"Get away from it!" Kira screamed as danger shrieked across her senses.
Graydon leapt at Kira, hitting her a split second before a loud boom rocked the area. They crashed to the ground as a percussive force exploded outward, sweeping the branches of the trees backwards.
Graydon pushed onto his elbows from where he'd shielded Kira's body. "You okay?"
She nodded, taking inventory. "Nothing broken."
There was a groan from the side. Odin struggled out of the mound of snow that had fallen as a result of being shaken loose from the tree tops.
She ruffled her short hair, getting rid of the snow clumped on it. "What just happened?"
Kira pushed Graydon off her, freezing at the sight of the charred clearing. There was nothing left of the ship or Sykes. Just a smoking ruin of twisted metal. The blast had even evaporated all of the snow in a fifteen foot radius.
"Oh my god," Kira said.
"Sykes!" Alvarez screamed.
Brie's face showed shock and loss as she stared at the place where her fellow soldier had just been.
Wind buffeted the tree tops as a Tsavitee ship swung into view, its cannons pointed at them.
Alvarez lifted his rifle, firing at the ship as he ran into the clearing. "Over here, you mother fuckers!"
"Alvarez, stop!" Brie called.
Graydon hauled Kira to her feet as Alvarez attempted to draw its fire. He dug a pulse grenade out of his vest, popping the pin with his teeth and rearing back to hurl it at the ship.
"Shit!" Brie snarled, firing at the ship from the cover of the trees as it prepared to fire its cannons. "Move!"
She ducked behind a tree as Graydon threw up a shield to protect him and Kira. Even with it, the percussive force behind the explosion nearly knocked them off their feet.
"J1N!" Kira yelled.
The drone popped up at Kira's side. "Right here, Nixxy."
"What happened to overwatch?"
His sensors should have picked up the Tsavitee ship hiding overhead and warned them
"Is that what you should be concerned about right now?" the J1N asked as the cannons twisted to target them again.
Graydon moved in front of Kira, using his larger body to protect her as much as he could. His hands flew as he built a ki shield in front of them. It glimmered like a black diamond, its structure incredibly complex given the short time he had.
Still, it wasn't going to be enough. Not against a weapon powerful enough to pierce twenty buildings in a row and keep on going.
Knowing there wasn't time to run, Kira grabbed Odin and pushed her down to cover the Sye's body with her own.
Odin looked up at Kira in shock. The pupil of her uncovered eye constricting to a pinprick.
"Find them; save them," Kira ordered.
If only one of them survived, she needed it to be Odin. The Sye was the only one with a chance of finding her niece.
Odin's face was solemn as she tilted her chin down in agreement.
A bead of light formed in the cannon's mouth, brightening until its light eclipsed all else.
I'm sorry, Jin.
