Astral's Rise Part 52: Domain Control

"Sir, the forces outside are over one hundred. Permission to clear the way." Zeta spoke as Astral gave him the thumbs up. The mech would charge through the barrier, shattering it sending the light shrapnel into some of the enemy forces. 

Looking back he tilted his head. "Earth may be my home, but its been shattered and sold out. If you stay here I will no longer hold protection here." Twisting back around, Astral would cover fire with his sniper. Giving the signal to move for everyone. 

"Sir, directing all enemies using the beacon on radio comms." Zeta would fire a beacon missile into the city as a beam of light started to shine upwards, drawing a lot of attention inward.

"You seven. Buck up and let's go." Holding out his sniper he would start clearing a path. Dropping the big lizards while skipping over the smaller and stockier ones. The seven would form behind him as he cleared the way for them to make it to the beacon. 

It seemed to me to magnetize all of the creatures who wanted to hurt humans. Astral and his team made it there in about ten minutes as Astral would make some cover using the ground around them.

"Cool, we need to buy Lucky and Zeta time, and the aggression beacon is working perfectly." Astral spoke as he wrote it down on a digital drawing pad. The seven looked up at him in confusion.

"So, are you seven ready to create your own history?" Astral saw the masses of creatures echoing from around them. Small barricades were formed as he moved the earth around them.

"Sir if I may ask, do you think Airsoft was telling the truth?" Indy asked gently to Astral. He looked down at him as he summoned a light dome for a moment. "It has a good possibility," Astral pulled out a tablet of the planet, with a zoomed in photo of California. It had no signs of fighting or damage. "I'm sorry but you guys still have reasons to fight, even if it's just for each other." 

The five of the members from project valor looked stunned. Why? The same thought ran through their heads as Proto and Omaha had smirks on their faces. Indy looked over to Astral. "I have two reasons left to fight. Is my family safe?"

Astral's face went into sadness. "I have no way to confirm that, but, if you go looking for them, I'll grant assistance." Two Astral clones stood behind Indy as they nodded their heads. Both of them holding stock rifles. "Go." Indy turned and ran as the light dome shattered, taking out every Sacramentum alien clumped up in Indy's way.

A tizzle came from behind Astral as Proto shot it in the skull. Dropping it instantly. "Now we hold out." Astral pulled his sniper around clearing the masses in front of him. "Hawaii and Minn, watch the left side, Nevada and Carolina, the right. Proto and Omaha cover the rear. It'll only become more of them once it becomes clear that it's me." The Tizzle's were getting close to him from his sniper. But on his back rests the scythe. As he stood out of armor, his cyan and black coat was clear as day.

"We found him, time to send any available forces at him!" One of the tizzles in a hutt spoke out. The command was sent out to swarm Astral and kill him at all costs, the comms message rang out across all frequencies of the Sacramentum.

Once it was heard, Cali smiled. "Told you he would take the bait." The elders dressed in cloaks stood up and left, it was time to leave. Back to the main hideaway. Their shuttle lifted off as they left, giving the main drill site the command to blow it up.

The crew inside of the drillsite nodded at their command. "Speed up the drill, triple the speed we need to shatter the core NOW!" The apparaza echoed out across the drillsite. The moving parts and hot plasma dug into the earth stronger. 

Zeta and Lucky made it unnoticed. Lucky tapped on the cab of the mech as it nodded gently to not knock off its passenger. The plasma made it past the mantle and was digging into the outer core. Every volcano became active as the earth was trembling.

"Haymaker missile version three." The missile appeared on Zeta's shoulder as it loaded up and fired, hitting the drill, stopping its progress in its tracks as the crew all looked over and up to what caused the stoppage.

"All nearby forces-" The voice was cut off as Lucky raced in. Zeta provided cover fire for Lucky as they needed to shut down the drill for good. Zeta's packaged missiles kept raining down on the drill. Back where they found several dead bodies, or chunks of them from the US's forces, and Project Valor.

Zeta stood at the doorway to the controls of the drill as Lucky set up the self-destruct. There came five sacramentum ships that bombarded the control room. Zeta covered himself as he lost an arm due to their acid corrosion. He stood still as Lucky pressed the final button. It turned out that the next time someone tried to operate the drill it will combust with the force of a nuclear warhead.

Lucky charged outside as Zeta could no longer move. The corrosion from the acids were wearing the joints down, the mounted guns on Zeta held them back as Lucky vaulted over Zeta. Firing and killing the Sacramentum forces. Zeta looked at his companion. "You need to leave without me. More hostels are inbound and I won't make it." Zeta stuck out his free arm to block a plasma rocket from hitting Lucky.

Lucky signed quickly. 'No chance, we will die together.' Lucky rolled his dice. Twenty. He opened fire with the magnum in one hand and a rifle from the Sacramentum, wiping out the forces as he and Zeta realized more were incoming.

Another five shuttles from the Sacramentum came in. They looked up in awe. They were finished for sure. They heard the plasma missile come at them as they embraced death before hearing a jet zip past them. An entire squadron flew by, each one taking out the shuttles of the Sacramentum and the plasma missile. A carrier shuttle dropped some hooks down to Lucky as a voice cried out to the two.

"I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU!" Astrid's voice echoed through the comms as another squadron of jets kept in formation around the area, the Sacramentum held their position until the jets left.

Lucky looked up and signed. 'Thank you!' He couldn't be more excited. He tied up Zeta's chassis to the shuttle with several chains. He would get aboard the shuttle to survive the vacuum of space.

The carrier shuttle lifted off as the jets escorted them up into space, the skies were clear as Zeta sat and wondered. 'Was this what family was like?' Astrid was able to land the shuttle in the hangar as Anders immediately was restoring Zeta's joints with anti acid and other small repairs.

"Astral, Zeta was damaged, but the mission was successful." Alexa spoke to him as he sliced apart any Tizzle that got close to him with the scythe. His rifle was wielded with one hand as he exchanged it for his magnum.

There was one Sacramentum shuttle that flew in after the jets left, seeing no one they figured it was safe to walk around. Two Tizzles stood around as an Apparazza walked into the control room. "We are cleared to continue." He pressed the start button as it fired to life. No plasma came out as it exploded nearly a second after.

The explosion leveled the entire area as the rubble filled the hole that was created. Astral and the other heard the explosion as one of Astral's objectives ticked off. No more worrying about the planet being destroyed.

They seized the planets safety, this was their domain once more. Astrid summoned more jets into the atmosphere as they had full control now it was just time to clean up the mess left behind.