The sky above Fort Arclight was chaos. G-11s swarmed the perimeter, while Razor Hornets—A-03s—sliced arcs across the clouds. Below, GDF tanks rumbled across the cracked earth, cannons roaring as they fired on the advancing G-11s. Soldiers crouched behind barricades, rifles spitting tracer fire, and every few seconds, explosions shook the ground.
Some G-11s fell, shredded by concentrated fire. Some tanks burned. Some soldiers didn't make it—flashes of bodies thrown aside, screams swallowed by the thunder of engines and gunfire.
A Razor Hornet dove low, firing plasma bursts. The top of a tank melted in a second; soldiers scrambled, panicked, some diving out of the way, some not fast enough.
"Air support's here!" Private Wayne's voice cracked over the comms, half relief, half disbelief.
Several soldiers craned their necks, eyes tracking the incoming jets as they cut across the sky.
Sergeant Lennon smirked, T-14 still on his shoulder. "About time," he muttered, watching them streak into formation.
"Falcon to all units," Enzo's voice clipped over comms. "Maintain three-by-three formation. Intercept G-11s at grid Delta-7. Burner, Siren, Raven—cover the right. Frost, Nighthawk, stay with me on lead vector."
The HUD pulsed in my vision, lines tracing every target, every vector, every possible trajectory. Enemy and allies, tagged:
[Tank #7 — Status: Critical]
[GDF Infantry — Status: 221 alive, 79 KIA]
[XN-G11 #8 — Distance: 3.2 km / Speed: 492 km/h / Threat Level: High]
[XN-G11 #14 — Distance: 3.5 km / Speed: 498 km/h / Threat Level: High]
[XN-A03 #2 — Razor Hornet / Distance: 8.7 km / Speed: 812 km/h / Threat Level: Critical]
I swallowed. The numbers didn't lie. We were outmatched.
"ACI Central to Fort Arclight, do you read?" Enzo said over the comm.
"This is Major Alfonso Rodriguez of GDF Fort Arclight. I read you loud and clear," came the reply, calm but tense.
"Major, situation report. What's your status?" Enzo asked.
"Multiple G-11 burrow units have breached the northern perimeter. Our tanks are engaged, helicopters tied up with aerial threats, and casualties are mounting," Rodriguez replied, voice clipped.
"Keep your men off grid line Delta-7. Jets are engaging that sector directly. Over," Enzo ordered.
"Understood. Delta-7 cleared. All units hold positions," Rodriguez confirmed.
Enzo exhaled sharply, then turned to the squadron. "Blackbird-9, maintain formation. Kestrel-14, cover the flanks. Eyes sharp—this perimeter's about to get crowded."
We held position. Ten long minutes of weaving through G-11s, Razor Hornets slicing past, engines screaming, tracers lighting up the dark. Every second stretched, every maneuver precise.
I glanced at Kestrel-14 in my HUD. Three jets were down already—smoke spiraling into the night. Jae-Seong flared then ejected. Alive, but out of the fight.
And then my HUD shifted abruptly.
[Primary Threat Detected — A03 Razor Hornets — Engage?]
I blinked. The system… it was asking for permission.
[Recommended Action: Override Manual Formation — Engage Primary Threat]
I exhaled. My hands tightened on the stick. Fort Arclight would fall if I didn't do something. Holt's orders couldn't save them, and Enzo's voice was already stretched thin trying to manage formations.
"Engage," I muttered.
Immediately, the HUD pulsed and expanded:
[Primary Vessel Link — FULL ACTIVE]
[Targeting: XN-A03s — Priority: Critical]
[Velocity Optimization: Active]
[Maneuver Sync: Max]
I felt it in my hands, through the stick. The Talon moved again... on its own, breaking out of formation.
"Frost! Maintain formation!" Enzo's voice ripped through the comms.
"Paige! Get back in formation immediately!" Holt's voice cut through, firm and commanding.
"Now's not the time to play ace!" Eze added.
I didn't answer. I was too busy watching the HUD mark the Razor Hornets:
[XN-A03 #1 — Weak Points: Detected]
[XN-A03 #2 — Weak Points: Detected]
[XN-A03 #3 — Weak Points: Detected].
My Talon veered sharply to the left, moving deliberately toward the three A-03 Razor Hornets. My hand was still on the stick but it wasn't me guiding it—it was moving on it's own, responding to the system pulsing quietly in my vision.
The HUD highlighted missile paths, predicted evasive maneuvers, even calculated collision vectors for the next ten seconds. Every enemy tagged red, lines connecting them to my Talon's predicted trajectory.
[XN-A03 #1 — Critical Hit Zone Locked]
[XN-A03 #2 — Critical Hit Zone Locked]
[XN-A03 #3 — Critical Hit Zone Locked]
I let the system guide me, heart hammering, hands steady. Alone, against three of the Xynes' deadliest war machines, my HUD lighting every move, my Talon alive beneath me.
The shots fired. Each A-03 Razor Hornet erupted in fire, all three going down in perfect synchronization. My jet passed through the smoke as the explosions bloomed below.
From the ground, Private Wayne looked up, wide-eyed, and muttered,
"Now that's what I call legendary."
"Okay," Eze said, voice tight over the comms.
"Wow… that's just… wow," Hana added, her tone a mix of awe and disbelief.
Enzo's voice cut through, clipped and sharp.
"Keep it together. Maintain formation over Delta-7. And Frost… I hope you know what you're doing."
I didn't respond. My eyes stayed fixed ahead, mind racing, trying to wrap my head around the fact that my Talon—my jet—was moving on its own, almost as if it was alive.
Rizok, watching from above his Razor Hornet, tilted his head as Vorkin spoke beside him.
"That human flies different from the rest," Vorkin said, eyes narrowing.
"Bring him down," Rizok commanded.
Vorkin nodded, and immediately changed direction, leading two others as they surged toward me.
[Incoming Hostiles — Priority: Critical]
[Threat Count: 3 — XN- A03 Razor Hornets — Engaged]
The three Hornets opened fire from behind. Tracers cut through the night, screaming past my cockpit.
My Talon reacted instantly, weaving left and right, slipping through the hail of energy like it anticipated each shot.
"He needs help!" Sofia's voice snapped over the comms.
"Maintain formation. Do not break," Enzo barked.
"Roger that," Sofia replied with a sharp sigh.
Then came the impact. My jet shuddered violently, systems flickering, alarms blaring. The ground rushed up. Vorkin, seeing the Talon tumble, pulled away with the other two, assuming the fight was over.
Red lights flared across the HUD. I gripped the stick, preparing to eject, then—
[Damage Critical — Hull Integrity: 17%]
[Auto-Repair — Activated]
[Estimated Repair Time: 10… 9… 8…]
My eyes widened.
What the hell…?
The Talon wasn't just stabilizing, it was now... repairing itself. No human could do this. No system I knew could do this. And yet, the countdown ticked like a calm heartbeat.
6… 5… 4… My fingers tightened on the controls, heart hammering, mind screaming a mixture of awe and disbelief. Every instinct screamed to eject, but something deeper—something inside me, or inside the Talon—kept me rooted in the cockpit.
3… 2… 1…
And then it happened. The hull realigned, the Talon shuddered once, and pulled up smoothly as if it had weightless wings. My hands barely moved, yet it floated, balanced perfectly, alive in a way that no machine had any right to be.
What the hell am I flying?
"How… How did he?" Eze whispered over the comm, disbelief ringing in his voice.
From above, Vorkin's head tilted sharply. His armor glinted under the moonlight as his voice cut through the static:
"Impossible."
A shadowed figure in the distance, Rizok, raised a hand slowly, voice calm and commanding:
"Vorkin. Call off the attack."
Vorkin's jaw tightened. "But… commander—"
"Call it off," Rizok repeated, calmer this time.
Vorkin's shoulders sagged, and he raised his hand. "Yes, commander."
Immediately, the Razor Hornets and the XN-∆ units began pulling back. The G-11s hesitated, then followed. All eyes turned skyward, locked on that one jet—my Talon—still cutting through the night, unscathed and flawless.
Vorkin's voice was low, incredulous, almost a whisper to himself as he spoke to Rizok:
"Is it… what I think it is?"
Rizok's replied calmly, his expression unreadable.
"Yes."
Vorkin's eyes widened. "How… how did a human get the Codex? How is he controlling one of ours? How—?"
Rizok raised a finger to silence him.
"Alert high command. Tell them… the Codex has been found. And its user… is a human."
The night fell silent for a moment, save for the hum of engines and the faint glow of my HUD. The world seemed to hold its breath.
And then, with a slow, steady pulse, the Talon continued to hover perfectly in formation, alive, unbroken, and... untouchable.