The barracks were a far cry from comfortable, but after the insanity of the last mission, it felt almost peaceful. Daniels, Hayes, Walker, Reynolds, and Vance were sprawled across their bunks, their gear haphazardly tossed to the side. The hum of generators outside mixed with the distant sound of engineers still working on fortifications.

  Daniels let out a tired sigh, rubbing his ribs. “I can’t believe we all ended up on the same ship and never ran into each other before.”

  William chuckled from his cot, propping himself up on one elbow. “Probably different platoons. We were packed in like sardines on the Liberty—no way to meet everyone.”

  Walker snorted. “Or maybe it’s because we were too busy fighting for our damn lives every time we touched ground.”

  The group laughed, tension easing from their shoulders.

  Then, Hayes reached into his footlocker and pulled out something that made everyone go dead silent.

  A Nintendo Switch.

  Daniels sat up so fast he nearly fell out of his bunk. Walker blinked, leaning forward like he had just seen a damn ghost. Vance was the first to actually find his voice.

  “Is that…real?”

  Hayes smirked, flipping the old console on. “Damn right it is.” The screen flickered to life, showing the unmistakable red and blue Joy-Cons and the start-up sound of a relic from a world long gone.

  Reynolds shook his head in pure disbelief. “How the hell do you even have that? The UNION banned everything linked to past nations during the War.”

  “Yeah,” Hayes grinned, “but I know a guy.”

  The old console’s start-up chime echoed through the barracks, momentarily drowning out the distant hum of the base outside. Hayes scrolled through his library of games, the tiny screen casting a faint glow in the dimly lit room.

  William leaned in, his face a mix of excitement and disbelief. “Man, I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid. You sure that thing still works?”

  Hayes smirked, selecting a game. “Hell yeah, it works. Got a few classics loaded up. Mario Kart, Smash, some old FPS games.”

  Daniels shook his head in awe. “I thought all this stuff got wiped out when the old nations fell. Where the hell did you even find that?”

  Hayes chuckled. “Like I said—knew a guy. It’s pre-war, modded to hell, runs off a power cell I rigged up myself. You think I was gonna let the past just disappear?”

  Walker laughed, shaking his head. “Damn. You’ve been holding out on us.”

  Vance grinned. “Alright, alright—who’s getting their ass kicked first?”

  Hayes tossed a Joy-Con to Daniels, who caught it with a smirk. “Bring it on.”

  They crowded around, watching the screen as the game loaded. Within moments, the barracks were filled with taunts, laughter, and groans of frustration as they dove headfirst into a heated Smash Bros. match

  Even in the middle of a war, on an alien world under constant threat, some things never changed.

  Just as Daniels was dusting off old cards for Smash Bros., the barracks alarm blared to life.

  "ALL UNITS TO DEFENSIVE POSITIONS. REPEAT, ALL UNITS TO DEFENSIVE POSITIONS."

  The marines barely had a second to react before Sergeant Collins stormed into the room, his voice cutting through the noise like a whip.

  "On your feet, Marines! This ain’t a damn game—get your gear and move! The perimeter’s under attack!"

  The squad scrambled, controllers forgotten as they leapt from their bunks and lockers, grabbing weapons, helmets, and armor.

  Daniels muttered, “Shit, not again.”

  Hayes groaned as he shoved the Switch back into his footlocker. “Goddamn dragons never let us have a break.”

  Collins pointed at the door. “Double time it! The First Lieutenant is coming down himself to lead the defense, so you damn well better be at your best!”

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  That sent a jolt through the squad. If the 1st Lieutenant was getting directly involved, this wasn’t just another raid—this was a full-scale assault.

  Weapons locked and loaded, the marines rushed out of the barracks and into the chaos of war.

  Above them, the sky burned with dragon fire.

  As Daniels, Hayes, and the rest of the marines burst out of the barracks, they were met with an apocalyptic battlefield.

  The old Thunder APCs rumbled across the dirt, their cannons thundering as they unleashed explosive shells at the incoming horde of dragons. Towering Annihilator Mechs stomped across the perimeter, their massive rotary cannons spinning up before releasing barrages of hyper-velocity rounds, tearing through the air like a storm of metal death.

  Above them, the firebase's automated defenses roared to life.

  "Scorched Earth" Plasma Towers hummed as their massive barrels glowed white-hot, launching devastating plasma bursts skyward. The projectiles detonated mid-air, vaporizing entire flocks of the incoming creatures.

  "Stormbreaker" Missile Platforms locked on to their targets, launching volleys of guided anti-air missiles. The sky was filled with contrails of deadly ordnance, each missile seeking and annihilating its designated foe in fiery explosions.

  "Starfall" Laser Stations swiveled rapidly, their precision beams slicing through the sky like threads of light, disintegrating anything unfortunate enough to fly through their line of fire.

  Despite their overwhelming firepower, the dragons kept coming.

  A massive beast, easily twice the size of the others, tore through the smoke, its scales gleaming with an unnatural glow. It dodged a flurry of missiles with inhuman speed, weaving through the carnage as if guided by something beyond mere instinct.

  “Holy shit—look at that one!” Hayes shouted, pointing as the massive dragon dove straight for the firebase.

  Daniels barely had time to react before the shockwave of its wings nearly sent him flying. The beast let out an ear-splitting roar, unleashing a torrent of blue flame that melted through a Thunder APC like it was made of wax.

  With the alarm blaring through the base and the sky choked with fire and smoke, the marines didn't hesitate.

  “WEAPONS FREE!” Sergeant Collins roared, his voice cutting through the chaos. “LET’S GIVE ‘EM HELL!”

  Daniels, Hayes, and the rest of the squad surged forward, their boots kicking up dust as they took positions behind barricades, armored vehicles, and reinforced bunkers.

  Railgun rifles cracked, spewing rounds that punched through the thick hides of the smaller dragons. Plasma fire lanced through the air, burning holes in wings and forcing some of the beasts to plummet into the jungle below. The rhythmic thump-thump-thump of heavy machine guns from the Thunder APCs filled the battlefield, spitting out streams of lead that ripped into the horde.

  But no matter how many they took down—more came.

  Dragons filled the sky in swarms, their wings blacking out the dim light of the sun. They moved like a coordinated force, dodging anti-air defenses, weaving between missile barrages, and singling out weak points in the firebase. The bigger ones led organized dive-bombing attacks, their flames melting steel plating and scorching soldiers alive.

  Daniels ducked behind cover as a dragon's tail smashed into a barricade, sending concrete shrapnel in all directions. He turned just in time to see a group of marines get caught in the beast’s sweeping flame, their screams lost in the roaring inferno.

  “We can’t hold this forever!” Hayes shouted, firing another burst at an incoming dragon that was circling too close.

  “We don’t have to!” Sergeant Walker’s voice cut in through the comms. “Just hold the damn line until reinforcements arrive!”

  But that was the problem.

  The reinforcements weren’t coming fast enough.

  And the dragons weren’t stopping. They were endless.

  One of the Annihilator Mechs, a towering war machine with a quad-barreled railgun, let out a metallic whine as it locked onto a massive dragon. It fired—a single shot that ripped through the monster’s skull—sending its lifeless body spiraling into the jungle below.

  The endless battle seeing no end in sight

  "Bloody hell, from one war onto the next"

  The battle raged on. Flames consumed outposts, plasma turrets fired relentlessly into the sky, and the roars of both dragons and soldiers echoed through the base. But inside the makeshift holding room, the elf sat, eyes closed, mind working.

  She had seen enough.

  The weapons these invaders wielded—they tore through the dragons like they were nothing. The machines, the precision, the sheer power... They could do more than defend themselves.

  They could liberate her people.

  Her violet eyes snapped open, filled with a renewed purpose.

  Raising her bound hands, she whispered an incantation. A faint blue glow pulsed around her fingertips before spreading like a mist through the room. The two guards standing at the door staggered, their eyes fluttering as their knees buckled. Within seconds, they collapsed onto the floor, unconscious lost in a deep, enchanted sleep.

  Silent. Efficient.

  She stood, shaking off the restraints as if they were nothing. Her pointed ears twitched, listening past the walls to the chaos beyond. The dragons—her people’s old foes—were falling. And yet, they kept coming, fighting under the Evil One’s will.

  That was about to change.

  The elf moved quickly, slipping through the corridors and scaling up a watchtower with inhuman grace. The moment she reached the top, she thrust her hands skyward.

  A sharp, melodic whistle cut through the air, an ancient signal known only to the dragons. A coded message.

  A lie.

  "The invaders are dead."

  The dragons, still circling for another assault, halted. One by one, their reptilian eyes scanned the battlefield, seeking confirmation. Then, with a few guttural growls and roars exchanged among the larger ones, the entire horde began to pull back.

  Within seconds, the sky—once filled with leathery wings and fire—was empty.

  The marines, still gripping their rifles, stood frozen in place.

  “…The hell just happened?” Daniels muttered, lowering his weapon.

  Hayes wiped soot from his face, eyes wide. "Did we just... win?"

  Sergeant Collins stormed forward, barking into his radio. "Command, this is Firebase Echo—dragons just retreated. I repeat, the hostiles are withdrawing!"

  From the observation room above, Captain Lewis and Commander McGregor stood in stunned silence.

  McGregor frowned. "That wasn't us, sir."

  Lewis nodded grimly. "Then who the hell just saved our asses?"

  That’s when the radio crackled with another voice.

  “Sir… The prisoner is gone.”

  Gundam. This once-fictional concept of towering humanoid mechs resonated with military engineers, who saw potential in a design that had never been properly realized in their reality.