Chapter 64: The Sky Descends

Bekka watched the Vorn flagship turn suspended rain into black points beneath its glowing underside.

She raised one gauntlet toward the hull while Leo watched targeting beams rise from towers.

"That arrived early."

"Our clocks noticed."

Orbital lasers fired above District One, crossing the clouds in six white columns aimed toward the flagship’s center.

An anti-matter field opened beneath the vessel and scattered each beam into ribbons that faded beyond the city.

Emergency channels filled with commanders requesting coordinates that shifted whenever the flagship rolled another layer of darkness across its hull.

District sirens activated beneath the failed barrage, sending families toward shelters while traffic locked across every bridge leaving the center.

Luna reached the terrace from the bunker and watched the orbital platforms tumble beyond the clouds without receiving fresh commands.

"Their crews are alive," Richter reported from below. "Control links are gone."

Leo marked each drifting platform for later recovery while the flagship continued disabling weapons without firing upon the city.

"Association targeting just lost every lock," Sierra said. "The field is bending light, Ether, and range data."

More batteries fired from the northern platforms, sending blind volleys through false images while the real hull remained untouched.

Leo opened the chalet display and watched commanders repeat the same failed pattern across every available defense channel.

"They can’t hit it."

"They won’t stop trying."

The flagship released a pulse that silenced three orbital platforms and left their weapon signatures drifting without control.

Tempest climbed from the eastern ridge, circling beneath the vessel while lightning crawled along its wings and harness.

Bekka caught Leo’s sleeve before he moved, reading the same intention through their strengthened bond.

"You’re not jumping from here."

"I was considering it."

"Consider surviving instead."

Sierra pushed the neural drive’s memory across their display, replacing targeting maps with laboratory footage.

Rows of clone bodies appeared beneath Apex Medical Tower, each connected to Vorn tissue suspended inside sealed growth chambers.

One recording showed Citadel surgeons mapping nerves across children selected from shelters after medical screenings.

Bekka froze the image and copied every visible face into her liaison archive for identification after the attack.

Sierra uncovered votes attached to each transfer, exposing officials who approved funding through defense budgets.

The neural drive carried live access keys from the flagship, showing Project Smith remained connected to Vorn systems during development.

Richter compared those keys against the corvette reactor and found the same command language beneath every human modification.

"Project Smith wasn’t copying ordinary fighters," Sierra said. "They spliced Vorn reflex pathways into clone nerves."

Bekka watched one recording show Unit Seven learning an alien draw before repeating Leo’s movement inside the laboratory.

"Who funded it?"

"Citadel accounts. Three council proxies. Gruber approved every transfer."

The recovered records carried High Citadel seals beside Apex invoices, medical shipments, and payments routed through defense contractors.

Leo copied the files into Bekka’s liaison archive before commands could erase Sierra’s recovered evidence.

"Send everything to Kingsley."

"Already moving."

Three circles opened beneath the flagship, glowing around objects that separated from its hull and entered the atmosphere.

The pods rotated during descent, scanning Ether nodes while smaller craft formed escort rings around their burning shells.

Civilian networks caught the falling objects at last, replacing Gruber’s satellite story with uncontrolled footage from District Nine.

Kingsley’s emergency broadcast ordered every hero toward shelters and nodes, leaving the flagship to weapons still searching for locks.

Bekka transmitted Sierra’s evidence beside that broadcast, attaching the Smith records before Citadel censors closed the public channel.

The first drop pod aimed toward District Nine’s western Ether node, trailing fire across the darkened industrial blocks.

The second crossed the river toward the eastern node, while the third descended above the abandoned canal basin.

[ System Alert: Planetary Incursion Detected ]

[ High-Priority Objective: Intercept Vanguard Drop Pods ]

[ Drop Pods Detected: 3 ]

[ Rewards: +50,000 Combat EXP | 300,000 Credits | Shard-Compass Resonance Data ]

"Three pods," Leo said. "We take the western one."

"And the others?"

Sierra marked Association responders near the eastern node and corporate aircraft racing toward the canal before public alarms activated.

"Hancock is moving east," she said. "Apex salvage teams claimed the canal route under emergency clearance."

Bekka tightened her jaw at the corporate markers surrounding the third pod’s projected crater before it reached the ground.

"Apex wants alien loot during an invasion."

"Greed keeps excellent time."

The first pod crossed above the mountain, protected by six Vorn interceptors spreading around its burning descent path.

Two interceptors broke formation and fired toward the chalet, targeting the neural drive signal moving inside Leo’s spatial pouch.

Kage covered the pouch frequency with shadow while Tempest climbed, forcing the enemy craft to search across false signatures.

The raptor carried three shadow copies through the clouds, each splitting away when an interceptor committed to pursuit.

Bekka directed copies through Gale-Reflex, turning Kage’s decoys into moving targets matching Tempest’s rhythm closely.

Tempest screamed beneath them, folding both wings before dropping toward the terrace through targeting beams.

Leo secured the neural drive inside his pouch while Kage flowed around his coat and covered the remaining wounds.

"Luna, remain below with Richter."

"Come back before my patience runs out," Luna answered through the bunker channel. "Both of you."

"We will."

Bekka mounted Tempest first and caught the rear harness, leaving Leo the forward position near the raptor’s neck.

The bird launched before his second foot settled, throwing wind across the shattered terrace while climbing toward the interceptors.

Vorn cannons opened around them, filling the air with plasma bursts that followed Tempest through the flagship’s shadow.

Sierra uploaded a path between the formations, using failed orbital scans to map gaps inside their overlapping fire.

Each gap lasted one breath before the escorts corrected, demanding Tempest change height while plasma crossed behind its tail.

Leo counted the corrections through Apex Evasion and cut one incoming burst before it reached the raptor’s exposed harness.

The split plasma scorched both sides of them, leaving Tempest untouched while Bekka steadied their descent with compressed wind.

Below, the western Ether node brightened beneath the approaching pod and pulled energy from surrounding blocks into its defenses.

"Left."

Tempest rolled left beneath plasma fire while Leo held the harness and Bekka countered behind.

"Drop."

The raptor folded its wings and fell beneath two interceptors as their crossing shots destroyed each other’s shields.

Bekka fired a cyclone behind them, catching one damaged craft and turning its nose toward the flagship’s lower field.

The anti-matter barrier consumed the interceptor, leaving no wreckage inside the darkness surrounding them now.

"That field eats its own ships."

"Useful family trait."

Leo drew the Null Razor and released a Void Arc through the next interceptor’s wing before Tempest climbed beside it.

A third interceptor climbed from below, forcing Tempest toward the pod while its cannons charged behind their tail.

The craft spun toward District Nine, but Bekka caught it inside a wind column and drove it into empty ground.

The western pod fell ahead of them, seconds from impact while its escort formation closed around the burning shell.

Below, district responders sealed the node perimeter, guiding civilians away while Vorn shadows crossed the surrounding rooftops nearby.

Tempest spread its wings at the center of their fleet and dived between every weapon turning toward them.