The skyline of the city slowly vanished under the bombing. Once-tall skyscrapers tumbled into dust as bomb after bomb fell. Lasers cut into the pavement below, carving away the landscape beneath, leaving terrible craters in their wake. The trees and wildlife that had grown over the urban sprawl burned away, leaving only rubble, rock, and clouds of dust behind.
Soon, the visual of the city became nothing but a sandy haze. The bombing soon slowed until it came to a total stop, indicating that the ISS Starrider had probably exhausted its immediate stores for the time being and it was time to move onto the next phase of the battle.
He’d been trying to frighten us into surrender.
Idiot.
“Both bunkers remain secure. Second bunker flight cavalry ready to deploy on our orders. Main bunker flight squad also on standby,” Alaina reported.
“Good. Command is reporting that the ground troops are fully outfitted and ready for battle. They’ll be ordered to stay where they are until the bombing is confirmed to have completed,” Tavik said and the others nodded in agreement.
“Nothing vital has been hit,” Tavik added.
“Prepare the ship cavalries for imminent departure,” Ryder commanded, and I turned my eyes to watch him. I hadn’t realized it earlier, but the blue-eyed Vakarran seemed to be the supreme leader of the Resistance. Everyone in the room deferred to him, even my own Vakarrans. As commander of the Second Battalion, he retained his rank, even here on Earth, fighting against the men that he’d used to be comrades with. As I watched him, I began to understand why. Roan, as well as my Tavik, worked closely by his side, relaying orders to the rest of their men in each of their respective divisions. This wasn’t the first battle all of our men had fought together in. They’d worked together before.
The room was a flurry of activity as we prepared ourselves for what came next.
“Shit,” Davon exclaimed, his mouth tensing in a firm line.
Our screen flickered and blurred with static for a second and I froze, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. What the hell?
Someone cleared his throat and I realized it wasn’t coming from our men, but over a set of speakers hidden in the corners of the room. At once, the scanner and visual of Atlanta disappeared and a dark figure took its place.
“They’ve hacked our observatory signal,” Davon said. “I can get it back and force them out, but it’ll take a few minutes.”
I swallowed nervously. The visual brightened and at once, I saw Nix’s revolting features looking straight at me. His eyes met mine and he grinned, his eyes darkening dangerously.
“Can he see us?” I asked quietly, moving closer to my four men.
“It’s a two-way connection hack. He can see every single one of us,” Davon explained through gritted teeth. The entire room grew tense and I could feel the fury come off all of us in waves.
My men surrounded me, encasing me in their protective warmth. Caleb and Valdus took my hands in theirs and I felt Zane and Tavik behind me. Their closeness provided me courage and I stood tall, raising my chin in defiance. Nix’s dark eyes crossed from mine to my sisters and his grin grew even wider. His dark, almost black eyes looked wild and threatening. My men’s grip tightened on mine.
“Three Stryke sisters, all in one room. It must be my lucky day,” he mused, his gravelly voice making my stomach turn. My fists tightened at my sides. My anger boiled under my skin and I tried to do everything in my power to quell it, or at least dampen its pull on my emotions. Caleb squeezed my hand and so did Valdus, which helped to calm my pounding heart.
Bravely, I let go of my Vakarrans and stepped forward, knowing now was not the time to stand down. My sisters followed. Nix’s grin grew even wider still. I glared back at him.
“What do you want from us?” I questioned boldly, taking care to keep my voice level and unafraid.
Nix’s eyes were almost completely black. The screen was so clear that I could see the wetness of his saliva on the scarred flesh of what remained of his jawbone. I swallowed back my disgusted nausea. He lifted his eyebrows at my boldness and I snarled, lifting my upper lip just a bit in order to show off my teeth. He flinched slightly then, likely remembering what I’d done to him. Slightly flustered, he shook his head, pressing his thighs together at the same time. I would have laughed, but I knew now was not the time for such things.
“I have your sister. I could just kill her, I suppose,” he threatened. His expression remained stoic and severe.
I stilled.
“Prove it,” Danika growled.
Lifting his hand, Nix cocked his finger, likely giving a signal to whomever was there with him on his own ship. That’s when her voice rang out like a bell and I could have sworn that my heart stopped working then.
“Help me! He’s going to hurt me if you don’t listen to what he has to say,” Kira shrieked. It was my eldest sister’s voice, of that I had no doubt.
“I can force him out of our network any second now,” Davon said quietly.
“No! Not yet! What do you want, you bastard?” Alaina asked Nix, gritting her teeth beside me in calm, controlled fury. She had always been the cool and calm one out of the four of us and to see her break now was unsettling. This was for Kira though. For family.
Nix chuckled.
“My team is enormous. I command the best of the Vakarran military and I have hundreds of ships ready to debark, attack, and destroy your pathetic attempt at rebellion. I have thousands of men ready to take to the ground to fight you. I’m going to kill all of you, including your sister if you don’t listen to what I have to say,” he began.