“A time to fight, and a time

  to drink. A time to fight and

  a time to sleep. A time to

  fight and a time to, well…

  fight!”

  - Bulroharg,

  a guy who really liked to fight.

  Chapter 20: Escalation

  The Capital had become a cacophony of death and mayhem. Both Paradign and Kenza seemed lost, not sure who to fight. Triumvirate fighters and rocket troopers bombarded the unsuspecting ground troops below, while ground forces rushed them in droves. It appeared Paradign’s Hercules units had been destroyed. The only thing that could have made the situation worse was if the Kenzanites focused their efforts onto attacking Paradign, but from what Magnus could determine, they were too busy fighting off their new foe.

  Magnus spoke up, determined to take control of the situation. His entourage took heed, having no qualms about taking direction from his leadership. The Paradignian commanders close to their location also heeded his commands. However, given he did not have comm access to all command posts, getting complete control was not possible.

  “Magnus, we’ve just arrived. What’s going on?” Maria asked over Magnus’ comm.

  “Maria, thank God. Did you find Koga?” Magnus replied, descending the steps of the palace.

  “No. Deathlock is vacant. Everyone is gone.”

  “Then I need you and your crew to rally our fighters. I’ll give you the signature for them to follow you once I get access. We need to own these skies!” Magnus ordered.

  “Copy that,” Maria complied. “Looks like Tulius has a pretty tight grip over the skies to the East. We’ll be rallying to the South and press upward on your command.”

  “The rest of you, come with me. We need to gather our ground forces, and push the Triumvirate out of the city!” Magnus continued, addressing the rest of the group.

  Suited up in his mech, Magnus flew down the steps, with the rest of his entourage following behind him. Some of the Triumvirate from the palace tried to stop them, but they were quickly cut down, outnumbered by Paradignian forces. Magnus thought to take Azakar and his brood hostage while he had the chance, but more pressing matters needed to take place.

  “If we’re going to get this under control, we need to get to the Forward Command Center!” Lima suggested.

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  “Lead the way,” Magnus commanded, imagining his mentor would know the best way to get there.

  Fighting, explosions, and the all out chaos of war hindered their progress. The city streets were filled with Triumvirate drop troops, landing mid city to cause as much chaos as possible. Magnus and his entourage fought hard to reach their destination. It was a fierce fight reaching the F.C.C., but eventually, they arrived.

  The Forward Command Center was a heavily shielded, bomb proof bunker. A metal buildingmade in the shape of a dome, the F.C.C. was being heavily bombarded and rocketed, but to no avail. Magnus and his entourage were admitted by the guards after they checked their credentials, and they quickly made their way to the Senior Command Quarter.

  General Desparo, as they soon discovered, was no longer here. He had mysteriously disappeared, with no one knowing where he had gone. The next in command, one Lieutenant General Pershing, was overwhelmed. Gar was more than happy to take over in his place, as was Lima. The situation was dire, and Pershing was clearly not capable of handling it.

  “Under what directive do you do this?” Pershing demanded to know, storming over to the group who just entered.

  “The King’s,” Gar retorted, pointing to Magnus. Magnus, knowing time was short, did not bother with Pershing. Instead, he commanded a 2nd Lieutenant, sword in hand and face shield down, to get him in contact with all available commanders on the line. Not questioning Magnus’ orders, she did as commanded.

  “Commanders, this is King Magnus. Focus all efforts on purging the city of the new invaders. Forget about any attempts to fight the Kenzanites. Work your way towards the F.C.C., and regroup at the base of the city,” he commanded.

  The dynamic felt strange to Magnus, but no one questioned him to be their new leader. What ground and air forces needed was, above all, competent leadership. The Chronicler’s confidence in his reception by the people seemed to be well founded. Those that had doubts at this point did not express them. Magnus was offering clear, patriotic leadership, and at this point, that was more than Azakar or his offspring offered. Magnus was excited he could finally do something to heal his splintered nation.

  “But my King, can we really afford to not keep the Kenzanites in check?” one Commander inquired.

  “I’m sending an envoy to ask them to join us. The Triumvirate is our enemy now.”

  “Join us?! My King, I-” the Commander in question began, objecting.

  “The war you knew is over, Commander,” Magnus informed him. “Today, a new war has begun.”

  *

  “We have a problem,” Mezatosh began over Tulius’ H.I.C.

  “What?” Tulius asked, annoyed.

  “Magnus escaped our grasp. He’s successfully rallying the Paradignians against you,” Mezatosh warned.

  “I’m aware of your failure to kill him. Regardless, my forces will wipe him and Paradignian troops off the face of Inkh soon enough.”

  “What if he’s successful in rallying the Kenzanites against you as well?” he countered.

  “What?” Tulius asked, surprised.

  “Looks like you don’t know everything, Tulius. He’s reaching across the border to unite both armies against you.”

  “He… he can’t! That’s impossible!”

  “Gar, the former Kenzanite military leader, is with him. He still has strong ties to the Kenzanites. They’ll listen to him over Dagon any day, as you well know from your own time in Kenza,” Mezatosh informed him, reaching the most logical conclusion.

  Tulius cursed under his breath. A fault in his plan had been found, and he did not like it. If the Triumvirate lost today, not only would the organization be exposed in the wrong light, but the western takeover would fail. The Triumvirate would fail. Worst of all, it would all fall onto his head. Fear gripped him as he thought of Thanator’s wrath, and all the consequences that would follow. He imagined being once again crushed under the weight of his grasp, but this time, with no reprieve. A headache began to rear its ugly head on the top of his skull.

  “Martzia, deploy the asset. Kill the Stryker boy,” Tulius groaned, sitting down as he squeezed the bridge of his nose.

  “The asset’s programming might be challenged if confronted with that kind of stimulus,” Martzia cautioned, whispering in his ear.

  “Just do it, Martzia!” Tulius barked, not in the mood to have his decisions questioned. Martzia backed up, failing to hide her frustration.

  “Besides,” he finished with a chuckle, “It’ll be fittingly ironic, don’t you think?”