Look, you guys have been super patient, if you're still around. I'm terribly sorry. Life has been rough this last year. I've moved and quite my job and i just haven't had much time for this, nor motivation. When Motivation hit me today I had to get this going. I'm really sorry about the long pauses but I can't promise they won't continue after this. I'm going to try my best to keep it from being one chapter a year. I love you guys fro reading this and the reviews have really helped me keep my baby alive. My god, my baby is almost 5 years old now. As, always, thanks for reading. Enjoy!

-Twiin-Vii2iion2

...

The base was eerily empty when Jake's crew was preparing for launch. The rest of the base had mobilized and gone through the underground tunnels to reach the waiting point on time. Since their ship could make the journey in mere hours and the troops took nearly a day to get there, it meant the crew had the whole base to themselves.

Karkat didn't like the quiet. It felt too much like the calm before the storm. It let him think too much. He was deep in thought when a tap at his shoulder startled him out of his stupor. He turned to see John.

"Jake just got word from Dirk. They're about an hour from the end of the tunnel. We're launching in ten minutes."

Karkat just nodded in response. He stood and headed to the ship. "I'm going to do a check on the systems again. Make sure everything is running and warmed up." He turned to head into the ship.

"What's wrong?" John stopped him, a hand grabbing Karkat's arm. Karkat sighed.

"I've been waiting for this moment for close to 3 Earth years. I thought I'd be prepared but I'm nervous as hell. It's not that I'm afraid of dying, I just worry that I'll die and we won't get our objective done…"

"Then we'll just have to not die." John said, his small smile showing how impossible he knew that to be. Karkat smiled small back and turned back to the ship. He disappeared inside, and a moment later the engine fired up.

….

Last minute checks on the weapons and ammo were done and Karkat steadily lifted them off the ground. The entire ship was so silent Karkat was almost worried he'd left everyone else behind. Everyone was nervous and the tension was thick in the air. Not a word was spoken until they were almost half way to their target.

"Where exactly are we going to land?" It was Jade who'd spoken up.

"Intel says there's a tower near the center of their base." Jake responded. "Karkat is going to land us near there and you and Mira are going to go up the tower to take up sniper positions. Dave is going to go with you to protect the nest. The rest of us are going to maintain the ship and fight from our landing point. We're going to be firing on them as soon as we are over the base, so it's going to be a hot landing. Once we're on the ground, I want you three on your way instantly."

The silence fell again until Karkat spoke up. "We're almost 30 minutes from the base. Better start getting ready." No one spoke as the ship filled with sounds of click and guns cocking. One of the twins set up with miniguns on each side of the drop ship, ready for the doors to open. The miniguns had been a compromise as Mira had caught them trying to sneak a nuke on board.

A sound came from the console in front of Karkat and everyone froze. Karkat carefully responded with the proper codes. They all held their breath as they waited for something, anything. After what felt like an eternity, the console once again made a noise, accepting the codes. The entire crew let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Ten minutes until we cross into the base." He announced as he adjusted their direction. The twins cocked their miniguns as Mira and Jade prepped their bags with as much ammo as they could. Dave was securing two short katanas on his back while Jake and John went to the back of the ship to retrieve the grenades.

They crossed over the base's wall and Karkat slowed them down. He looked back and the twins nodded at him. He opened the doors and the twins started firing. Karkat continued to fly slow enough for them to shoot. Jake and John each took one side of the ship and began lobbing grenade after grenade on the base bellow.

Alarms started blaring as the trolls below scrambled to their stations. It wasn't long before Karkat felt the incoming fire. He began evasive maneuvers to avoid the brunt of the fire, but kept them mostly in a steady movement for the tower.

The twins were just running low on ammo when a shot hit the ship's rear, sending them into a spin. Karkat cursed as he tried to regain control. The most he could do was try and keep them pointed at the landing space next to the tower.

"WE'RE COMING IN FUCKING HOT!" he yelled, pulling up in the hopes that it would lessen the impact. It didn't. The ship crashed hard into the landing area, digging into the concrete as it slid from one end to the other before coming to a rest.

Karkat had to pull himself up off of the console and stumbled to his feet. He looked to the back of the ship as the others were getting up.

"Is everyone okay?" Jake was asking, checking to see that everyone was standing. "Jade, Mira, Dave get to the top of that tower quickly. We'll give you cover until you're inside." He picked up his rifle and nodded to the twins who were pu8lling out theirs. John donned his riffle and tossed Karkat one as well. Karkat caught it and strapped a shotgun on his back. They all stood at the same door and gathered themselves.

"Ready?" Jake took a deep breath. "GO!" he shouted as they all burst out at once. The enemy trolls fired first as Jake and John took cover on the fallen ship. The twins stepped out and fired return shots, attracting attention as Dave, Mira, and Jade made their way to the tower.

Just as they were about to reach the doors two trolls came running from either side. Before any of the trio could react, the two trolls dropped. Dave looked back and saw Karkat giving him a thumbs up. He returned the gesture before dashing in after the girls.

Karkat returned his attention to the oncoming trolls. He started picking ones off from his cover just in the ship's doors. He tried to minimize the amount of ammo he used, not wanting to run out too quickly. The twins seemed less concerned, letting their automatics loose and mowing down trolls until they're guns were clicking.

Jake and John provided cover fire as the twins ducked down to reload. Karkat picked off trolls he could visibly see were higher on the spectrum, knowing that they were fierce fighters and not wanting them to get close. The five of them managed to maintain this for a while before the trolls' numbers began increasing. Karkat was worrying they'd be overrun and they'd only been fighting for about 10 or 15 minutes. That's when the firing from the top of the tower began. The numbers started to dwindle again as Jade and Mira began quickly picking off trolls from the tower.

Karkat was beginning to think they could actually pull this off when he reached to his bag for another mag only to find nothing there. He cursed under his breath and dove into the ship to get more ammo. In his search he found something even better.

Karkat returned through the shipd door and ran to cover with the others with three bags in tow. He tossed one bag to the twins and set the other between Jake and John.

"Pull pins and start throwing." He said as he pulled a grenade from the bag, pulled the pin, and lobbed it towards the closest trolls. It blew just seconds after landing, taking out any trolls unfortunate enough to not make it away in time.

The twins needed no further prompting as they both grabbed grenades with each hand and pulled the pins with their teeth. Karkat watched them in a mix of awe and disgust. He tossed them the third bag of grenades and began reloading his rifle from the mags he had brought with him.

John grabbed a few grenades and began lobbing them one at a time. Jake kept up his fire, taking out trolls that escaped the grenades. Karkat followed suit, picking off trolls who were avoiding the grenades.

Karakt kept checking behind them, making sure none of the trolls had snuck around the ship. They were fortunate enough to have a wall behind them and on their right, forcing their enemies to advance from their front. But the ship blocked their view of the other side of the platform and an ambush could come at any moment.

Karkat had no sooner turned around than he saw a body drop down the wall. He cursed himself for not remembering the roof but luckily their snipers had not forgotten. He made a silent note to thank them later as more bodies dropped.

The advancing troll numbers were growing by the minute but the grenades had kept them at bay long enough to keep the crew relatively safe. It was only a matter of time, however, before they would be overrun. Karkat and Jake ducked down at the same time to reload.

"We may need to make a break for the tower." Karkat yelled over the sound of gunfire and explosions. "it will be much more defensible in there. We're pretty much sitting ducks out here."

"Agreed." Jake nodded "But when do we make our move?"

"I say when we are almost out of grenades. I'm going to get into the ship and collect the rest of the ammo. When I get back we should make our run, have the twins throw grenades while the rest of us provide cover fire and book it to the tower. When we make it we provide fire for the twins to run across."

Jake nodded agreement, it was a sound plan. Karkat bolted for the open ship and dove inside. He rolled to his feet and began loading the remaining ammo into bags. It filled three bags completely. He made his way back to the open door when he saw the opposite door sliding open. He dropped the ammo and readied his shotgun. When the door opened, he fired, pumped, and fired again. The trolls dove to either side of the door, giving Karkat enough time to grab the ammo and roll out the door. He rushed to the cover and pulled John to his feet.

"AMBUSH!" he yelled, running for the tower. John followed without question. KArkat didn't stop until he burst through the tower doors. He pulled his shotgun up and took out the two trolls inside quickly before turning to see John and Jake enter after him. He dropped the shotgun and readied his rifle, running to the door. He leaned out and fired into the oncoming horde, catching sight of the twins running for the door, lobbing grenades in every direction.

That's when it happens. A stray bullet finds one of the grenades in the hand of one of the twins. The grenade's ensuing explosion causes the other grenade he was holding to blow too. There's a flash of light as fire engulfs the twin. The closest one yells something that sounds like "Hank!"

Mark begins running back to his brother who has lost both hands to the grenades. Hank falls to the ground a bloody mess, barely conscious. Mark reaches his brother at the same time as about five other trolls. He starts beating them down, viciously and without mercy, kneeling next to his brother.

Mark looks at the door as Jake is motioning him to run for them. Mark shakes his head and picks up the bag of grenades. He turns and runs toward the ship. He drops something into the bag and tosses it into the ship. HE turns tail and begins running. He barely makes it 10 feet when there's a massive explosion from inside the ship.

Mark doesn't lose a step as he continues to book it to the tower. There is another, much larger explosion as the ship itself blew up. The explosion sends trolls flying from behind it. Screams can be heard from the other side of the burning ship. Mark, far enough away from the ship only stumbles from the explosion but a bullet catches his shoulder, dropping him. He struggled back up before another takes out his left leg. Mark falls to the ground again, trying to get up, crawling for the door. The trolls were closing in on him, as Karkat and John have to pull Jake inside and shut the door. Karkat sealed the door as John Settled Jake down.

"They killed them! They fucking killed them!" Jake screamed, his face a mix of rage and sadness.

"I know but we need to go! They're still coming!" John motioned for the stairs as they heard another grenade go off outside.

"That bastard…" Jake felt a wry smile escape him as he wiped away tears. "He saved one last grenade. He knew he wasn't making it here." Karkat put a hand on Jake's shoulder.

"We need to move Jake." He said softly, before starting up the stairs. John and Jake followed him. They needed to get to the top of the tower. There was little resistance on the way up the tower. Karkat blasted the troll in the doorway with his shotgun before entering. Dave smirked.

"I had it handled." He quipped.

"Sure you did." Karkat rolled his eyes. Mira hadn't turned to greet them, she was firing round after round after round into the crowd of trolls below. Dave notice Karkat watching her.

"We saw it all from up here…" he said in a hushed voice. "she didn't take it well, but then how well can you take it."

"I'm fine." Mira said tersely. "And I can still hear you." Karkat took a spot next to her and looked down his rifle at the crowd below he fired off shot after shot into the crowd, taking out troll after troll. Mira glance at him and then back down her sights. She was about to speak when a massive explosion came from the south side of the base, the side that the troops were supposed to arrive in.