It’s oddly silent on board the ship.

For a moment, we’re in free fall. All of us hold on to seatbacks or safety harnesses. We absorb a few hits from the blaster volley but nothing that knocks us off course or does any real damage.

The first of the Skimmers begin to hit the mountain’s force field and explode above the Mogs. Nothing gets through, of course. That doesn’t stop some of the stupider ones for scattering or ducking for cover. Little fireballs pockmark the force field, and it’s through that heat that we pass.

“Here we go,” Lexa says.

At the last possible moment, she brings us out of free fall with a flourish, levels us off and drops us to ground level. She lands our ship right on top of a few dozen Mogs, crushing them into the ground. Now that we’re the only ship that’s gotten through the force field, they’re focusing their fire on us. Nine kicks open the exit ramp, welcoming it.

“LET’S GO!” he bellows as the whistle and hiss of blaster fire fills the air.

Five leaps towards Six and Adam, scoops one up in each meaty arm, and flies them out the exit. They go invisible before they’re outside the confines of the ship. Five’s a skilled flier; I have to trust that he’ll carry them unharmed over this mass of Mogs and get them in the entrance.

That leaves me, Nine, Marina and BK to lead the assault.

None of us says anything as we stride into the chaos, right towards hundreds of Mogs ready to kill us. We don’t need to discuss strategy. We’ve done this before.

As soon as we’re clear of the ramp, Lexa gets her ship out of harm’s way. She doesn’t fly straight up, though. Instead, she takes off with a corkscrew, cleaving through the first wave of Mogadorians. I’m grateful for that.

Blaster fire burns the air around us. With the chaos created by Lexa’s departure, the explosions overhead and the fact that they’re all crammed together in front of the cavern entrance, the Mogs are just as likely to hit each other as they are to hit us. Even so, Nine and Marina don’t waste any time telekinetically ripping their guns away from them. Soon, it’s raining hardware as they bring the blasters down on the Mogs’ heads.

I unleash my stone-vision, painting it across the nearest row of Mogs. As soon as I’ve done that, Marina jackhammers those Mogadorian statues with a barrage of icicles. Their bodies break apart into shards that Nine catches with his telekinesis and sets to spinning around us. It’s like we’re surrounded by a meteor shower of broken Mogadorian body parts. All the debris serves to act as cover, deflecting most of the Mog blaster shots.

There are a few piken scattered in the crowd of Mogs. The big beasts are fired up from all the mayhem and end up trampling through the vatborn to charge us. Hideous as always with their muscular bodies that look like someone crossbred an ox and a gorilla, then added fangs, claws and spiky gray skin, I briefly remember how one of these things used to terrify me. Back in Paradise, just one piken rampaging around our school almost killed our whole group.

Now, I stand my ground.

The piken closest to me gets met with a jet of fire from both of my extended palms. It screams and cooks, its thick body engulfed in flame. I pick it up with my telekinesis and sling it back into the crowd, hoping to crush some Mogs before the thing fully disintegrates.

Bernie Kosar latches on to a second piken. My old friend has taken on one of his favorite battle shapes: powerful wings, a lion’s body, an eagle’s head—essentially a griffin. With a flap of his wings, he gets over the piken, then smashes his beak through its spine.

Another piken bears down on Marina. Nine flashes in between them and punches clear through the piken’s snout. He grabs the underside of the beast’s jaw and lifts, snapping its head apart before tossing it aside. Nine’s arm is all carved up from shoving into the piken’s mouth, but Marina quickly heals him.

I sling fireballs into the Mogs. Whenever the blaster fire gets too heavy, I create some new cover with my stone-vision. We press forward, gaining ground. The Mogs are beginning to backpedal towards the cavern entrance.

That doesn’t last long. Five appears behind them, his body completely steel, holding a blaster in one hand and brandishing his blade in the other. He lights up a bunch of Mogs from behind before taking to the air. With methodical glee, Five repeatedly cannonballs into the crowd, crushing Mogs beneath his heavy metal frame, standing up, stabbing any around him then taking flight again to repeat the process.

John, a calm voice in my mind, a reprieve from the madness around me. It’s Ella. Six says the shields are down.

I look around. We’ve halved the number of Mogs out here, but there’s still a lot of fighting to be done. I’ve got blaster burns on my arms and chest that I quickly heal. Nine and Marina are constantly needing to heal between assaults too. Five’s the only one who looks like he’d be happy mopping up vatborn for the rest of the night. Time to finish this up.