Chapter 9: Battle of the Delhi Border - 01

While falling Captain Lee sets up comms and says, "All Jaegers of the 71st platoon, expect hostiles upon landing."

Everyone yells, "Yes, Captain."

Ray flies close to a multistory building and jumps back by kicking its wall.

Rohan smirks, "Show off. We can do that too. Let's go, Nero."

A ball of light gets out of Rohan's hip pouch and turns into a rocket launcher. Rohan lets go of his parachute handle and fires his launcher at a bunch of entomorphs.

"Huh. How's that?"

They all cut off their parachute a few feet off the ground and landed on their feet. Ray lands too without any problems. Captain Lee says, "Okay, lads, get to work."

Avni closes her eyes and after a moment starts guiding Ray, "There's 16 humans in the multistory building far left from here. A group of people also gathered around two blocks north-east from here...….."

Ray gets ready and starts running. As he ran off Rohan commented on Ray's speed, "I'll never get used to it. Even with spirit powers, how can a human run this fast?"

Aditi asks, "What was his top speed again?"

Koda replies, "I think it was 236.7 Km/h."

"Unbelievable."

Captain Lee warns them, "Kids, focus on your mission. Here they come."

They look towards Captain Lee and see a bunch of spider entomorphs coming their way. Koda gets ready to fight as Rohan fires a rocket at the entomorphs. Aditi calls upon her spirit and a ball of light gets out of her hip pouch and turns into a rifle.

Captain Lee says, "Rohan and Aditi keep firing on them. Koda, you stand guard near Avni and Tessa. If any get past us it's your job to stop them before they get to those two."

Koda runs after saying, "Yes, Captain."

Captain Lee, Rohan, and Aditi kept fighting the entomorphs as the battle continued. Ray would occasionally come and drop some civilians and run back to rescue others. Tessa would heal any civilian she found injured. The rescue VToLs soon came and started to pick up the civilians.

Around an hour later Ray comes back with some more civilians and after loading them in the final VToL he asks Avni, "Are there any more?"

Avni was panting from exhaustion. She falls to the ground and says, "I don't sense any more humans in my range but more than half a thousand entomorphs are approaching."

The last sentence sends shivers down their spine. Captain Lee notices Aditi's firepower getting weak and says through comms, "Aditi, fall back. You and Avni get some rest and go back to the safe zone on the next VToL. Everyone else, get ready to fight."

After ordering the squad Captain Lee turns his comms to another frequency and tries to contact the Captain of the 69th Test Platoon. But he gets shocked as he isn't able to connect. At that moment a spider entomorph attacks Captain Lee and he is caught off guard. Rohan notices this and yells, "CAPTAIN LEE."

But just before the spider could land the hit Ray jumps from Captain Lee's behind on the spider's head and kicks it. He then lands and runs towards the spider with a knife in his hand and slashes the spider's head cleanly. Kuda jumps and punches a hole in another spider's stomach and says, "Are you okay, Captain?"

The Captain answers, "Yeah, I'm fine. Cover me while I try to contact the 69th squad and ask them what's going on at the border."

Rohan comes to them while firing rockets at the entomorphs and asks Ray, "How did you cut that spider? Isn't that just a regular knife?"

Ray smiles and answers, "It is. I'm channeling my spirit energy into this knife turning it into a spirit weapon. Normally channeling spirit energy into an object, the object breaks after some time. That's why I'm carrying multiple knives."

"Ohh."

Kuda yells at them through the comms, "Stop chit-chatting and help me out here. I'm getting buried under them."

Ray runs towards Kuda while saying, "I'm coming. Hold on."

After trying multiple times Captain Lee finally connects with a Jaeger from the 69th Platoon. Captain Lee says, "This is Captain Lee. Do you copy?"

A frantic voice comes from the other side, "I copy. I copy. Send reinforcements, please. All Jaegers stationed at the border along with everyone from 69th Platoon except the captain and I are KIA. Please send reinforcements ASAP. I repe….the connection cuts."

Captain Lee gets nervous. He thinks, "It's been almost an hour and a half since the border was attacked. Even with the fastest available jet, it would take an hour more for the Jaegers from Lost Eden to get here. Can we hold on till then?"

Captain Lee asks on platoon comms, "How much spirit energy do you guys have? Except for Aditi and Avni, I know you two are depleted."

Tessa says, "I still have more than half of my capacity."

"Good. Your healing powers will most likely be needed."

Kuda says, "I can go for around an hour more."

Rohan says, "I'm almost depleted. My head is already hurting. I don't think I can go for much longer."

Ray asks Yuki, "Yuki? How much energy do I have left?"

Yuki sarcastically smiles and says, "If spirit energy was passable, you could refill all of your squad's energy and still go on for days."

Ray says on comms, "I can go much longer, sir."

Captain Lee says, "Okay. Rohan, start retreating once you feel you can't fight anymore. Kuda, Ray, the three of us will keep fighting. Be vigilant. I won't allow anyone in my squad to die today. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Captain."

The four of them keep on fighting on the frontlines. After a while Avni's voice suddenly comes on the comms, "Captain, I'm sensing around 10-12 civilians nearby. I couldn't sense them before. Your orders?"

Captain Lee says, "How much have you replenished, Aditi?"

"Quite a bit, sir."

"Good. Move to the location and rescue the civilians. Rohan, fall back. You're panting heavily. Go and rest up. We've cleared up most of the entomorphs. You can leave the rest to the three of us."

Rohan replies, "Yes, Captain."