Harlon answered with, “Yes boss.”
Caleb and the others answered as well. Talon apprised them of the situation. “I’m out of weapons. How many of you still have some left?”
Very few did. Talon said, “Get as close as you can to whatever ship you can and drop whatever you’ve got. Do as much damage as you can and then get back to the surface. We have to find fresh ammunition. I’m headed down.”
He hit the toggle to turn off the communication and then neatly flew around several ships attempting to come toward him. They pursued him all the way down, and it took sheer flying skills and instinct to dodge those hits.
One did strike, shearing off a wing, and he groaned as he realized that he was going to have to make a second tricky and potentially fatal landing. He considered auto-ejecting himself as he got closer but then he remembered all of the humans down there racing around in the streets.
The ships that were not disintegrating above were raining debris, some of it large enough to topple entire city blocks, down on the city as it was. He did not want to be the cause of someone’s death, so he stuck it out, flying in hard and fast coming in for a very bumpy landing that was nevertheless much softer than the original one he had made such a short time before.
The craft had barely settled before he was killing its power and jumping from it. The enemy had destroyed much in the way of ships; there was very little to choose from. Now that the one he had been and was missing a wing, it too was grounded. As he raced along the docks, searching for anything that would be able to fly and fight, he spotted terrified humans, many of them injured, huddled along the docks.
His eyes turned skyward. They had done what they could above and in the skies. There was absolutely no ship he could take up now. The other crewmembers landed, and he raced toward them.
Harlon said, “I think we are grounded.”
Talon nodded, “I think you’re right. We took out as many as we could, and we slowed them down some. That’s the best we can do I think. Help me help these people.”
More fire rained down from the enemy ships. People screamed and ran, scuttling across the street and back as they realized that no place was safe.
Talon and the other set to work. The goal now wasn’t to prevent the invasion but to minimize the casualties.
A man with blood pouring from his nose grabbed Talon’s wrist. His eyes held rage and courage. “Give me a weapon,” he said in an urgent voice. “I can fight. I will fight. I am from below and, well, if I want to stay above, I suppose there has to be an above, now doesn’t there?”
Talon nodded. “I would say yes, but you are wounded right now. I am not sure you are well enough to fight.”
“I am,” the man insisted.
A woman ran up. Her robes were blue and her hair white. She fell to her knees beside a young woman who was moaning in pain. The older woman looked up at Talon and the others, her face awash with tears. “The Federation delegate’s mansion still stands. We need to take it and use it. There’s nowhere else big enough to use as a medi-bay. They blew up the medi-bays.”
Talon looked in the direction that the woman had pointed in. “Take it?”
“I mean if there’s anyone in there who says no you and yours will have to tell them yes.” The old woman stood, and that was when he saw that her robes were stained with blood. “I have lost far too many this day and the days before it. There is death everywhere here, and we need to set up a place where people can get help.”
The man with the bloody forehead said, “They’ll likely bomb it too.”
“I know.” The woman sent him a beseeching look. “I do, but I have to try. Please, for the love of all that is good and sane, help me with those who are hurt. I am begging you.”
Talon said, “Come on, let’s help get the wounded there.” He paused. “Have you seen a woman, dark blonde, in a uniform like mine?”
The woman frowned. “I think so. When I was driving the tracked craft a woman wearing something similar was running with two small boys. She said she had found them in a rubble pile. The boys said she could not get their mother out. They went to the alley where we have the rest of the wounded that we have found so far, but they can’t stay outside. Many of them need attention now, and we need a place we can defend if those creatures land.”
True enough. Any stronghold was better than none.
Talon wrapped his arms around the battered young woman and lifted her in his arms. “Do you have meds and bandages?”
“Some, but not enough. I can’t keep up. The medi-bays are gone, and we might just have to make do with what we have and…”
Her lips turned downward, and he knew what she meant. They might just have to let the ones injured the most gravely die in order to help those who were less injured. It was a hard choice, and he knew it. He gave her a long and level look. “I understand. Let’s go; everyone help someone, and do it now. When we get these in, we’ll go to this alley of yours and help the rest.”
The young woman in his arms sobbed, “They abandoned us. The Federation abandoned us!”
The older woman looked at the young woman and said, “They have only just now abandoned you. They abandoned those of us who lived below centuries ago.”
The young woman’s sobs tapered down. Her face wore a stunned expression. “You…you live below?”
The older woman’s eyes held anger and compassion. “If you don’t want a below grounder to touch you, if you are like so many of your kind, you go right on and say so. I have people who actually want to live and who don’t care who helps them all over this city.”
Talon started walking.
