Part I

The sirens blared and we all momentarily panicked. Dick dropped to the floor instinctively, Terrance leapt into the air, and Miriam removed an earbud as she jolted upright. The look of the untested.

I say that while nearly peeing myself, but that's not important.

We prepare ourselves - light underarmor equipped, and sidearm at the ready. We joined the line of soldiers marching towards the center building of the camp. The Nebraska sun was now being slowly blocked out by the most threatening looking clouds I'd ever seen. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to face a Midwestern thunderstorm.

As I arrived at the building, which was a really some wooden walls with a tarp over it, several jets zoomed overhead. They were gone in a second, headed in the direction of Grand Island, but the sound followed nearly ten seconds later.

As the crowd grew larger, an officer stepped out with a small microphone. He appeared to be a captain, but his composure shook with fear.

"They've glassed Omaha."

The words echoed around in silence. Nobody knew what to say. Nebraska's largest and debatably only city, home to two million people, had been obliterated.

"They have since launched a ground assault on Grand Island. The Californians and Canadians have yet to arrive. Most support from the east has just barely escaped the glassing and is making their way here. We'll be the first into the fray. Prepare yourselves for the largest offensive in Cascadian history. Let us prove to the Empire what we're worth!"

That was enough to elicit a cheer. Several gas-guzzling trucks pulled up behind us meanwhile, with long, green trailers attached. The drivers quickly made their way to the back doors, and opened them.

"Get locked and loaded, ladies and gentleman," the captain said before returning inside. From the flash of the inside I could see, there were people rushing around, almost panicked.

Seeing your superiors panicked is very reassuring.

I was forced to join yet another line, this one for the armor and Garands. The War in Heaven had united humanity, but perhaps we were already on our way. Nebraskan trucks had brought Ruthenian-Cascadian arms, with Solarian armor suits, supplemented with Dawnfire upgrades.

Which reminded me.

"Throne, what's the situation like?"

"Andie, you're important enough to not get the automated message, but I can't spare the processing power right now."

Oh, for fuck's sake.

To be fair, there were millions of troops from around the continent preparing to launch an offensive on an enemy we've observed in combat exactly once. I could maybe understand why the most powerful processor in human existence was needed elsewhere.

I reached the front of the line, where another man whose accent reminded me of what Robert E. Lee probably sounded like instructed me to assume control of one of the suits, grab a pack, and a rifle.

The armor felt weird, it always did. Something about an extension of my body, shit they'd gone on about when showing me how it worked some weeks ago. It'd become more natural as time went on. The heads-up display reminded me of a video game, but the coilgun Garand felt natural as breathing in my hands.

We were led from these trucks to other trucks, these ones more similar to the ones that brought us here.

Too. Many. Trucks.

While on the way towards inevitable doom (no seriously, there was smoke and explosions emanating from where Grand Island was), I looked at my squad. Terrance was scared shitless, obviously having never been deployed before. He was praying to himself, and Dick, who looked far less stressed, was praying with him. Meanwhile, Miriam was sitting beside me with her earbuds poking out from her blonde hair. The blonde hair which seemed somewhat familiar...

"End of the World" she said. It took a moment for me to realize that she was naming the song she was listening to.

"Daring Grace?" I asked.

"Yeah, you still remember them?"

"Oh, of course. Loved them in high school. Who would've guessed they'd be relevant now?"

The truck abruptly slid to a halt, and the road in front of us was vaporized. We leapt out of truck just in time for it, too, to vaporize.

"In the grass, let's go!" I screamed at them. We half-ran half-tripped into the ditch, before diving into the tall prairie grasses. Flashes of light flew past us at impossible speed.

"Throne, what the fuck's going on?" I demanded, apathetic towards its previous response. Instead of the AI, however, came a man.

"Squadrons 12A - 15H, stay put. Air support inbound and we'll have ground armor on you not too long after. Advance with the tanks."

"You heard the man, stay put!" I commanded. Technically, Dick was squad leader, but he let me do the talking.

The jets both appeared and disappeared within the three seconds. Large explosions were heard ahead of us, but the grass kept them out of sight. Terrance poked his head up to take a look, but a bolt of fuck knows what scored a direct hit on his head, and he collapsed backwards.

Miriam rushed towards and examined him.

"No way... whatever they're using, it fried the suit. I think only Aegis' can withstand this much energy, and only elite Imperials get those."

"What the fuck do we do then?"

"Pray and spray," Dick muttered.

We laid prone in the grass, awaiting something to annihilate us. My mind returned to Hong Kong, where I had been involved in a shootout. It had scarred me, and men died for me. But at least I knew that enemy. We knew the Dominion was 'human', but we didn't understand their tech too well, nor their reasons for killing.

A Persepolis rolled by us, unleasing hell into the distance. The operator ordered us through the suits to keep behind him. As we rose, I could make out thousands of tanks in all directions, all advancing towards some Dominion line that was being obscured by the tank.

"Keep up the pressure! Calis and Canucks are minutes out!"

I didn't know who it was that said that. The chaos of war.

More jets soared overhead, but these ones were darker than the last. Suddenly, the Persepolis in front of us combusted, and over the comms I heard the operator's screams as he was burned alive. Suddenly, it cut out.

"Hold here," Dick ordered, "We wait for the second wave to cover us now. Hold your fire."

A flash of light from behind blinded us, but the following thunder identified it. I took a look at the bellow cumulonimbus above us, as it began pouring rain.

Lightning stuck ahead of us, and someone over the comms yelled something about it hitting a Dominion tank.

Even the Earth itself was on our side. I remembered taking to orbit for the War in Heaven. It was my first time, taking in the planet with my own eyes was an awesome experience. In that moment, that's when it clicked. That was when a war I'd joined to defend my countrymen became a war I'd joined to defend my planet.

I saw the same awesome look take to Dick's face. A tear slipped out of his eye, and he dimmed his visor.