A Traitorous House on Traitorous Earth: Shattered Past Book 3

Of Wolves and Light

The House of Light had all of its units in play, with multiple skiffs, futes, and a ketch heading towards Venus they were an army at least two hundred strong, with two Eliksni Knights on board. Shandri was in the cargo hold of the ketch, making sure that their new model of walker tank was working properly.

"Okay, check main cannon rotation!" She called to the driver. The tank began to spin its turret around in a circle. It was the anti-aircraft model that they had been looking for, with two rapid-fire Gatling turrets on top, with an anti-armor cannon on the lower half of the turret. "Okay, we're good! Get that thing hooked up to a skiff, pronto!" She yelled.

"Yes, commander!" The pilot responded climbing out of the tank. "Commander, it's so good to hear that again." She thought to herself heading towards the bridge. This was the first time Shandri had seen a mobilization of Eliksni forces in such mass in eight hundred years. It was awe inspiring to see them working so efficiently, everyone was pitching in this endeavor. Shandri opened the door to the bridge to see the crew of the ship working their hardest to maintain control over the fleet and coordinate. The inside of a ketch's bridge was usually operated by one pilot servitor and only a few crewmen, however, this was the first time that the pilot servitor was not used.

"My-Kell, we are approaching Venus' gravity well. Standby for contact." One of the pilots told Sidriks who was sitting in the ship master's chair.

"Excellent, are you picking up anything on the scanners?" Sidriks asked the group in charge of monitoring the communications.

"Negative, sir." The lead officer replied. Sidriks began to grow uneasy, there was no way that the House of Wolves wouldn't be able to pick them up on their scanners.

"All units, divert any energy you can spare to your shields. We may be coming into an ambush." Sidriks said to the groups that were outside of the ketch.

"Understood my Kell." The collective replied. The ships emerged from the jump tunnel to the sand colored atmosphere of Venus. The troopers in the bays of the Ketch were anxious and itching for a fight. Some loading multiple weapons just to pass the tense moments of anticipation. Sidriks pressed a button on the command chair. "Attention all units, we are in the final moments of our journey. I would wish you all good luck if I believed that you needed it." Sidriks said to them. "Do not mistake my confidence in you for assurance that we are going to win without loss. Remember what the Wolves are, they are desperate, and they will do anything to win this battle and bring home the people of the House of Winter. Sidrik's out." He said deactivating the on ship comms.

Shandri walked up to the side of his chair, he looked troubled. "Are you okay Dad?" She asked him. Sidriks looked up to his daughter.

"What if we are too late Shandri?" He asked her.

"Then we take down the Wolves, those who resist, we either imprison or kill," Shandri replied placing her hand on the grip of her new pistol. Sidriks looked back towards the bow of the ship. "Is your unit ready to go?" Sidriks asked her.

"We're all set and ready to drop." She replied as the fleet descended into the Venusian atmosphere. Skiffs and futes of the house of wolves began flying towards the armada of Light.

"Sir, we have incoming wolf fighters!" One of the deck officers yelled. Sidriks stared out the main view port, it was much like a swarm of Korrivaks back home. So large it could make a farmer believe that a storm was coming. Korrivaks he remembered were giant locust-like creatures, a massive pain to anyone trying to farm on Ralterra.

"Maintain heading of the transports, send our fighter craft to deal with them," Sidriks said as he sprinted off the bridges chair towards the hangar bay. His fute, which he now calls the Breath of Lumina, was prepared and ready to move out. He was going to fight alongside his men in the skies above the Ishtar Sink. Sidriks strapped into his vessel and took off from the hangar bay tuning his helmet into the communications chatter of his allies.