Chapter 8-2: Blindside - Beginning the Assault

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Sharon- United Human Faction- Night 70

            Sharon’s transport boat ripped a divide in the sands of the Big Island, tossing about its crew and leaving behind its formerly onboard motor. The Faction commander threw herself against the bow of the boat, tearing her way into the darkness of war.

            She was surprised by the brightness of the night. Anning’s jets towed bright trails of flame over the top of the volcano, likely showering the opposite ocean with burning hot tracer rounds. Her own men, many of whom had already disembarked, covered the beach with glowing markers and flares as they charged into cover. Some soldiers marked their presence with loud yells, pops, and flashes as they marked the mountainside as their territory and, in many cases, their homeland. Inexperienced civilians test fired their weapons into the distance, some gasping as the weapons protested with force, others breaking down in sobs as the reality of their fates became evident. Those Hawaiians who chose to continue fighting clustered around the experienced Faction troopers, running into the streets and jungles to meet the enemy, and those who did not often looked back toward Maui, watching as Anning’s ships spread molted metal across the horizon. Anning’s own carrier was a true marvel, a mobile weapons platform covered in anti-aircraft machineguns, what Sharon would label as artillery cannons, and the bright, silent railguns of science fiction novels.
          She was distracted, and rightly so, by a raft hovering at the edge of the tide. She waded toward the Admiral’s forces and leapt into the boat. A Faction agent, burn scars covering his once handsome face, accelerated toward the Japanese command ship, ready to give his life for the sake of his brothers. Sharon was not sure she could make the same sacrifice, but understood that, this night, she could die with dignity.