Chapter 1

CAPTAIN KIRA ELSAR raced through the desolate concrete corridor past

darkened research labs. “Retreat!” she shouted into her comm.

Behind her, footsteps echoed from deeper within the underground MTech

facility. Too many footsteps.

A shout sounded behind her, then a spray of plasma fire lit up the hall.

Kira’s HUD politely informed her that hostile forces had been detected

nearby. Really helpful, thanks.

She ducked behind a collection of pipes protruding from the wall. It was

terrible cover, but she’d take what she could get.

Glancing toward the exit, she noticed Ari peeking around a bend in the

corridor.

“I thought I ordered a retreat, soldier,” Kira said over her comm.

“That was before you got yourself cornered,” Ari Lanmore, a lance

corporal on her team, replied. “No one gets left behind.”

Kira couldn’t help grinning behind the blacked-out faceplate of her

helmet. She loved Tararian Guard honor, especially in a time like this. “Lay

down some cover fire on my mark. I’m going to try some fancy footwork.”

“You’ve got it.”

“Now!” Steeling her resolve, Kira bolted from behind the pipes.

Her powered armor propelled her down the hall while plasma blasts flew

in either direction. She’d only gone three strides when a new warning flashed

on her HUD—the concentrated enemy fire was about to overload her suit’s

defenses. Without thinking, she spun in a series of swift circles to diffuse the

load on the armor’s electrified skin.

After seven awkward strides of spinning and skipping, Kira made it to the

corner where Ari was hunkered down. She leaped the final step to safety.

“Ma’am, you are a graceful angel,” Ari said over the comm. His opaque

helmet hid his face, but there was no mistaking the amusement in his voice. “We speak of this to no one.” Kira snatched a concussion grenade from a

pouch on her tactical belt and tossed it back down the hall, then she pressed

herself against the wall.

Ari followed her lead.

A moment later, Kira’s HUD lit up with a flash and heat signature. The

helmet muffled the explosion, but she could feel it reverberate through the

wall at her back. Try walking away from that, fokers! That’s what you get for

burning my new armor.

Dust and debris flew down the corridor. When the particulates began to

settle, Ari poked his head around the corner.

“Clear,” he announced. “You do realize that your entire dance down the

hall is documented on my combat recorder, right?”

“And that will be filed with the mission report and shown to no one.”

Kira glared up at the huge soldier through her faceless helmet.

“Yes, ma’am, I’d never think of sharing.”

Liar. The video would be uploaded to the galactic Net before dinner.

She’d be a viral sensation.

Kira rolled her hazel eyes. “At least select a tasteful song to set it to,

okay?”

Ari bust out laughing again. “I was thinking it’d go great with—”

The walls shook anew with a concussive boom and series of thuds.

What in the stars was that? Kira swapped places with Ari and refreshed

the info display on her HUD. When she checked the hall around the corner,

she was greeted by the sight of a mech twice her height.

A volley of kinetic rounds flew from the gun mounted on the mech’s

right shoulder.

“Hello to you, too.” Kira took off full-speed down the side hall with Ari

close behind.

“I thought this place was supposed to be abandoned!” Ari shouted.

“Yeah, well, our intel was wrong.” Kira reached an intersection and

turned to the right, in the direction her HUD indicated was the exit. “Asher,

Boro,” she raised the two other members of her team on the comm. “We’re

coming out hot.”

“Looks like you’re having quite the party, ma’am,” Nia Boro replied. “I have a direct link into the local Net. I think I can lower a blast door and seal

off that section.”

“Do it, for foksake!” Kira reached another intersection, this time turning

left. “ETA on—”

“Done! You’re almost to threshold…”

Kira spotted the thick, metal strip in the ceiling and along the walls. As

soon as she and Ari passed through, the blast door began to lower.

The mech charged for the door. Kinetic rounds pelted the blast shield, a

handful making it under the metal slab. Kira and Ari flattened themselves

along the side walls of the corridor to avoid the enemy fire until the shield

was secured.

Kira let out a long, deep breath. Though thuds continued to sound against

the blast door, there was no way the mech could get through the meter-thick

barrier. “That could have gone better.”

“We do have some good news,” Kyle Asher offered over the comm.

“When you had to abort the data retrieval at the alpha location, we headed to

the beta target. Location is secure. Plan B is still an option.”

“Good.” Kira assessed the relative position on her HUD. Provided there

weren’t any more unexpected mechs, it should be a straight shot through

another wing of research labs. “We’re on our way.”

Kira’s team was an unusual structure within the Guard—her as a captain

in command of three lance corporals—but their unique specializations related

to information extraction had kept them together as a unit longer than most.

Situations like this when they came under unexpected enemy fire were rare,

but she wouldn’t want anyone else to have her back.

Ari took point as they jogged down a side hall toward Nia and Kyle’s

location. The corridor was lined with doors, and a handful of the labs had

observation windows. The rooms inside looked to be sterile chambers, some

of which had exam tables in the center surrounded by an array of equipment.

At least no one seemed to be around in this section of the supposedly

abandoned facility.

“Creepy much?” Ari commented.

Something about the stark white environment and empty medical rooms

did make Kira’s skin crawl. “Yeah,” she replied, eyeing every surface for

potential threats.