"C'mon! C'mon!" Montwik yelled as we furiously made our way up the staircase. The smoke was so intense we had to switch to our backup oxygen supply from our suits. The explosions increased in frequency over time and the roof started caving in at certain places. We had lost five more soldiers, but we had to move on, leaving us no time to at least try search for them underneath the rubble. My legs started to ache from all the climbing, but the adrenaline pumping through my body kept me going. I occasionally looked back to check if Reneesh and the others were following. They seemed tired too, but the fear among all us kept us going. The cuffs made it hard for Konrad and Anna to walk up, but we really didn't have another choice. This was the only way all of us would be safe. We occasionally heard voices of people, who still were probably making their way down to safety. We never had anyone running into us the whole time. The staircase indeed was abandoned.
We were on the staircase between Level Minus One and Level Minus Two when Montwik's Satellite phone finally received strong signals. "Alright guys, hold on, I'm going to try establishing contact with the base." He announced, as he began to try establish contact with base.
"This is Alpha 1012 to Beta Base. Do you copy?"
"This is Base to Alpha 1012. We copy you. Where have you been, Montwik?"
"We are inside the palace. We are trying to make our way out of the palace whilst you are bombing it."
"Well, you need to get out of there as soon as possible. The battle is getting intense."
"We are going to be at the exit of Tunnel 15."
"Roger that. A pick up team will be ready to pick you up as soon as you step of out that tunnel. Tunnel 15 is on the other end of the palace. You will not be in the war zone."
"Roger that. What is the status of the war?"
"We are preparing for final ground assault. We will brief you once you are rescued."
"Roger that, base."
"This is base. The rescue team has been dispatched. They will be there in fifteen minutes. The jet cannot wait for long, there is a fierce aerial battle above you."
"We hear you, base. We will be there in fifteen. Alpha 1012, over and out."
"Base, out."
***
"We need to get up there, now. Holder, set your watch to fifteen minutes. Mark." Montwik said, as we started to climb up to the surface. The bombing had died down a little, and we could hear the sound of the heavy artillery being fired. We had reached Level Minus One when we heard voices above us. "The doors automatically opened when we put the palace on code red and they escaped." We heard a voice say. "All of them?" Another voice asked. WIth a start I realised that the second voice belonged to Profus. All of now stood as still as statues and listened to the voices above us. It seemed like they were standing right above us on the staircase and we could not make it past them without them noticing us. "Yes sir, all of them." The first voice replied. "Did the cameras catch them?" Profus asked. "One of the two camera systems crashed when the palace was attacked, sir. A very few cameras are still functioning. The last we saw them, they were heading up, probably back to the surface which leads us to believe that they have arranged a rescue mission for themselves." He replied. "Keep the Air Force posted about this. And issue shoot on sight orders to all the soldiers. They can shoot them if they see them, but I need Anna and Konrad alive. Under no circumstances can they be killed, okay? Send the update to all the soldiers immediately." Profus ordered. We heard the other man send out the orders to the respective departments and then there was a long pause. "Profus, we have information that a jet from the Crux Army has strayed away from the squadron and is heading towards the D sector of the outer perimeter. They say it may be the rescue jet." He said. "D sector?" Profus asked him. "Yes, sir." He replied. "I think I know where they are heading. Let's go." Profus said, as we heard footsteps of them walking away. "Is it safe to go?" Holder asked Montwik. Montwik peeked up the staircase and put his thumb up. "Be careful." He said as he made his way up the stairs, pointing his gun, into the darkness. Streaks of light made their way from the huge cracks on the ceiling. I could see the clear blue sky from the cracks, and occasionally a fighter jet pass by. The most commonly prevalent thing was smoke. It was everywhere. We climbed through the heavy concrete slabs which had collapsed and made our way up to the surface.
The sight above was that of severe destruction. Two out of the four towers of the palace were in ruins and the rest of the building was not in good shape either. The exterior of the palace had taken a severe beating and the walls were scorched due to the bombs and the missiles. We saw a lot of crashed jets with smoke billowing of them, which made us assume that this had happened not long before. "We have to keep moving." Holder said, as we climbed down a huge pile of rubble. We occasionally came across the dead bodies of soldier, most of which were burnt beyond recognition. We could still see a few planed up in the air, circling the air, and they seemed like they belonged to the Kenjah, thanks to the Orange markings on the jets. "They are Kenjah's planes flying above aren't they?" Holder asked Montwik. "Yes, they are." I looked around again to realize that most of the jets which were on the ground were that of the red and blue markings, which meant they belonged to the Vortex-Crux army. "That meant we lost the aerial war?" Reneesh asked. "I don't know. But there are supposed to be a lot more jets than the ones which crashed." Montwik replied. Suddenly, the air raid siren went off. "TAKE COVER! TAKE COVER!" Holder yelled as we made our way back to the buildings. We heard the sound of jets fast approaching us. "We have seven minutes till our ride arrives." Holder yelled over the sound of the jets zooming past us, firing their missiles on the Kenjah's planes. We saw as one of the Kenjah's plane get hit and crash right into the third tower, which went up in flames. The Vortex and the Crux fighters seemed to be more focused on to prevent the Kenjah's air force from taking taking control of their air space rather than destroying the palace. Montwik took out this satellite phone and prepared to send out a message.
"Alpha 1012 to Base, do you copy?"
"Base to Alpha 1012, we copy. Are you at the pick up point yet?"
"Negative, base. We are stuck between the crossfire from the air. Please inform the jets there still are friendlies in the area."
"Alpha 1012, erm.. we already did that, and there is nothing much we can do. We will instruct them to keep a lookout for you, but you have to hurry. There is another squadron of Kenjah's Air Force coming in hot. It is the Black Storm, sir."
"Shit. We are getting out of here. How many more squadrons do we have left?"
"We have seven more squadrons left in the Kenjah's area. The rest of them have been deployed near the major cities. We can redirect a few from the Capital City if needed."
"Roger that. We are moving out of here. Over and out."
"Base, out."
***
"We better get out of her before the Black Storm arrives." Montwik said to Holder. "What is the Black Storm?" Konrad asked. I knew the answer. I heard the name when we were discussing about the Kenjah's forces. The Black Storm was the deadliest air team the Kenjah's forces have and they are capable of some serious damage. We had the Flying Warriors to counter them.
"This is Base to Alpha 1012. Flying Warriors inbound."
"Roger that, base."
***
"Where is the tunnel?" I asked Montwik. "Should be right over there." Pointing towards the far end of the palace perimeter. "Profus probably knows we are using the tunnel." Reneesh said. "But we do not have a choice, this is our only way out of here." Holder replied. "We have to get out before the Black Storm and the Flying Warriors arrive. It is going to be hell once they clash." Montwik said, as he grabbed his gun. Suddenly, our headsets, which had gone silent suddenly when we entered the Kenjah's air space had re-established contact with base.
"This is base to the rescue team. We have successfully been able to re-establish contact with you. We have severed contact and destroyed the headsets of our soldiers who have lost their lives so that the Kenjah's forces cannot eavesdrop on our conversations. We are going to patch you over to Captain Ledger Modm, captain of your rescue mission. Hoping to see ya'll back at base. Base over and out. ... This is Warrior Two, do you copy, Montwik?"
"Alpha 1012 to Warrior Two, we copy."
"We are very close to the pick up point. We need you to be there in five minutes."
"Roger that, Warrior Two. We will be there."
***
"Let's go." Montwik said, as he stood up and started walking towards where he said the tunnel was. We walked for about a minute and a half, and there were no more jets around us. At some point, all the Kenjah's jets had been shot down and the Vortex-Crux jets had retreated. Everything was completely silent around us except for the occasional chirping of the birds and gunfire really far away. It was the silence before the storm. After about two minutes walking, we reached a spot were the bushes were thicker than usual. "We are right over it." Montwik said. "He bent down and and pressed a button, after which the bushes around us disappeared into thin air. Holograms. There was a whole right below us which could accommodate one person at a time. All of us entered the hole one by one, and I made sure Anna and the others were together. Once we got down to the bottom of the vertical tunnel, there was a lot more place for us to stand in a group. Just then someone tapped my shoulder and I turned over to see Montwik standing there. "This is important." He said. "What is it?" I asked. "Profus was one of the core members of the resistance. That means, he knows about the web of tunnels under the palace and knows exactly where one starts and ends. It is safe to assume that he knows where we are heading." Montwik said, his voice sounding grave. "I think I would have guessed that by now." I replied. "What do we do now?" I asked him. "If he comes down here with men, it will be a gunfight, but Profus is a man of surprises." Montwik replied. "Then, I guess there is nothing we can do except to be prepared for the worst." I replied. Just then Gofr came walking towards us. "I just checked Anna and Konrad. It is not active yet, but we need to get them to containment fast. There seems to be a bit of activity in their bloodstream." He said. "We will put them in full containment once we get back to base." Montwik replied. "That is, assuming we get there." I murmured. "Alright! Everyone listen up!" Montwik said, raising his voice so that everyone could hear us. "The enemy most probably knows where we are. All of us heard Profus talking about it. We need to keep our eyes and ears wide open for any suspicious movements or sounds." Montwik ordered, and he got a few yeses and nods. "Let's keep moving." He said.
We made our way to the end of the tunnel without any action. We opened the hatch and made our way back to the surface. I looked back to see the top part of the Kenjah's palace which was in ruins. The huge wall, which was the outer perimeter restricted our view. Just then, we saw a group of jets, with black livery approaching the palace, and started circling it. "The Black Storm." Montwik muttered as we watched them.
"Alpha 1012 to Warrior Two, do you copy?"
"This is Warrior Two. We copy. Are you at the point?"
"Yes we are. Where are you."
"Erm, we have a problem. We are being chased by Black Storm."
"WHAT?"
"They are right on our tails. They knew were were coming."
"We are going to fly right past you anytime now, we cannot slow down unless we get rid of them, we called in reinforcements."
***
Just then a jet with the Vortex-Crux livery flew past us, with two Black Storm jets on its' tail. "This is not good!" Montwik yelled as he saw the Black Storms chase Warrior Two. "Where are the Flying Warriors?" I asked him.
"This is Alpha 1012 to base. Where are the Flying Warriors?"
"This is base. Flying warriors are two minutes away."
"WARRIOR TWO IS NOT GOING TO LAST TWO MINUTES!"
"We have already dispatched them, sir. There are on their way."
***
"Call the sniper, tell him to aim and take down the Black Storm jets." Montwik ordered Holder. "Taking down a jet with a sniper?" Holder asked him, confused. "You told me he was the best sniper we had. Hit the engine in the right stop, and the whole damn thing blows up." Montwik replied. Holder went to call the sniper and soon we had him ready. "Can you do it?" Montwik asked him. "Never done it before, but I sure can try." she replied. "Good luck then." Holder said. Emanta, who has been maintaining a low profile till now, walked over to Montwik and had a small talk with him. Warrior Two turned around as was heading towards our direction with the two Black Storm jets behind it. Warrior Two tried its best to get a clear shot of the two jets but you could see that the two jets were really experienced and did not give a chance. "Ready?" Montwik asked the sniper. "Yes, sir!" She replied, lying on the ground, taking her aim with ease and finally fired a shot. The bullet missed. She reloaded her gun again, as fired again, only this time, it shot straight into the cockpit and the jet dived into a steep descent, slamming into the ground at full speed and blasted. The second jet tried to end the thing by continuous firing at Warrior Two. One of the bullet managed to strike one of the two engines of Warrior Two, which burst into flames which was soon contained, but one of its' engines was out. The sniper took her aim at the second jet and she shot it right through the engine again. "Yes!" Montwik said, with a smile on his face and exchanged a handshake with Holder.
The jet with its engine on fire suddenly banked left towards Warrior Two, slamming it right near it's remaining engine, sending Warrior Two into an uncontrolled dive and we watched helplessly as Warrior Two spiraled towards the ground and exploded. The other Black Storm jet too crashed a little while later, as its' pilot ejected. The sniper, who seemed shocked at this sudden turn of events just like everyone one of us, suddenly took aim at the ejected pilot of the Black Storm jet and before any of us could stop her fired at him, and the bullet didn't miss. "Why did you do that?" Montwik asked her, not seeming to angry himself. "He killed one of ours, I killed him." She replied, as she wiped some sand off her face and went back into the crowd, who were gawking at her in admiration. The Black Storm pilot fell, taking one of ours with him.
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