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Sasha spent some time pacing in place.

To Sasha's right, Siren remained on the ground. Her colossal body became an obstacle in many ways, and only restraints prevented yet another potential hazard. To the left, a pulverized jeep pointed towards an adjacent forest. Commotion from Sasha's communication device also randomly disturbed the eerie silence with light precipitation still dusting the surrounding environment.

{I'm picking up a distant contact.} said Umbra in a low tone.

Jape sneered. {More stragglers?}

{I think it's a lone zenari… hold on…}

Umbra's words prompted Sasha to fiddle with the earpiece. Following this, a simple flick and click of a switch cut off the multitude of voices buzzing in her ear. Instead, a low rumbling sound replaced it, making Sasha raise an eyebrow as she adjusted the device again.

Headlights suddenly illuminated Sasha's position as the rumbling grew louder.

Naturally, Sasha looked over her shoulder. "What the…"

The sight of an amphibious vehicle approaching her position sent her into silence. Also known as the BRDM-2, the patrol car resembled an APC with a machine gun poking out from a rotary metal turret. Two window panes located near the front provided vision for the driver and passenger respectively, one of which opened a hatch before popping out of it. The Russian man grinned from ear to ear as he looked at Sasha, who stared at him much like a deer caught between a pair of headlights for several seconds.

"We got a live one!" he shouted, placing his hands on his hips. The man glanced at Siren, the wrecked jeep, then Sasha's random articles of winter clothing overlapping her tattered tanker uniform. "The hell happened here?"

"Oh, thank god!" said Sasha as she rapidly ran to the vehicle. "Another human!"

Meanwhile, the turret of the vehicle aimed at Siren. "What's with the prishelet tied up like that?" asked another masculine voice coming from the driver's seat. "Do we shoot it or what?"

The other man looked down the hatch and shook his head. "Of course not, Mikhael. The hellhound looking things are the good ones! Well, apparently." He gazed upon the distant sthara corpses before looking at Sasha. "I'm guessing your alien friend did that to the invaders… assuming you know her...?"

"Her name is Siren." said Sasha, finally reaching the vehicle as they spoke face to face. "She protected me against the invaders once they got their hands on my vehicle!"

"And the restraints?" asked the driver from the other side of a window.

"She… lost control of herself." explained Sasha, breaking eye contact. "A friend of hers physically restrained her and asked me to keep an eye on her until more help could arrive." She unbuttoned her jacket and took it off to the bewilderment of the two men, revealing her damaged uniform. "I'm a tank driver. Corporal Sasha, at your service! My unit was wiped out and I've been surviving on my own for months now. The more friendly aliens might be the only reason why I'm still alive at this point and you're the first other humans I've seen in a long time..."

"That explains a lot." said the man, scratching his chin. "I’m Sergeant Yerik. Gotta say, it was really odd seeing some young woman sprinting towards us with little to no hesitation whatsoever. Then again, you look like you've been through a lot."

Sasha scoffed. "Elaborate."

Yerik dismissively waved at her. "Ah, you know. Raiders. Someone has to be really desperate if they run towards a couple of unknown armed men for help."

"I could defend myself if it came down to that." said Sasha, clenching her fists.

In response, Yarik raised his hands. "I'm not doubting that! Just saying. Once everything went to shit at the start of the invasion, a bunch of units got annihilated or isolated. Some resorted to petty banditry. The rest of us regrouped at Omsk once the government practically collapsed overnight with President Putin vanishing into thin air on his first day of office and all of that."

"Then who exactly are you people and what are you doing here?" asked Sasha with her arms crossed.

Yarik smiled. "The Russian Liberation Front, my dear! We've been picking up any strays or rogue military units we've found along the way to reorganize into a more cohesive fighting force. Otherwise, we're just a couple of scouts paving the way for Volgograd."

Sasha's eyes went wide with surprise. "There's more of you?"

"Oh yeah!" answered Yarik. "We got an entire fucking tank division with mechanized infrantry, artillery, and air support to bring the fight to these damned invaders. Some of them are following us as we gather info. Hell, if you're a tank driver, we'll happily take you on since we can't get enough of those!"

"Hold on…" said Sasha, grabbing her earpiece. "Siren gave me this device that lets me communicate with the rest of her squad. They'll want to hear about this!"

The machine gun turret shifted again as Mikhael spoke. "I don't think we'd want their help."

"Why not?" asked Yarik with a chuckle. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

"You know why I asked whether we should shoot the tied up alien?" asked Mikhael. "I'm not dumb. I know people call them the 'good' aliens because they're here to help us. However, I once saw a hellhound giving us fire support go insane or something before wiping out our mechanized infantry, so they're potentially just as dangerous as the other giant prishelets if you ask me."

"It was probably just a misunderstanding or a case of friendly fire..." said Yarik, shrugging. "Either way, you won't have to worry about Siren's safety, Sasha."

Sasha rolled her eyes. "Lovely." She flicked a switch before putting the communication device back on her ear. "Ironically, they might have similar opinions about getting any humans to help them out since they're also heading towards Volgograd."

“That’s just how it is, I suppose.” said Yarik.

Growling from the Chief then emitted from the earpiece.

{... battlemaster alive, but don't hesitate to kill her if she puts up a fight.}

{But it's a battlemaster.} said Umbra on the other end. {I don't think one has ever been captured alive. It might be better to leave her alone while waiting for reinforcements to arrive since she's not exactly going anywhere.}

{Another commando unit is waiting for us, so that won't be an issue.} replied the Chief.

Umbra didn't say anything for a few moments. {You sure?}

Meanwhile, more human vehicles traveled down a nearby road. An APC led the way as tanks of multiple varieties followed it, and some even had tally marks adorning the side of their hulls as they passed by the BRDM-2. Infantry exclusively armed with RPG rockets, anti-tank rifles, and machine guns poked out of any transports or directly rode on the tanks themselves.

{It's a rare opportunity, and I'm not going to allow it to slip away from us!} snarled the Chief. {There should be ten of us in total, so just one zenari should be trivial in comparison.}

"Actually…" interrupted Sasha, speaking into the earpiece. "An entire human tank division just stumbled upon me and Siren. I can potentially get you into contact with them or send them your way if you need support!"

{Really?} sneered Umbra. {Didn't we already have multiple conversations about how humans had a tendency to get in the way?}

{That's… good news, Sasha.} said the Chief. {But still, keep an eye on Siren. Umbra might be right; this is something humans shouldn't really get themselves involved in. Let us secure the perimeter of Volgograd before a bunch of human military forces try swarming the place and complicating things.}

Sasha made an unamused look. "Got it."

With that, Sasha disabled the communication device once more.

"So what did our… uh… alien comrades say?" asked Yarik.

"They'd love to have our support!" said Sasha, smiling. "They're currently converging on Volgograd and engaging some stragglers. We might want to relay that info to the top brass or otherwise get in touch with them if we want any form of collaboration."

"The rest are not gonna wait on us forever," replied Mikhael. "And I'm pretty sure top brass will want to speak to you if you're capable of communicating with our new apparent allies. Despite what I said, we're stretched thin alongside our supply lines, so the hellhounds aren’t necessarily a bad thing either. Just gotta be careful around them."

Yarik stepped outside of the hatch before standing on the vehicle. "Always the contrarian, aren’t you, Mikhael?" He motioned at Sasha. "In that case, come on in! We can drive you there."

Sasha looked back at Siren. "I... can't."

"Right, right..." muttered Yarik. "You gotta babysit Siren or whatever?"

"It's not just that, I owe her my life!" said Sasha, shaking her head. "If there was a way we could…"

"I get it." interrupted Yarik. He didn't break eye contact with Sasha as Mikhael passed a handheld radio to him. "Take this to keep in touch with us for now."

Afterward, Yarik tossed the radio at Sasha. She recoiled a little, but ultimately caught it with her gloved hands like a football. Before she could even react, Yarik disappeared back into the recon vehicle and shouted two words before sealing the hatch.

"Take care!"

The BRDM-2 then roared to life before driving away, rejoining the plethora of other vehicles on the road. A few gunships also flew overhead. Simultaneously, some human soldiers riding on the various vehicles stopped their idle chatter to stare at either the dead aliens or Siren, who was still heavily restrained.

It diverted most attention away from Sasha. As for her, she focused on Siren once again, approaching her limp body with its two twin-tails slumping against the dirt. She eventually moved next to her snout and simply stared at Siren's closed eyes… reeling a little as they opened to reveal a pair of crimson red irises.

{Sasha?} mumbled Siren, barely mouthing out the name with her snout tied up.

Sasha re-enabled her translation device again. "Perfect timing…"

{Are ya… you…} said Siren, struggling to speak as she squirmed a little. {Okay?}

"I'm fine!" said Sasha as she raised her arms. "I'm more worried about you at this point!"

Siren simply blinked a few times and squinted her eyes. {What happened?} She made a low growling sound. {My head hurts...}

"You got shot and lost control of yourself." said Sasha, looking away. "Umbra knocked you out. After tying you up, she asked me to keep an eye on you."

Siren's eyes went as wide as saucers. {Oh. OH NO!} She then quickly closed them. {Did I try to… to…}

Sasha put on her best fake smile and scratched the back of her head. "Don't worry about it! Everything is fine now."

Siren huffed, puffing air from her cold nose. {I did, didn't I?}

"Yeah, but only some Hegemony assholes got hurt." answered Sasha, nodding. "So it's all okay. Really!"

Siren glanced at the ground. {Then I'm sorry you had to see that. I've only done that once during train… training. Controlled environment. Did not expect to lose it....} She winced a little as the wires restrained her mouth movements even more. {It's somewhat hard to talk like this.}

"In that case, Siren, do you want me to see if I can get those restraints off?"

{DON'T!} exclaimed Siren with her tails shooting up. {I mean… how long has it been? It might not be… agh… safe since I could potentially revert to that terrible state of mind!}

Sasha scratched her chin. "I think it's been about half an hour or so? I don’t know. Now that I think about it, Umbra did mention something about keeping you like this in case you relapsed. However, I have no idea how this berserk rage of yours works and you seem fine to me now, so whatever."

Siren's ears perked up. {Oh. It could be safe if it's been that long, but I'd rather not risk putting you in danger.}

"Your squad is moving in on Volgograd without us and some human forces are also joining in." said Sasha in a stoic tone. "I'm supposed to keep an eye on you until they return, but I don't really like that plan if they keep viewing me as a liability."

{No, Sasha, it's just…} Siren paused to sigh and close her crimson eyes. {You're only human. I feel nothing but sorrow for what happened to you and your people, but you're going to have to help in other ways due to the dangers involved with people like my kind.}

"Way ahead of you." said Sasha with a more devious grin. She activated another switch on her ear-bound translator to enable long-distance communications. "Siren just woke up. In case she decides to try and rejoin you, where are you guys?"

Umbra's voice immediately filled the air.

{Ugh. Don't…}

{We're approaching Volgograd from the southwest!} responded Widget. {I can give more detailed information to Siren herself if her helmet's augmented reality is still functioning.}

Without delay, Sasha momentarily disabled the device to press a button on her handheld radio. "I just made contact with two SAP squads. They're approaching Volgograd from the southwest in pursuit of a lone zenari. Over."

A noise similar to static erupted from the radio each time she pressed or released the button.

"Uh… roger." said an unknown female on the other end. "Who is this, exactly?"

"That's Sasha." suddenly said Yarik. "I made contact with more military remnants, then I gave her a radio to report her findings to myself or others."

Ignoring the radio chatter, Sasha started walking around Siren. She eventually made her way to Siren's rear, where her clawed hands were tied behind her back.

{Wait, wait… what are you doing now?} asked Siren, whining a little.

Sasha retrieved a small knife from her uniform. "Let's see how bad the damage is and whether we can both rejoin the fight on time…"


~~~~~


Ishtar knew she was being watched. Stalked. Thanks to the sensors integrated into her helmet and armor, movements from afar made it more than apparent.

Still, the battlemaster persisted. A helmet completely encapsulated Ishtar's head, and only cameras captured footage from the outside world granted her any vision as she trekked through rough terrain. The armor covering her from head to toe only served to further conceal her titanic physical form, protecting her from the elements as the weather transitioned to more of a light snowfall, ever so slightly obscuring her surroundings.

At long last, the city of Volgograd gradually came into view as Ishtar emerged from the harsh Russian wilderness…

Not a single hegemonic warrior was in sight. Only empty tents occupied the area once used as the deployment zone. It all became more and more evident as Ishtar strolled or outright stomped her way past a virtually dead city and abandoned barricades.

SAP ships dominated the skyline as fighters occasionally flew over the area.

The battlemaster only stopped in place to check on her weapon. A flashing indicator on both the plasma rifle and an icon within her helmet's vision informed her that it was low on power. Reaching for a pocket near the base of her tail, she found nothing inside besides a painful memory and Vasily's blood still decorating a small portion of the insulated interior.

As the wind indifferently howled behind her, Ishtar resumed her journey towards the center of the deployment zone. Her worst fears were realized when she found nothing but the occasional corpse upon walking inside, not to mention signs of transport ships imprinting themselves into the dirt. Trapped between the dead city and a practical pack of joraxian bloodhounds on her trail, a terrible realization dawned on Ishtar as she removed an overlapping visor to reveal her watery golden eyes…

She got left behind.

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First Chapter

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