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** CHAPTER 58** The third offense Part VI

At Canis Major's hangar, Retcans and Evocanis fought fiercely against the machine army. Many fell injured, barely managing to escape the grip of death. But thankfully, many reinforcements came from the deepest Sectors of the ship. Hundreds of fierce Evocanis joined the fight with only one thing in mind: To avoid at all cost that not even a single Evo fell victim of a machine again.

Slowly, Evocanis and Retcans not only outnumbered but also started to gain the advantage on their enemy. Fire support at long range kept the ballistic droids from deploying and many brave Evos pushed forward fighting the machines face to face. It didn't take long until the machine units stopped from getting inside Canis Major through the breaching ship that had drilled its way through the hangar's main gate.

"Look out, Retcan!" Lay yelled. He had just sliced a machine assassin in two with his long sword. Drawing an E.M.P faster than lightning, he shot at a machine that was about to jump on top of Bo. Three swift shots fried most of the machine's inner systems, immediately staggering it. Bo saw his opportunity and cut both of the machine's arms off with a couple of short blades. Another shot from far away, this time a plasma round, destroyed the torso of the machine completely. Both Lay and Bo looked at where the shot had came from and saw the little Chihuahua giving them a thumbs up from a couple of hundred meters.

"That little Evocanis is very good!" Bo exclaimed surprised.

"Not even I knew he was capable of that. But it doesn't surprise me." Lay replied without being able to conceal how proud and impressed he felt of his best friend.

"Are you two okay?" Suddenly, an exhausted Alpha approached them.

"We are okay, Alpha." Bo replied. "Those monsters are falling back!" the young Retcan exclaimed excited.

Indeed, not a few minutes passed and the last of those monsters had finally fallen on the ground twitching and ceasing to function any longer. But it was a bittersweet victory as they knew this was far from over.

Alpha ordered his troops to regroup and bring medic teams to the hangar. The wounded had to be taken inside the colony and treated. Thankfully, they had no losses. But it was still too soon to celebrate.

"This isn't over yet. Zonda informed me that the machines are getting reinforcements." Alpha told Bo and Lay who also stood next to them. "The fight in space started with the odds against our forces and now it's getting worst by the second."

"That's why I need to go to R105. Titan insists that this artifact is our only hope. Alpha, please help me!" Bo had been held for too long already. He needed to get to R105 as soon as possible.

"I will do what I can, but my squad needs to stay here in Canis Major." Alpha said. "We cannot afford to lower or defenses right now. If the machines are getting reinforcements in space that means that what we just managed to destroy here was only the first wave."

"I'll escort Bo." Lay offered himself.

"Are you sure, Lay?" Alpha questioned him. At that moment there was no time for discussions or debates about who belongs where or anything like that.

"I have training in theWolf500 simulator. Those ships are not complicated to fly." Lay replied confident.

"Alright..." Alpha agreed. "Take this. It has the codes to activate our S Series. They are slightly different than your Wolf500, but the basics are the same. You'll find the differences very intuitive. I'll have four of my Retcans to give you some support. Do not distract yourselves and head straight to R105. Is that clear?"

Alpha gave Lay a Retcan ComPod and pointed to where the ships were. Both Bo and Lay got geared up in a Retcan Supply ship and then ran to the S Series fighters.

Back in R105, the fight was not going as good as it did in Canis Major. R105's hangar was smaller and that battle was taking a toll on the ship.

Her pure white fur was now brownish; soiled from dirt and oil that came from exploding ships and machinery all around her. Tainting her coat in red was blood that was spilled not only by her but her friends. A powerful kick hit the female Retcan right in the chest sending her to the ground. If it wasn't for what was left of her armor, she would've been impaled by the blades that the machine had for legs.

Before the machine could land a fatal blow while its victim lied on the ground, the white furred Retcan managed to roll out of the way, with the leg of the machine leaving a dent on the metallic ground not a few inches from her head.

Quickly pulling out her sidearm, the female Retcan shot the machine twice and she immediately got back on her hind paws, placing herself behind the machine after a graceful maneuver. Sheathing her gun in less than a second, she once again wielded her dual blades and gave the machine a final blow. From the machine's chest the tip of two Lanthracit blades suddenly made themselves visible, as they burned their way through spilling molten metal and a green fluid from the fatal wound. The blades went on separate ways, cutting the machine in half in an instant.

From between the gap that dissected the machine assassin, completely exhausted, Silver could be seen standing with two sizzling Lantracit blades on her hand-paws. It had been one of the hardest battles she's ever been in decades.

But it was not over yet...

Silver had enough. She noticed how the machines were not diminishing in numbers no matter how hard their efforts were. She ran to one of the battle ships at the hangar that still stood intact and thought of finishing this once and for all. Ordering her crew to cover her, she made it to the ship and got in. Quickly activating it, she armed the main weapon and aimed for the breaching ship that was the nest of those monsters.

"Everybody down!!" Shadow yelled when he understood Silver's intention. "Captain, what are you doing?!" He then yelled at his ComPod.

"At my signal, cease fire and hold on to something!" Silver replied.

Shadow and part of his squad were doing what they could to keep most of the machines from advancing any further by shooting them from a distance as they came out their ship. The few of the machines that escaped encountered themselves with other Retcans ready to fight them. It was a solid strategy, but none seem to gain the advantage. Unfortunately for the Retcans, they soon would run out of stamina unlike the machines.

"Now!" Silver yelled at Shadow. She was waiting for the perfect moment, and when she saw the last machine that had managed to advance falling to the ground, she knew it was time. She pressed on the trigger and a plasma core missile was shot from the ship directly to the machine's breaching vessel.

The missile shot at an incredible speed, hitting the target dead center. But something went wrong.

Silver watched in disbelief as the missile had buried itself in the breaching ship, but it failed to detonate. A security countermeasure disabled the missile from detonating if a certain distance wasn't achieved. It didn't take long until another wave of machine assassins started crawling their way through the damaged breaching ship to commence with another ravenous wave attack.

Silver wouldn't permit it...

The brave Captain of R105 got out the ship and ran furiously towards the machine breaching ship, jumping over obstacles and dodging shots from a couple of ballistic droids that managed to deploy; she never had the intention to stop.

"No, Silver!" Shadow tried to stop her at no avail. He yanked a long range plasma rifle from one of his squad mates and threw himself on the ground.

Almost a hundred meters from there, Silver got closer and closer to her objective. Some of the ballistic droids managed to hit their target, staggering and dropping Silver on her knees. Two shots had hit the Captain; one on her upper thigh and another which had luckily hit the armor plating in her chest.

But her luck was soon to run out as a ballistic droid got in front of her, pointing its cannon to her head.

"Come on, shoot! You'll never have my ship or Canis Major! My friends won't let it." Fierce words came from Silver. But a tear building in her sky blue eyes revealed the fear of loosing her life.

A powerful bang was heard not inches away from Silver's head. Silver just closed her eyes, being strong and accepting her fate as she waited for everything to turn black.

But it never did...

Opening her eyes and looking up, she saw a huge smoking hole in the ballistic droid. It took Shadow just one impeccable shot to finish that ballistic droid and save Silver's life.

There was no time to think on what just happened. Silver got on her hind paws once again and ignoring the sharp pain that the ballistic projectile on her leg had caused, she continued towards her objective. Loosing blood at every step, Silver never desisted and took the artificial life of her foes as they tried to stop her. Shadow and his squad mates did all that they could to provide fire support and they proved valuable indeed.

Before they knew it, Silver was already steps from the breaching ship. But what would she do?

"Have a medic team ready!" Shadow was afraid of what could happen to Silver. Experienced as he was, he figured what Silver had planned, and that terrified him. A similar situation had claimed both his legs back in the Great War.

But there was no way of stopping her; this needed to be done.

Silver stepped into the blackness of the breaching ship, slicing through her foes fiercely as she finally made it to the missile she just had shot. She didn't think it twice. She threw one of her Lanthracit blades to the missiles and hoped she could run back faster than what was about to happen. Thanks to the fire support of her crew, she ran her way out not worrying about the machines that started to surround her; they fell to the ground lifeless thanks to Shadow and his squad.

The Lanthracit Blade slowly made its way through the missile, melting its outer shell. It didn't take long until it made contact with its core, creating a devastating reaction. A huge explosion shook the hangar and R105, making the breaching ship disappear completely. In its place a massive hole appeared, swallowing everything that wasn't secured due to the potent vacuum of space.

R105 was never in such a chaotic state. Empty ships flying through the air, machinery being tossed as if cardboard boxes and a thunderous roar caused by the vacuum that swallowed everything into the void of space.

It was impossible to think that anything could survive...

After what seemed to as an eternity, now that the breaching ship was no longer in the way, a thick metallic curtain was lowered where the hangar gate used to be, sealing the hangar once again.

Trying to regain their focus after such a horrible situation, one by one, the Retcans started to get up on their hind paws.

It was unbelievable that just a few seconds ago, the hangar was in absolute chaos and now it was dead silent.

"Silver!" Shadow yelled. There was no response from the ComPod.

He ran to where he though Silver was before the missile exploded but he couldn't find her. He immediately started feeling a burning sensation inside him. Did they just lose Silver? Not only was she their Captain, but what mattered the most was that she was their Retcan sister.

It didn't take time for Shadow to locate a silver gauntlet sticking from a pile of debris.

"Oh, no... please, no!" He said as he ran as fast as his legs permitted him. Once he got to the pile, he kneeled and tried his best to clear the debris the covered his friend. "Bring a medical team now!" He yelled desperately.

But before he could continue clearing the pile that covered Silver, the gauntlet, her arm, shook violently. Soon, her other arm punched away some of the debris and Silver emerged from the pile, gasping for air.

"Silver, you're alive! I thought..." Shadow couldn't find the words to tell her how relieved he felt.

"I'm fine, my friend." Silver replied. She sounded exhausted, coughed some dust and other irritating particles, but she miraculously got on her hind legs again. "Thank you, Shadow. I couldn't have done it without your support." Silver held Shadow in a hug for a few seconds. She was glad that not only she was alive, but also her team.

"I need status from the fight outside and a full damage report." Silver continued.

"Silver, we need to get you some medical attention first. You're bleeding badly." Shadow insisted on Silver to get some treatment. Silver's armor was torn and shattered; she bled considerably from her right arm which had its armor plating completely torn away along with the PX inner garment and the gauntlet. Her chest plating was broken and only part of the left side was still recognizable. Her leg also bled, showing the impact of a projectile from one of those ballistic droids. How the fragile white Retcan was still standing was beyond comprehension.

"I don't have time to bleed." Silver responded harshly as she walked with difficulties towards the entrance of R105.

"I need a working ComPod!" Silver yelled as she made it to where the other Retcan warriors were. One was quickly thrown at her, in which she immediately caught. "Titan! What's the situation out there?" She immediately communicated with the bridge.

"Silver! Are you okay? The Hangar is completely destroyed! I thought you didn't make it!" Titan responded desperate. The explosion had been felt all the way to the depths of R105. "We thought R105 and all of you were done for!"

"Focus, Titan! I asked you question!" Silver yelled, demanding for what she asked.

"The situation isn't good, Silver. The machines are able to adjust their shields and Zonda is having problems destroying them. They are running out of energy and the machine's numbers aren't diminishing. But that's not all; the machines have placed massive objects on top of R105 and Canis Major. We think these things are some sort of mass destruction device."

"Are you sure? Can't Zonda and his team do something about it?"

"Part of his team has attacked these strange objects but they seem to have a very powerful shield." Titan confirmed what he was told by Zonda minutes ago.

"That's it, I'm going out!" Silver yelled. She was about to throw the ComPod to the ground when she heard Titan yelling.

"Silver, please listen! I have a plan, but I can't do it without the artifact that was brought by that Evocanis that sabotaged Canis Major's computer." Titan explained.

"Ask someone to bring it, now!" Silver demanded.

"Bo is on his way with it. He'll be here in just a few minutes I hope."

"You asked who?" Silver was shocked and infuriated to hear that her son was flying in space with that huge battle outside. But she knew there was not much choice considering the circumstances.

Titan explained the plan and Silver agreed with it. To this point there wasn't much they could do.

The hangar was again opened to the rest of R105. Injured Retcans were taken in, and the rest awaited further instructions. Silver was convinced to have her wounds patched up quickly as she awaited news on Bo. Just imagining her son outside that hellish battle made Silver nervous almost to the point of collapse. Minutes felt like hours.

"The projectile went through cleanly, Silver. It didn't sever any artery and thankfully the bleeding has stopped by itself. You'll be fine, although with a lot of pain." Red, the lead medic who had come to the battlefield as well, finished patching up Silver.

"I can feel pain later; right now I need to think of how to end this war." Silver was trying to act as tough as she could. R105 was her baby, and onboard were all the Retcans that had been her family for decades in space. She wouldn't let anything happen to them, as she would protect her friends the Evocanis as well.

"The rest are only scratches and minor lacerations. You'll be fine, Silver." Red told her as he patched up the last wound and injected her with a potent analgesic and a haemostatic medicine.

"Thank you Red." Silver thanked her good friend.

Soon, an alert was given by Shadow. Apparently, something was trying to gain entrance to R105 through a service gate. Retcans once again readied their weapons and ran to the ruins of what once was their beautiful and highly advanced hangar. Silver was apparently tired and feeling the pain even after having those analgesics. But she would never desist until that battle had ended or her heart stopped completely.

"Seal the hangar from the rest of R105 again!" Silver ordered.

"Wait!" Someone yelling from inside the ship was heard. Titan came running, barely making it through the huge blast door that was once again sealing the rest of R105 from the hangar.

"Titan!" Silver yelled at the Retcan when she recognized him almost instantly.

"It's Bo! Open the maintenance hatch!" He ordered.

Silver didn't think it twice and yelled to her brothers that had control over the Hangar gates. The small maintenance gate soon opened and from the small and dark tunnel, six S-Series ships appeared.

"Lower your weapons! They are our boys!" Shadow ordered his squad after they had their weapons aimed at the gate, just in case.

Silver had run to the ships. She wanted to confirm that Bo was alright.

A few seconds after the ships docked in what was left of the hangar, the hatches opened, revealing a fully armored white Retcan, an Evocanis and other four Retcans. Silver ran directly towards Bo.

"What happened here!?" Was Bo's first question. What had been his home for the past decades was now completely destroyed and that really affected him.

"Bo, are you okay?" Silver held Bo, feeling him and thanking destiny that he was alive and unscratched.

"I'm okay, but what happened to you?" More painful than seeing R105 in such state was seeing Silver all covered in dirt, bandages, her armor shattered and her body overwhelmed by the metallic scent of blood.

"Do you have what Titan asked you for?" Silver evaded Bo's question and went right to what was more important at that moment.

"I have it here." Bo showed the small capsule containing the small spider droid.

No more time was lost and Titan took the artifact to his lab. His plan was the only hope for them to survive that day, and there was no room for error.