. The Alliance were quick to put these new fires out and managed to contain the initial burning strip, but their forces in the sky were allowed no such luxury. The Koda fighter jets could not match the superior and overwhelming power of the three remaining dark triangular jets, being brought down two at a time. All they could manage was to draw the enemy fighters away from the fort, forcing the chase to continue far from the valley and high into the clouds.

Contact with the last Koda fighter was soon lost, and the enemy fighters returned for another strike. The Alliance launched more missiles, preventing the jets from unleashing any weaponry of their own, and as quickly as it had begun, the attack seemed over, and the enemy fighters flew away over the mountains to the east.

In the heat of commotion, General Alkon Zaccarah ran up the same ramp Jaden had used to escape, but stopped at the sound of a casual voice speaking to him.

‘What are you doing?’

Alkon turned to see the familiar yet unexpected face of Kobin Guyde standing below. He said nothing in reply, simply staring down at him.