“In breaking news, a man broke into Senator Peters’ home last night with the intention of seriously injuring the politician. She was not on the planet at the time, which seems to be a pretty major oversight in the attacker’s plans. Quick thinking by her husband—Tom—helped him stall until authorities could arrive on the scene and take the intruder into custody.” – Eleven O’clock news, Khepri Channel One.

  “Turaspeir is in position,” Jack stated through the command channel.

  After crossing the gorge, the squad quickly traversed the second mountain. It was still treacherous, but with Bob’s help and a solid dose of luck, they reached their destination with little excitement. Unfortunately, the need to wait for the OK from command meant huddling in a small mountain cave while watching the nearby entrance to the facility.

  “Understood. The other squads are in place and will begin their part of the op soon. Wait five minutes, then proceed as you see fit. From here on out, you have full operational command,” Griffin said in her typical short and sweet fashion.

  Unfortunately, that was the one thing Jack didn’t want. Being in control of every small part of a mission was more than a little daunting, especially considering someone had always held his hand through past operations. With the notable exception of their last mission, Jack never had this much rope to hang himself with.

  It was terrifying.

  “Alright Speir, we have our orders. Alexander, I need you to begin a sweep of the area and make sure no other guards are waiting in the wind. You have five minutes.” Jack said, putting his fears aside and focusing on the task at hand.

  “On it,” the Possessor replied.

  “West, I need you to make the rounds and ensure that you top off everyone on Aegis Light. The rest of you do the same with your weapons and armor. We won’t have access to natural light down there, so whatever you have stored up is all you’ve got.”

  Nodding, Dave got up and walked around the cave to channel Light into everyone’s equipment. Before long, others were doing the same with anything that could hold a charge. They knew preparedness was the name of the game, and failing to prepare properly could end in tragedy.

  Wanting another look at the field, Jack cast his sight into the Vixen Warren was flying overhead. As he flew a loop around the mountaintop, both he and Warren saw the first moments of far-off skirmishes. If nothing else, they were at least able to confirm the operation's status.

  “I only see the two from before,” Warren said, positioning the drone in a place with a clear shot at a target. “My assumption is that any other guards have been pulled away, or just weren’t here in the first place.”

  “Great work. Jenkins, you’re up. I want you to take a crawler and lure one of them away from the door.”

  “Got it,” he said, falling still as he retook direct control of the active crawler.

  Outside the cave, a flash of indigo temporarily broke the drone’s active camo before settling back into the mottled white of the snow-covered mountaintop.

  “Neilson, how sure are you of your shot? Think you can take one of them out?”

  “Really?” she asked flatly. “Don’t worry about my aim. I’m going to drop my load directly in its eye. Let’s see how it enjoys the pirate treatment.”

  “Hey, we save that for Tuesdays,” Warren remarked.

  “Go for it and be ready for another.” Jack said, trying to ignore Warren. “If this goes sideways, you’re going to need to take down number two as well.”

  “Don’t worry, she won’t have to,” Jenkins said as his crawler snuck in with weapons raised.

  With a mental push, the drone launched three rounds into the target’s chest. Seeing minimal damage, it turned and skittered away at high speed to draw the creature from its post.

  The rhino-like guard screamed in rage and raced after its attacker. Jack now understood why maximum force was the preferred method of killing a Raak’Shee. In seconds, the alien creature crossed the snow and was easily gaining on the lone crawler.

  Before it could figure out why its partner had abandoned his post, the remaining guard’s head exploded in a burst of red light. True to her word, Cecile had deposited the strike directly into its eye. Unable to continue fighting without a brain, the alien sunk to the ground, screaming in reflex as it died.

  The first Raak’Shee heard the explosion and whipped around, tearing through the snow in defiance of his partner’s death. Finding nothing but a rapidly cooling corpse, it searched frantically for a target. Its rage was so all-consuming, Jack literally watched the world turn red for the creature.

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  “One more,” Jack said, worried they would be discovered.

  “It’s moving too fast. I can’t line it up,” Cecile replied.

  “Can you see it?”

  “What?”

  “Can you see it?” he repeated more insistently.

  “Yeah?”

  “Good.”

  Casting his vision into the Breaker, he moved out from cover and allowed himself to be seen by the creature. In predictable fashion, it charged the young optic. Jack raised his weapon, enabling the laser on both rifles while trying to aim.

  He wasn’t going for fancy. Hell, he was barely even qualified to pull the trigger when compared with Nessa or Cecile, but if he hit the targets, the Raak’Shee would die.

  Center mass, that was his target, and he was sticking to it.

  On Neilson’s faceplate, small arrows helped guide her barrel to its target. She couldn’t get a clear shot, but when an Optic and his AI told her where to aim, she took it seriously.

  A light on her HUD flashed, and she pulled the trigger. A round flew toward the creature at high speed, reaching out to touch the enemy from a mountain away.

  Jack had a front-row seat from multiple points of view as the incendiary round pierced its hide and released every ounce of latent heat stored within.

  Time seemed to slow as the creature drew closer. Its rhino-like face contorted in a mixture of rage and pain as heat consumed its body. The crimson glow of hellfire poured from its wounds and orifices until it screamed its last protest.

  Before it could take another step, the burned husk fell to the snow-covered ground and crumbled like a log roasted from the inside out.

  “You see this shit?” Alec shouted, “Neilson just turned this thing into an overcooked marshmallow, and we’re just supposed to keep fighting?”

  “I kinda cheated,” she said. “Jack was guiding the shot.”

  “I just want to know why you didn’t use the Vixen,” Warren groused. “It was closer than either of you and I had a better angle.”

  “Who said I didn’t use its vantage as well?” Jack asked, stepping out from cover and beginning the climb to the door. “Besides, the camera is nice, but nothing compared to eyes.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  Close inspection of the door showed it wasn’t designed to open from the outside, which was yet another thing Alec used to constantly reinforce his certainty that the mission would go off the rails. If he were to be believed, things started going sideways when they crossed the gorge and had only gone downhill since.

  “Would you just shut the fuck up?” Nessa exclaimed, “I understand you enjoy complaining, but the rest of us are trying to think. So please, shut up and help us figure it out instead of insisting they should’ve designed a fire exit with us in mind.”

  “Which means things have gone off the rails and we can’t get in, right?” Alec shot back.

  “No, it doesn’t. Some of us have the keys to this particular castle.”

  “Oh really? And who would that be?”

  “Me and you.”

  “Well damn, it appears I left my magic keys back in my cabin,” he replied, patting his armor like he was searching for something, “I guess I should just pop back up to the ship and get them, silly me.”

  “Oh, for fu… move,” she growled, shoving the Dragoon away from the door. “How the hell does he not remember that he has powers to handle this sort of thing?”

  Grumbling curses in a language none of them understood, Nessa flicked a wrist, and a hilt dropped from her armor to rest comfortably in her hand. With a thought, she sparked the weapon to life in the shape of a short knife and slammed it into the frame.

  “So when you said you had the key, you were just being a smartass?” Alec asked as the Breaker cut.

  “No shit Sherlock.”

  “How do you figure I could’ve gotten in?”

  “You have a pair of punch blades in your suit, do you not? Better yet, the door is a mechanical device and falls within your scope of control, right?” She said, stepping back from the smoldering portal.

  “You’re not supposed to know about those blades. They are kind of a last resort thing.”

  “Well, when you ask the quartermaster about them in front of us, it’s kind of hard to miss,” Jenkins said, recalling his crawler.

  “Not only that, but we know you well enough to know you’d never be caught without a melee option. After the last mission, I’m pretty sure most of us brought at least one toy,” Warren chimed in. “I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of us even have a few non-Light-based weapons.”

  “Cut the chatter, guys,” Jack interrupted. “Command, this is Turaspeir. We have breached the door and are entering the facility.”

  “Copy that Turaspeir. Remember; secure if you can, destroy if not.”

  “Understood.”

  Dropping his connection to the command channel, Jack looked at his soldiers. The last time they dove into the belly of the beast, they’d walked away with a loss. He was absolutely determined today wouldn’t be a repeat performance.

  They were highly trained and highly motivated. They were AHF soldiers, ready to take on anything.

  Unfortunately, they were once again entering a place where Light was in short supply. And this time, he was terrified of what that meant for his squad.

  “Alright boys and girls, let’s get after it.” Jack said, fingering the rifle in his hands.

  “When you don’t have a choice, why not?” Dave replied, stepping up to pull on one of the convenient handholds recently carved into the surface of the door, “But even if we did, these bastards took one of our worlds. They’re gonna regret that decision.”

  “Agreed,” Alec said, suit flashing orange with a fresh infusion of power.

  “Neilson and Alexander, I’m leaving you in the comms channel. If the enemy tries to flank us, your job is to eliminate the threat quickly. If you can’t, let us know so we can prepare.” Jack explained, questing out with his senses and into the cavernous factory.

  Fortunately, the facility had cameras that would enable him to see from virtually every angle. Their lifeless eyes didn’t provide the same feeling as looking through mortal ones, but they were easier to loop into a single frequency.

  Jack picked once frequency to act as surveyance and threaded it through every camera he could find. Effectively turning himself into a mock security hub.

  With a nod from his squad leader, Dave activated a low power shield and stepped wordlessly into the hallway beyond.