- John York -

  "I apologize on behalf of my colleague, John." Wiz bowed his head before tinuing to speak. "Sir, we've found signs that seem to be what you're looking for."

  "John, I believe the Blue Division has found the p where your sister is being held captive. However, it's only a hypothesis at the moment," Wiz expined.

  "How did you discover the p, and what makes you think that you’re right this time?" John asked.

  Before expining, Wiz started a small proje of the p and the surrounding region.

  "First, it's a p within Ork territory, but it's not too far from our border," Wiz expined. "Furthermore, there's no trace of teleportation or any kind of faster-than-light travel being used. Because of that, for a long time, we thought it was some kind of abandoned p."

  Wiz ged the dispyed images to more ret records. "However, a few weeks ago, we started to see movements he p, made by ships traveling below the speed of light. After that, we attempted several infiltration and espionage missions; of the three spies sent, only ourned. However, he brought promising news."

  Wiz presented some photos of a huge fortress built in the middle of the desert. The golden sun seemed like it would melt anything that set foot on that nd. Even so, the fortress remaianding, with some towers resembling spears and some white domes scattered throughout the fortress.

  However, it was in poor dition. It ossible to see corridors and walls falling apart. What was once a critical part of Ork infrastructure, to an amateur eye, seemed utterly abandoned.

  John could uand how several analysts examihis p and didn't point out any irregurities.

  "I get it, but what indicates that there are prisoners in this fortress?" the Heir asked.

  "Our infiltrator mao capture some images of captured humans being taken ihe fortress," Wiz expined, presenting the test images.

  "Alright." John had no more questions; among all the information he had obtained i months, this was the most crete.

  ‘No wonder Wiz had remained a General for decades.’ John mused internally while watg the Blue Division General presentation.

  "I imagine you already have a mission pnned?" John asked.

  "Yes, we io unch a small-scale assault on the fortress," Wiz expined, his fingers gliding over the holographic proje as he presehe enemy's schematics. "However, teleportation is out of the question. Our initial probes have detected jamming waves enveloping the entire fortress."

  He poio the pulsating energy patterns dispyed above the table. "These blog frequencies make any form of air-to-surface teleportation impossible. Furthermore, we have no intel oher they possess underground teleportation devices to deploy reinforts at a moment's notice. That means we must execute a swift, surgical strike and withdraw before they react."

  "Right. What would be the team's size and the invasiohod?" John asked.

  It was Quinn's turn to rejoin the versation, as her division specialized in this type of mission. "It will be a team of twenty rangers. They will perform an orbit jump with direct dest onto the fortress. The priority will be the rescue of the princess, with the sedary objective of obtaining critical information on the Orks' movements."

  "Jump without chutes?" John asked, his eyes fixed ily on Quinn.

  "With parachutes, obviously," Quinn replied, her tone edged with impatience. "Our team isn't trained for orbit jumps without them.”

  "Alright. I will participate iion.” John said calmly. “Also, I will bring fers from House York. Lastly, this jump will be without chutes."

  "That's impossible," Quinn protested, her eyebrows knitting together in disbelief. "We 't execute a mission like that."

  "I will ehe safety of yers. Don't worry," John expined.

  Quiated, her gaze dropping to the table. She could see that further argument was futile.

  "Alright," she sighed. "But this goes against standard protocol."

  "When will the a take pce?" John asked.

  "Immediately," Quinn replied. "We 't afford any deys. There's no telling when they'll realize we've been monit them."

  "Excellent," John said with a faint smile. "That's precisely what I was hoping for."

  --

  --

  A few hours ter, the York and NEA ships met. The operation would use only a smaller ship to avoid beied wheering Ork territory.

  Both the 20 NEA Rangers and the 5 Yers were transferred to the infiltration and escape ship.

  While waiting for the operation to begin, all Rangers had to remain in the ship's cargo area. The only one who would stay ilot who would o keep the vessel intact while the mission was carried out. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.

  At the moment the jump was made, several other ships would start searg for it to shoot it down before the infiltrators could escape.

  The Rangers could hear the captain's information through their unicators, "We are approag the p Merea Alpha. In 30 seds, the cargo bay will open. You will have 60 seds to perform the jump. Your mission should st a maximum of thirty minutes; after that, it's impossible to guarahe safety of the evacuation ship. Uood?"

  "Yes!" all the Rangers firmed.

  It ossible to see twenty-four red Rangers preparing for the nding ihe ship, except for one person. John wore the Golden Ranger's armor. He would be the first to jump, as his powers would be o ehe others' safety.

  A few seds ter came the captain's final firmation: "Ready? I'm opening the cargo bay. Start the operation!"

  As soon as the Rangers received the information, John ran to the opening and made his jump.

  An orbit jump was one of the as performed by Rao ensure a quick assault on a point of i before the Orks could detect them. This meant that the ship only o get close to 50 kilometers from the ground before jumping.

  After a few seds of the silence of space, the Rangers began to free fall, accelerating to around 200 km/h in their dest. However, none of them carried parachutes.

  After some time, John could already see the ground. His armor, which was already golden, shone and sparkled with the fire of his entry into the p's atmosphere. However, his iion was not to decelerate.

  As soon as John could see the fort, he crossed his arms over his body. He had no iion of slowing down at all. Using his trol over Energy, he purposefully increased his mass and acceleration, reag the ground in the blink of an eye.

  "3. 2. 1." John ted the seds before finally nding.

  What many would sider the force of a missile was simply the nding of the Golden Rahe Orks who had been walking ihe fortress were quickly reduced to ashes, and around the Heir, there was now a vast crater and dozens of buildings reduced to rubble.

  A few meters above Johhe other 24 Rangers. However, uhe Heir, they did not have equipment or even training for this type of nding—something usually only performed by the daredevils of the Yellow Division.

  To ensure some safety, the Heir let all his Energy flow, flooding the area around him.

  The Orks who saw the Ranger ran to attack him, only to faint a few steps before reag their target.

  John closed his eyes a his energy expand until he found each of the twenty-fers preparing to nd. He moved his hands as if he were trolling marioes and quickly pulled their strings.

  For those watg from the outside, everything seemed absurd. However, Quinn could feel almost immediately her body rapidly slowing down in the air, a few meters before hitting the ground.

  However, as soon as she could set her first foot in the fortress, she could feel the dense field of Energy that had spread.

  ‘It… It just isn’t possible.’ She looked incredulously at the Heir.

  "Did everyone arrive safely?" John asked the panions who had just nded.

  "Yes, sir," the Rangers firmed.

  "Start searg," he ordered.

  With his energy pletely expanded and c the entire surface of the fortress, he looked down. The Ranger could sehat Katherine was not in any of the buildings in front of him.

  However, he was not yet finished.

  "This is for having the audacity to take my sister," the Golden Ratered.

  Amidst the chaos of his nding in the fortress, John, with his armleaming uhe scorg sun, walked, trying to get as close as possible to the ter of the city. With an infuriated look, he brought both hands forward, g his palms in a simple yet powerful gesture.

  At the instant his hands met, a colossal wave of Energy was expelled, vibrating at su intense frequency that it was almost tangible. The wave of energy tio expand rapidly, traversing the city like an invisible force. However, wherever it touched, the impact was immediate.

  A deafening roar broke the remaining silen parts of the city. Huge fissures spread like spider webs among buildings, walls, and towers.

  In a matter of seds, one of the towers began to crumble, crag in half uhe overwhelming power released.

  GCLopes