The airlock opened with a burst of steam and Captain Soryuu of the IMS Austraeus flinched. Then,

"Graves. How… pleasant to not be greeted with guns."

The Militia commander stood in the corridor, watching her. Flanked by guards with their weapons undrawn.

"I know you, Soryuu. I know that you're smart enough to not try assassinate me."

"Why? Assassinating you would be a great idea." She pushed off a wall of her Shuttle and drifted through the airlock. "You're the commander of the Militia. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because if I die, someone will step up to take my place. And because you've got your ship riding on your success here. You anger me, and I end the Austraeus and her crew."

"And bring down the full fury of the IMC upon you."

He shook his head. "There is no point in arguing. You wouldn't kill me. Now, lets talk. You have a starship of soldiers and civilians. And I have a war to win. We either both win or I do."

"Well, then." Soryuu grabbed a handrail and came to a halt a few metres from him. "Where to?"

"I have a room prepared for us. Please, this way."

"Aisling, I know that you think this is a good idea, but I'm really not used to using Plasma Railguns-"

"Oh, relax. You'll be fine."

Danniek the Titan stood still, plasma railgun in its hands while the mechanic slid from its shoulder and onto its forearm.

"Utility power port…" she muttered. "Hey, are you getting an authentication message?"

"Yup. Accepting."

"Good. Port's open… Philip, I need that cable now!"

She caught the cable, plugged it into the port on the battlemech's forearm.

"Power to weapons: online. There we go."

"Sooo… what exactly have you done?"

"Amped your railgun. It'll charge a little faster now."

"How much fas- Holy- SIXTEEN MEGAWATTS?!"

"Well, in practice it'll be a little less than that. But, yeah-"

"Thats gonna be instant!"

"Heh. More or less. You'll spend more time reloading than you will firing. Nathan, how's it going over there?"

"Connecting him now. Cable one is in… Jaggerjack, that should boost your plasma railgun power."

"What the… oh, my."

"Yeah. Now, hold tight. This second cable should keep your shields permanently online. Like, they won't stop recharging. They can, of course, still be depleted-"

"You… You serious?"

"Yep."

"Wow. Ahh, how long's the cable?"

"One hundred metres. You will be more or less attached to the power port. Sorry."

"I think I can manage that. Heh, for sixteen megawatts of power, I'll make sure I manage that.

"Oi, any chance I could hold two arc cannons at once?" asked Rimjob.

"Not really-" began Philip.

"Why not? One for each arm. Easy, right?"

"Well-"

The Titan stooped down and grabbed a second arc cannon from inside a crate on the warehouse floor.

"Just connect me up and I'll be fine."

"But…"

"It'll be fine!" called Nathan. "Just connect him up, Philip, we don't have much time!"

Aisling dropped to the ground, admired her handiwork. "How's it looking, Danniek?"

"Good!"

Somewhere nearby a fusion reactor would be supplying power to the warehouse and the workshops the IMC had come through. Some of this power was now being routed straight to the four surviving IMC titans' weapons. Some of this power was now charging the titans' shields. All of that power would be used to make Kodai's day worse.

"Picking up movement on the warehouse perimeter!" called Rimjob. "Six titan sized heat signatures approaching from the north!"

"...And I'm not even going to bother asking about the Legacy Drive," finished Graves.

"No," said Soryuu flatly. "We're not handing it over."

"Of course not." Graves sighed. "I believe I taught you for that lesson. Starship command 101. Class A military assets are not to be given to the enemy, under any circumstances."

"I see I don't have to explain it to you."

"Indeed. I understand that I'm not getting my hands on that drive. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you keep it. My first demand is that the drive be destroyed, and its destruction be observed by at least four of my soldiers."

"Wha- but-"

"Either you comply, or you get destroyed. Either way, the drive goes. Do you want to keep the ship and its crew alive, or not?"

Soryuu bit her lip. "Fine. The drive gets destroyed. But in exchange, we want the ability to purchase a replacement from the markets of Venice 3."

"That's fine with me, so long as the replacement drive remains unactivated until the Militia allows it. And keep in mind that that you won't be able to find anything as powerful as a legacy drive here. You might find a 100,000 compression drive. But that will be your problem to deal with.

"...And when, again, will we be able to activate the drive?"

"When the IMC reinforcements arrive, or when 20,000 hours has elapsed. Then you may activate any warp drives you have onboard and leave Venice 3 orbit."

"20,000 hours is a long time, you know."

"And we cannot allow you to leave and give the IMC valuable information on our position. 20,000 hours is as little as we can allow. Be grateful we're not keeping you as POW's forever."

Soryuu sighed. "Very well. 20,000 hours, or until the IMC reinforcements arrive. At which point they'll have information on your position anyway."

"Indeed."

"You know, Graves, I have to ask. Why are you being so… I don't know. Accomodating?"

"Why am I letting you go?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because…" he began. Paused for a moment, thought. "Because killing civilians is something the IMC does. And I lead the Militia. That's why."

"Righ-"

"COMMANDER!" screamed a soldier, bursting into the room. "Incoming railgun rounds!"

Graves and Soryuu spun to face him. "What do you mean-" began Soryuu.

"ETA and destination?" asked Graves.

"Thirty seconds, enemy carrier!"

"Enemy- the Austraeus?!"

"That's the one, Sir!"

"What?!" asked Soryuu, horrified.

"Hack complete!" announced Bish triumphantly. "That's the administrator password!"

He pointed to his display. More specifically, to the string of characters displayed on his console:

DkrzWDj56s9uzLMH2rIMQkluFXBksxkeIQTg0oHGeTmUInCgL1sRHon4cJ9dNniBCx7lpWHA6JOlgILOebJm7mZtAzcXvfxybeSmI0xj7nC1HT1VEDRU0UPbz5TQm72CCn6LEzp1B4EBzgJuYkyQmZUrD8Yvb94PMCAGX2fyxoJYCw1gELyGlxiXIHILEQQIhWZtVJt4WEsPxDdWmRSzhupgBHOp0Ww6dPzBfTTbzvA807lOqIGZw

"Not too difficult, if I do say so myself," he said proudly. "Rainbow substitution did the trick in the end. And-"

"And you're sure that this string of characters is the root password to our copy of Kodai's network?" asked Ireton.

"Completely," replied Bish happily.

"Good," replied Ireton. He flipped open his communicator. "Please inform Miss Stone that the hacker has found the root password to Kodai's network."

"Wait," said Bish, confused. "Did you just say-"

"Yeah," replied Ireton, planting a tazer shot in the man's chest.

"That's the real root password," he said, as Bish sunk to his knees in agony. "To the the real Kodai. Sweet dreams."

His communicator buzzed.

"Stone?"

"Yeah, its me. Our hackers have no idea exactly how this 'Bish' got that password, but apparently, they don't need to. They're busy bringing every piece of Kodai hardware online as we speak."

"Incoming high velocity rounds detected. Brace for acceleration," displayed Overwatch's screen suddenly. "ETA: twenty seconds."

Captain Roberts' eyes widened. "What?!"

"Rephrasing. High velocity rounds detected from planetary surface. ETA: 15 seconds. Brace for impact from planetside."

Roberts slammed his fist upon the starship's shipwide emergency communications button and screamed,

"ALL PERSONNEL! Brace for emergency acceleration! TEN SECONDS!"

Emergency restraints flew from the sides of each seat in the bridge, locking the bridge members safely into place.

"Overwatch, prepare a damage report after it hits," he muttered grimly. "I want to kno-"

A deafening roar pierced the starship.

A deafening whine pierced the ears of its inhabitants.

Like a thunderclap going off everywhere all at once, like the sound of a thousand violin strings snapping and twanging in teeth-grinding dissonance.

A single titanium shell ripped a twenty-centimetre hole through 603 metres of starship and flew out the other side.

The impact threw the crew off their feet, shook the bridgemembers in their seats.

"DAMAGE REPORT!" cried Roberts. "Where were we hit!"

The report appeared on the screen.

Roberts looked at the report. And saw the five words that no captain ever wants to read.

"Warning: primary reactor containment breach."

"Oh," he muttered, a bead of sweat rolling from his face. "Fuck."

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" roared Graves. "WHO FIRED THAT?!"

"We're receiving a hailing message on a public frequency!" called another soldier, bursting into the room.

"Put it through!" ordered Graves, storming out of the room. "Stay here, Soryuu! I'll be back soon!"

"Wha-"

Graves pushed off the wall. With a flick of his feet, he was drifting toward the bridge.

"Where's that hailing message?!"

"In your communicator, Sir!"

"Hello?" asked Graves, putting his communicator to his ear as he drifted. "Who is this?"

"Greetings, Graves. Its me, Menelaus."

"Menelaus? I'm afraid I'm going to have to call you back, Styx. Someone just opened fire on the Austraeus-"

"That someone was me, Graves."

"Ha- wha- what?"

"I did it. The IMC cannot be trusted, Graves. I'm only doing what's necessary. I'm removing the IMC threat from our planet. Hold on, Graves, someone wants to-"

Graves could hear Menelaus talking, mouth away from the microphone. "Firing permission? Yeah, I already gave you those, didn't I? Fine, there you go. Load the second volley and fire it already!"

"Menelaus, no!" yelled Graves. "What are you thinking?! There are innocent men and women in that starship!"

"And there are guilty ones, too! I'm only doing what's right."

"By opening fire on them, you are becoming everything you hated in the IMC!"

"By not opening fire, I'm endangering the peace I fought so hard to create on Venice 3. You of all people should know that!"

"Captain!" called a third soldier, drifting into view just ahead of Graves. "The bridge-"

"Is just around the corner," growled Graves, shutting his communicator, swinging into another corridor and kicking open the door to the bridge. "Put the Austraeus on the screen!"

"On it, Sir!" shouted another soldier.

And there it was.

Still in the sky, a thin trail of debris spurting from a single hole in its hull.

Then.

Then it began to turn. Slowly at first. Then faster, spinning and accelerating as the star that had once powered it erupted through the breach.

"Warning. Primary reactor pressure venting. You may experience unexpected acceleration."

"You don't fucking say," growled Captain Roberts, gritting his teeth as the spin pushed him to the side of his chair. "Overwatch! Stabilise the spin!"

"Error: No known solutions found," displayed the AI's screen.

"Well that's just fucking dandy." Roberts hit the shipwide communications button. "Attention, all personnel," he said, through grit teeth. "Our primary reactor has been breached. We've been shot. It'll be a while before we can stop spinning, so get used to the centrifugal force. Stay tight, find survivors, and fix anything you can that's broken. Roberts out."

Then,

"Overwatch, get me a li-"

"Warning. Second volley incoming. Warning. Power output at 72%," displayed Overwatch's screen.

"There's a seco- fine. Could we avoid it if we channeled all power into our fusion rockets?"

"Negative."

"Then use our rockets to make sure it doesn't hit anything important. Channel all of-"

"ETA: 15 seconds."

"-our power into our shields."

"Firing rockets. Brace for acceleration."

The captain and the bridge grunted as the fusion rockets fired for a few seconds.

"ETA: 5 seconds. 4. 3. 2. 1."

There was a low rumble, a whine, and a jolt.

"Mark. Warning: Reactor Bravo integrity breach. Venting pressure. Warning: power at 46%. Warning: You may experience minor acceleration."

"Wait. What happened?"

"Reactor Bravo's tritium injectors compromised," came the AI's reply. "Reactor Bravo no longer fit for power production and should be vented before it becomes a danger to-"

"Okay then," said Roberts, thinking fast. "So we have to vent Reactor Bravo?"

"Affirmative."

"Can we vent the star so that we counteract our spin?"

"Affirmative."

"Do it," ordered Roberts. "Now, get me a line to the Retaliator."

"Connecting."

"Menelaus," said Graves slowly, "Stop the railguns. There are civilians aboard that starship."

"Today's civilians are tomorrow's IMC, Graves. What do you want me to do, wait?"

Graves eyes widened.

Twitched.

"What did you just say?"

"I said that the civilians aboard their starship need to be eradicated. Exterminated. They-"

"You really believe that?"

"Of course."

"Very well. Navigator! Set a new course for the MCOR Retaliator. Take us nice and low. Underneath the Austraeus."

"Wha-" asked Menelaus, through the communicator. "But-"

"Wha-" asked the navigator. "Sir, you can't be serious!"

"I'm serious."

"Very well," replied the Navigator. "Course set. Brace for acceleration in three!"

Zeta's eyes flew open at the first explosion. She leapt from her bed, pushed the curtains aside. Saw the ground-based railgun cannon on the horizon, rolling back into firing position, preparing to fire a second time. Heard the faint screams of the people of Venice 3 as they wondered just what the hell was going on.

She looked up, saw the plume of vapor behind the first railgun projectile as it shot into the sky. Her eyes widened as she realised exactly what the projectile was going to hit.

The IMC is under attack!

She flung the door open, burst into Bruce's room still wearing her underwear. She'd been sleeping in them. Given the circumstances, she didn't care if anyone saw.

"The IMC," she began. "The railg-"

"I know," he replied, nodding and pulling on his own underarmor. "Get dressed. We'll probably get orders in a few minutes."

She looked down, remembered what she was wearing and blushed slightly. Ran back into her own room. Pinched her armpit and slid the needle into the stim port that the New Tokyo military had given her. She shot a tiny burst of caffeine into her bloodstream, then pulled her tattered reactive underarmour onto her body. Felt it tighten as it booted and began to sense the world around it.

She flew down the stairs on the bannister and shot into the basement. Found Gauntlet and Hilt, the IMC spec ops soldiers, already there, selecting their weapons.

"Hi," she began, grabbing a piece of overarmour from the armoury. Slipped her legs into it.

"You seen outside?" asked one.

"Yeah. The railguns."

They didn't reply, just nodded nervously a few times.

BOOM!

The two soldiers grimaced as a second shot tore through the atmosphere. Zeta pulled on her breastplate, then slipped her vortex shield onto her right arm. The other two soldiers burst into the basement and began grabbing their own armour and weaponry.

She'd propped her Electric Katana up against a wall yesterday and now she grabbed it, returned it to her back. Strapped her R-97 compact SMG to her right thigh, filled her pockets with magazines, before moving to strap her Wingman holster to her left thigh.

"Zeta?" called Bruce, opening the door to the basement. "We've just received intel from the Austraeus."

"And?" she asked, checking the harness of a spare jump kit and slipping into it.

"They've been hit by railgun fire. They want us to find the IMC civilians on the ground and make sure they're safe."

"So, it's an evac mission?"

"Pretty much." He grabbed his helmet. "You up for that?"

"Yeah. You're in charge?"

He nodded. "Mm. Well. I'm still obeying orders from the higher ups. But yes."

BOOM!

"They won't be 'higher up' for much longer," said Zeta dryly. "When do we start?"

"Now. Hilt! Crossguard! Cornerstone! Gauntlet! You guys ready?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Then lets get moving! We agreed to meet up in an emergency at Cloud Square. We should head there first; that's where most of our civilians will be."

"Hoverbuggy?" asked Zeta. "We've got mine. And Snake's bike is in the garage."

"Lets do it."

"Commander Graves," growled Captain Roberts as the communicator line opened, "Why is the Austraeus under fire?"

"Captain Roberts. I remember you, we took bridge command 101 together. And, it's not us that's shooting at you."

"Then who - damnit! BRACE!"

Graves heard a low whine echo through his communicator.

"Roberts? Are you there?"

"Yes," the IMC Captain grunted. "That's another round."

"Well, we don't have much time. The man who's authorized the attack is a member of Venice 3's Senate. He's not going to stop firing. What are the damages to your vessel?"

"Reactors Alpha and Bravo have been compromised. Charlie and Delta are still operational. That third shot just - shit, it hit the Legacy Drive!"

Roberts knew he should be devastated; this meant that there was only one Legacy Drive remaining in the galaxy. Under the circumstances, however,...

"What about your fusion rockets?" asked Graves.

"Online, but… they accelerate us at - Overwatch! Ditch as much excess mass as you safely can!" ordered Roberts, thinking fast.

"Dropping excess mass," came Overwatch's reply on Roberts' console.

"Graves," continued Roberts as he read Overwatch's reply, "The fusion rockets can accelerate us at 2.5 metres per second squared."

"Then dodge as many railgun shots as you can. Hang tight, we're on our way."

Graves turned to a Nina Soryuu, who had made her way into the bridge.

"We're going to save your ship," he announced.

"Why?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

"Because we're the Militia. Because its the right thing to do. Now, security! Get Miss Soryuu here somewhere safe."

"They're in here with us," muttered Rimjob. "Six Titans. North."

"Great," growled Jaggerjack. "Just what we need."

"600 metres."

The warehouse was comprised of a maze of boxes and shelves. Somewhere 550 metres away, six Kodai Titans were thundering through the maze towards the IMC's position.

Four damaged IMC Titans stood within a clearing, huddled around a Samson assault truck. Each Titan had a power cable plugged into its back, powering the energy weapons they all wielded. Plasma railguns and Arc cannons. In Rimjob's case, two Arc cannons.

"One hundred metres, Jack. North-East. 90 metres. 10 seconds."

Danniek grabbed his Plasma Railgun in his left hand.

"6. 5. 4-"

The rumble of Titan feet could be heard.

"3. 2. 1-"

Danniek the Atlas lunged forward, threw a punch at the wall of crates directly in front of him. The crates exploded forwards and Danniek's fist connected with the optical sensor of an enemy Stryder. He took a step back, tossed his railgun into his right hand. Launched a cluster missile, pulled the railgun up to his eyes, and let loose the already fully-charged projectile at close range, and the enemy stryder crumpled like it was made of paper mache.

"Holy shit, that changed instantly!"

"Focus, Danniek!" chastised Jaggerjack.

A second and third projectile - combined with the effects of the cluster missile - tore through a second Stryder.

"That's two!"

The maze of shelves and crates had forced the enemy Titans to bunch up in a group. They were soon met by Rimjob the Atlas, wielding two amped arc cannons at the same time, and immediately realised their mistake.

Danniek the Atlas swung a punch at the last of the four remaining titans. His fist connected with a clang.

"Four more approaching from the south!" called Rimjob the human, pulling the damage core triggers on his joysticks. "Contact in 40 seconds!"

"Damnit!" roared Jaggerjack, slamming a new magazine into his railgun and firing it through the crates in the south in the hope of hitting an enemy. "How many more-"

"Good news, Sir!" called one of the soldiers in the Samson.

"Make it quick!"

"Hack's done! We've got the root password to everything here!"

"About time!" Jaggerjack muttered as an explosion went off in the distance. Enemy Titan? Nuclear eject sequence? Perhaps a rogue cluster missile?

"The Austraeus's hackers are done! They're going to make the Kodai starships take off now! They'll send one to pick us up!"

"Where?!"

"West of here! There's a clearing where they can land a dropship or two!"

"Gotcha!" replied Jaggerjack, letting loose a barrage of charged railgun projectiles in quick succession. "Two down-"

"Six left!" counted Rimjob, spinning to the south, hipfiring his two arc cannons into the three Titans that approached.

"What's the ETA on that dropship?!" asked Jaggerjack, pulling a steaming railgun magazine from his railgun.

"Two minutes!" called the soldier.

"Two minutes and we're getting off this rock!" roared Jaggerjack through the radio, speaking now to everyone. "We're heading West! Let's make it out alive!

"Jumping in three!" called the jump technician. "Commander, are you sure-"

"Do it," ordered Graves.

"Mark," announced the technician.

The Retaliator's jump drives fired suddenly. The warship wasn't travelling particularly fast, but her jump drives made short work of the distance between it and the Austraeus.

"Austraeus proximity control, this is the MCOR Retaliator," began one of the bridge members. "We are coming up on your underside in ten seconds…"

"Commander Graves!" called another technician. "Railgun fire has ceased!"

"Good," growled Graves.

The Retaliator dropped out of jump alongside the wreck of the Austraeus, and from this distance the cameras mounted on the outside of the Retaliator could pick up the scratches that marred the hull.

"Captain Roberts, are you still there?"

"Yes, Commander. I believe you've just saved all of our lives."

"Well, Menelaus wouldn't dare open fire on you with me in the way."

"Commander! Incoming transmission from the surface! It's being broadcast planet-wide on the infonet!"

"Play it," frowned Graves.

Menelaus's face appeared on Graves' console.

"Greetings, Citizens of Venice 3.

Today, the Commander of the Militia has revealed himself to be a traitor. He has, as you can all witness by merely looking to the stars above, shielded the IMC scum's starship from our just retribution.

This will not be tolerated," spat Menelaus. "From this day, the Militia are our enemies, too. Railgun technicians! Open fire!"

"No," breathed Graves.

"Incoming fire from the surface!" reported a technician.

"Why?" muttered Graves. "Why, Menelaus?"

"Sir?"

"Very well. Open fire on Venice 3's ground based defence cannons!"

"Just us, Sir?"

"No. Tell the whole damn fleet," spat Graves, referring to the four Militia cruisers that hung in space behind the Retaliator. "Styx Menelaus and his defence cannons are now our enemy."

"ETA 8 seconds to the first projectile! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,-"

BOOM!

"Did that hit us or the Austraeus?!" gasped Graves, pulling himself back into his chair and activating the restraints. "I think I felt that one!"

"Damage to the primary reactor, Sir!" announced another Technician. "Oh, shit! Tritium leaking into habitat-"

"VENT IT NOW!"

"Venting!"

The tritium tanks, containing the hydrogen isotopes that powered every Fusion reactor in existence, had apparently been compromised, and were now allowing the liquid hydrogen to flow and mix with the breathable air in the corridors.

One spark, and the tritium exposed to the air would explode.

"Second projectile, incoming!"

An enormous silent explosion ripped through the rear of the Retaliator. Shrapnell slammed into the Austraeus, kicking her into a spin again.

"The fuck?" muttered Captain Roberts. "What now-"

"Warning," displayed Overwatch again. "Altitude is too low. Hull is touching the atmosphere. Warning. We are slowing down. Warning. Ballistic trajectory reached."