Freya opened her eyes to see the notification that she had died. She sighed and mentally closed the blue box. She pushed open the door and stepped out into the back of her dropship. She quickly equipped her uniform and weapons before looking up. She saw Dusty and Stena by the airlock waiting on their turn.

“You guys get zeroed too?” Freya asked as she went to stand by them.

“Yeah.” Stena said, shrugging.

“How did you make it longer than we did?” Dusty asked, frowning.

“I’m better than you.” She said with a smile.

“She’s got the Mother’s luck.” Stenna said seriously.

“I’m not a mother.” Freya told him, frowning.

“Not a mother. The Mother.” Stena corrected her.

“Don’t get into a religious debate with him. He gets annoying when he gets holier than thou.” Dusty told her, shaking his head.

Before Freya could respond, the door to the pod beside her opened up and One stepped out. She smirked when she saw them. She nonchalantly walked to the locker closest to her and equipped her uniform and weapons.

“Made it longer than Magic did. I knew today was going to be a good day.” One said with a smile as she walked up to them.

“That’s not that hard. She dies all the time. The hard part is trying to die before she does. By the way, me and Stena win.” Dusty replied pointing to Stena and himself, smiling.

“Hey.” Freya protested angrily.

Before anyone else could respond, the door behind Dusty opened and Mon walked out. Freya blinked as she took in his muscular body. She tried to act cool as she looked away but she must have failed because One was looking right at her with a gotcha look. Freya felt her cheeks get warm and her gaze dropped to the floor.

“Looks like Mon is the winner.” Dusty said in a cheesy game show host tone of voice. Freya felt her cheeks go from warm to red hot.

“What did I win?” Mon said joining them.

“You won ‘who lasted the longest’. You get a free pass to the head of the line.” Dusty said, still in his cheesy game host imitation. He stepped back and waved to Mon to step in front of him.

“You’re missing someone.” One said, raising an eyebrow at Dusty.

“Who?” He asked, looking at the others then at the empty and inactive respawn pods.

“Dog and Jaob are still alive.” One said, smiling at him.

“Those lucky bastards. You think they ran?” Dusty asked her.

“Only if ordered to do so. Dog and Jaob are good Marines.” One replied.

“How many got past you?” Stena asked Mon, killing the fun.

“Not sure. When I went down I don’t think there were that many left. Maybe five?” Mon said, shrugging as he looked down at the airlock. Freya followed his gaze and watched the light turn green.

“That’s less than I expected. I was sure that a lot more than that would make it past us.” Freya said surprised. The other Marines all turned to look at her. Even Stena looked at her like she was stupid.

“What a boot.” One said, shaking her head.

“What, because I expect more to get past us?” Freya said, feeling defensive.

“Well, yeah. We’re Federation Marines. We should have gotten all of them.” Dusty explained. “Let’s hope that those two got the rest. I really don’t want to explain it to the others if they got past them.”

“It was twenty-three to seven! Oh, nevermind.” Freya said, shaking her head as she reached down and pulled the airlock door open. She understood what they were saying but still felt ok if they got past them. The enemy squad was more than three times their number.

“Mon, after you, my good sir.” Dusty said, waving his hand towards the airlock.

“Why, thank you, my good sir.” Mon replied, sounding like an idiot as he jumped down into the airlock.

“I think we can fit either one more heavy armor or One and Magic.” Stena said, looking down as Mon stood to the side to make room.

“Ladies before gentlemen.” One said as she pushed ahead of the guys and guided herself into the airlock.

“What ladies? I don’t see any ladies. All I see are Marines. Ugly Marines, but Marines nonetheless.” Mon said from inside the airlock.

“You’re trying too hard, you charmer.” One said as she moved to give Freya room. Freya smirked as she slid down into the airlock after her friend.

“You guys wait for us, okay. We get scared when we’re alone.” Dusty said mockingly, as the airlock door started to close.

“Dusty, stop being a tool and man the hell up.” One said as the door closed. Freya smiled as she saw Dusty appear in the small porthole window in the center of the airlock door giving them an exaggerated sad face.

One reached up and banged on the window. “Jackhole!” She yelled at him, smiling. Dusty leaned back away from the window and gave them a sad little wave as the atmosphere was sucked out of the airlock. A few minutes later the airlock door opened up and they climbed out. In the end, they did wait for the two. It was never a serious question whether they would or not. They moved as a squad, not as individuals.

The waypoint of their minimap was on the surface of the asteroid, so Freya ranged ahead of the makeshift squad as they moved towards it. Freya switched from her short barrel rifle to the GMZ - the first weapon she had ever bought as a Marine. Since the asteroid was so wide open, it was easy to see up to a mile around them. Freya chose to send up a surveillance drone, programmed it to fly a mile ahead of her as she ran and had it send its feed back to her makeshift squad. She didn’t bother to send it to the command staff as it wasn’t showing anything but a barren asteroid so far. She queued a second one to build as she ran.

Freya was enjoying running in the low G atmosphere when she started to see signs of a battle on her feed. She slowed down, which slowed her drone down as well. It had been ten minutes since they had left the dropship and they had traveled nearly ten miles in the low G environment. It was the fastest she had ever run and she loved every minute of it.

The first signs of battle on her feed were a few dead bodies of enemy soldiers. Freya counted four bodies spread out in about a half mile radius. As she moved closer she spotted more random dead bodies here and there. About a mile later she found the first Federation Marine body. Freya winced when she had the drone zoom in on the body and she saw Tike’s dead face exposed to space. It was a gruesome sight.

“She died not that long ago.” Freya told her people over the radio as she moved the focus away from the body to scan the surrounding area.

“How can you tell?” One asked curiously.

“Droplets are still moving away from her. I’d say she died no more than five minutes ago.” Freya replied as she ran. She was glad that she had upgraded her tracking skill. She started scanning the immediate area with her eyes looking for tracks in the asteroid dust for signs of enemy soldiers. She looked left, then up, and finally to the right before she started doing it again. She knew that in this type of atmosphere it wouldn’t be hard to stay aloft for a while with a good jump. The gravity was strong enough that it would eventually pull a person back down to the asteroid’s surface instead of them flying off the asteroid. That is as long as they didn’t go too far away from the surface. Freya did some math and guessed that if a person could jump up above two point six miles then they would keep going as long as they had enough lift to get them that far. Granted, to get that far up would require someone with a stupid amount of strength mods to get up to the escape velocity that would be needed to be able to leave the asteroid’s gravity field.

She was still doing the math on how many mods a person would need to jump high enough to escape the gravitational field of the asteroid when her drone spotted six heavy armored soldiers heading her way. She immediately stopped and knelt down while raising her rifle. She looked through her scope, pushing it to the maximum, three times, zoom to see where the drone had spotted the enemy soldiers.

She found them coming down a tall hill that marked the outer edge of a large crater. “We’ve got company.” Freya told the others. as she scanned the horizon for more soldiers. She looked back at the enemy racing down the hill and tracked them in her scope, as she programmed her drone to advance to see inside the crater - in case the six soldiers weren’t alone. The drone’s feed showed that there were no enemy soldiers inside the crater not that long after she finished programming it.

She was tracking the lead soldier with her scope when she spotted a puff of dirt about a hundred feet in front of them. Frowning, she moved her scope and zoomed out a bit to see what made the puff of dirt. She was still looking when she spotted a second puff of dirt. This one was closer to her.

“Maybe a scout under active camo?” She asked herself as she waited for the next puff of dirt. As soon as she saw it, she fired and a somewhat larger cloud of dirt and dust exploded around the area where she had fired. A few seconds later she smiled as the active camo failed and she spotted the scout trying to crawl back towards his six heavy armored comrades. She fired one more time and put the scout down for good.

“Did you really just shoot someone under active camo from about a half mile away?” One asked her on the radio, sounding surprised.

“He wasn’t watching where he was putting his feet.” Freya replied as she looked back at the heavy armored soldiers through her scope. They had stopped at the base of the crater and spread out. She dialled the zoom on her scope back a bit again so she could look at the area between her and the enemy troops. She was looking for anything out of the ordinary in case they had more than one scout.

“That’s another clip they’ll be showing on the stream.” Dusty said, sounding amused.

“Dusty, shut up. Magic, hold your position.” One commanded. “We are going to flank them on both sides. Wait until the fireworks start then take any that run away.”

Two blue waypoints appeared on Freya’s mini map. They were just short of the enemy soldiers on either side of them. It would give both teams good angles at the enemy without worrying about the danger of crossfire. Freya kept an eye on the enemy soldiers who were still moving forward but at a much slower pace. She didn’t see any signs of a second scout though and that worried her. While she was the only scout with her makeshift squad, it was only because no other scout had respawned with her. Military doctrine stated quite firmly that you needed two scouts to be totally effective. If there was a second scout then he or she was better than the one that died.

“If I was the enemy scout where would I be?” She asked herself. “If I was in the lead then I would be about fifty feet and to either the right or left side of my other scout. If I wasn’t then I’d be in the same position, but behind my scout. Now what type of person am I? Would I go first and let my junior scout follow me or would I let him run ahead and act as bait?”

She was silent as she scanned the areas where she would have been if she was the enemy scout. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary in any of the positions she would have been in if she was the enemy scout and just watched her fellow scout get shot. Freya bit her lip as she moved her rifle back over the positions where she thought the scout might be. She set her zoom to the max and scanned each area but came up with nothing.

“Hey One. I think there might be another scout.” She said over the radio.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Keep any eye out. We will be in position in ten seconds.” One replied.

“Okay-dokey.” Freya replied as she repeated her scans.

“In position.” Dusty called out over the radio a few seconds later.

“Same.” One said after a brief pause. “On three.” At three the two fire teams started shooting. Freya ignored them and zoomed out to watch the areas where she thought the scout might be.

“Stena’s hit. Dammit, he zeroed out.” Dusty called over the radio. Freya saw the Marine fall on her left.

“That means you’re somewhere over here.” Freya thought as she scanned the area where the scout was most likely to be. She sent her surveillance drone towards the area, hoping she could somehow penetrate the other person's active camo. She scanned the area but came up with nothing.

Dusty screamed over the radio a few seconds later. “I’m hit. I’m hit. I’m down to sixty percent health. That bastard got my shoulder. One, I’m out. Can’t shoot.”

“You have another arm. Use it.” One commanded over the radio. ‘Magic, you see our sniper?”

“Wait one.” Freya replied absently as she commanded her drone to fly right above where she thought the scout had to be. She zoomed in and looked down at the area. She was looking at one spot when she noticed a bit of dirt move, leaving a tiny line of dirt build up. Not stopping to think Freya got off her belly to her knees and lined up the shot. She paused to take a deep breath then let it out slowly. At the moment she ran out of air she pulled the trigger.

The second scout’s active camo immediately died. She found herself looking at an enemy in light armor lying on the ground. Freya checked her drone, but she didn’t see where her shot had landed. She was mostly sure she got him, but she didn’t want to screw up so she kept her rifle aimed at the downed scout.

“I think I got him, but I need confirmation.” Freya said over the radio, not taking her eye off the scout.

“Just shoot him again.” Dusty told her. “I’m working on my third medi pen.”

“Roger that.” Freya replied as she took a second deep breath and slowly let it out. Her second shot hit the scout’s body a bit higher than she wanted. She aimed at the chest but hit the neck nearly decapitating the unmoving scout.

“If he isn’t dead after getting hit there then I’ll buy the ship a round of beer.” Dusty said a few seconds later.

“We’re clear on this side. How you doing Dusty?” One asked.

“Better. Arm’s out of commission, but I can still fight.” He replied. “We get them all?”

It was only then that Freya realized that she had failed in her job to keep an eye on the heavily armored soldiers on the hill. She quickly scanned the area and sighed in relief as she counted six bodies lying on the ground.

“Got tunnel vision again.” Freya scolded herself. “I can’t let that happen again.”

“Yeah, we got them all.” One replied. “Magic, go check on Dusty. We’ll wait here.”

“On my way.” Freya said, getting up and running towards Dusty’s waypoint.

She found Dusty lying on the ground about five hundred yards to her left. She looked over and saw the wound on his left shoulder. His arm was hanging useless at his side. She could see the white sealant, that prevented his armor from decompressing, coming out of the hole in his shoulder. He looked up as he pulled a medi pen from the port on his chest.

“You got another medi pen?” He asked her.

“Thought your shooting arm was out of action.” She told him, as she took off her backpack and pulled out a medi pen.

“Some scout you are. I’m left-handed, you jackhole.” He told her as she handed him the medi pen. “Thanks.” He said as he slid the medi pen into the port. He closed the port then leaned back as the pen went to work. A few seconds later the port popped open and he took the empty pen out and handed it back to her. She put the empty pen back in her backpack before she slung it over her shoulder once more.

“We’re good, One.” Dusty said, standing up. Freya reached out and grabbed his right arm to help him up. Then she went to Stena’s body and went through his backpack, pulling out some grenades and a spare battery that fit her guns.

“‘Bout time. I hope there are still some people to shoot when we get to the primary waypoint.” One said flippantly as Freya looted Stena’s body.

“This is why I’m in Done’s squad. At least he cares about me.” Dusty said, starting to sound like his old self.

“No one cares about a whiny Marine, Dusty.” Mon said jokingly. “Ow, my arm. I have a little scratch on my poor little arm. Can someone get a bandaid for the brave Marine? Anyone? Anyone?”

“You’re just jealous cause I got a cute nurse and you didn’t.” Dusty said as he followed Freya towards the other fire team.

“Let me get this straight. You got shot so Magic would give you a bandaid?” Mon asked.

“Damn straight, I did.” Dusty replied, which made the others laugh. Freya rolled her eyes as she gave Dusty the finger over her shoulder, while leading him towards the others.

They met up with One and Mon and started running once more towards the waypoint. Freya ran ahead of what was left of her makeshift squad to continue scouting. She kept an eye on her drone as it scanned the area ahead of her. She got to the bottom of the hill when the waypoint went away on her mini map. She stopped, confused, for a few seconds before a new waypoint appeared. It was deep inside the space station.

“Dammit Dusty, you and your stupid scratch made us miss the battle. You owe me a beer at Chivia’s.” One muttered over the radio. “Let’s find an entrance to the station and get back in the game.”

Freya scanned her mini map and found them an entrance. She led her group for another couple of minutes before she found the emergency airlock. She didn’t even need to hack the lock as it was designed to let people inside in case of an emergency. She did have to stop One from blowing the secondary door before she hacked her way past the security to get into the station proper. She led her group down a few decks until they reached the main deck once more. Once they were on the main deck, a new, green waypoint appeared on her mini map.

“Looks like Leni has us on her map. Dusty, how’s the arm? Can you use it again?” One asked.

“I’m back at eighty-nine percent and, while it still hurts, it works.” Dusty replied.

“Perfect, take point. Mon, switch with me and take rear guard. Magic, check your mini map - this is the way I want to go. Stay about one passageway ahead, but only two landings on the stairs.” One commanded. “No one screws up. I need to kill something.”

Freya looked on as a bunch of waypoints appeared on her map. She turned left at the next intersection instead of going straight. One’s path had them coming in from behind the waypoint. Two more intersections and she found the first airlock to a set of stairs. She ranged ahead a bit as she let the others get to the airlock. They went first to secure the stairs and she waited until they were in the stairwell before she took her turn going through the airlock.

As soon as she was out, she passed her makeshift squad and went down the stairs. Mon was guarding the way down while Dusty was guarding the stair above them. One was leaning beside the airlock door ready to back either of the two men up. Four sets of landings later she was at the next airlock. She let her squad go first and waited until they were on the other side of the airlock before she cycled through.

She led them down through the maze-like hallways and was almost to the next set of stairs when she spotted four unarmed, military crewmembers dragging a fifth. The last was a heavily armed soldier. “I got five. Four unarmed but carrying an armored fifth.” Freya told her makeshift squad.

“Let them through.” One replied.

Freya stepped back against the wall. The four people dragged the fifth past her a few seconds later, never even guessing she was standing right there. She kept her weapon aimed right at the group but they never even looked her way. She did hear one of the men reassure the injured soldier that he would be ok as they passed her.

She silently followed them, staying about ten feet behind them. She stopped as they turned the corner to where her squad was and kept going. Confused, Freya peeked around the corner. The group dragging the injured soldier was the only group in the hallway. She did spot a few doors along the hallway and guessed that One had them hiding behind one of them. She waited until they passed before calling out.

“They're gone.” She told them.

One of the doors opened up and the squad exited, with Mon leading them. He stepped into the hallway first, his weapon pointed at where the enemy squad had gone. Dusty exited second, his weapon pointed in Freya’s direction, but he turned around as soon as he saw her and moved to cover Mon. One came out last.

“Let’s pick up the pace, people. I really don’t want to be left out of a second battle.” One stated as soon as she saw that the way was clear. Freya turned away from the squad and scouted ahead once more.

Two floors above and behind the waypoint, Freya nearly walked into a trap. She was walking near the side of the wall and came to the fifth intersection. It was a T intersection and the hallway she was traveling had dead-ended into the next hallway. She peeked around the corner like she had been doing and did not see anything. She nearly stepped forward, but something made her pause. She froze and kept looking down the hallway for a few seconds, but nothing stood out to her. She silently used her personal AI to beef up her armor's sensors beyond what it was supposed to be. She got a warning light telling her that she was using the battery in her armor much faster than recommended. She noted the warning but didn’t stop what she was doing. A few seconds later, the outline of a metal, H-shaped barrier appeared before her. Cursing, she pulled back.

“I got a barrier under active camo here.” Freya told the others as she laid down and peeked around the corner. She let her gaze unfocus and after a few more seconds her suit showed her the outline of a turret behind the barrier. Something passed behind it but she didn’t get a good look at it.

“I have an auto turret about a hundred and fifty feet from my position and something else behind the barrier. All under the active camo. Maybe one enemy combatant, but I’m not sure.” Freya said, while trying to focus on whatever was behind the auto turret. She got a few blurry somethings after a few seconds, but she could not get them into focus.

Freya felt something tap her foot and she slowly pulled back. Once she was behind the corner she turned to find Mon standing right behind her, his weapon aimed right at the corner of the hall. One was crouched right behind him, using him as a shield. Her weapon pointed in the same direction as Mon’s was.

“Magic, what does the barrier look like?” One asked.

“Standard H shape with the auto turret right in the middle and a few feet behind it.” Freya told her.

“Is the barrel of the gun sticking out?” One asked.

“No it’s behind the barrier.” Freya replied.

“Dammit. I was hoping they were stupid. Okay, how many grenades do we have?” One asked.

“I got four.” Freya replied.

“Two.” Mon said, not moving his weapon from the corner.

“Two as well.” Dusty said from behind them.

“Dusty, you’re up. When I say, step into the hallway and support us with suppressive fire. Aim for the middle of the hallway. Magic, I want you over there by the near wall. You’re going to cover us as well. Don’t go into the hallway but get a good angle and see what you can do with the turret. Mon and I will pop out and toss a grenade each, then we all pull back. Everyone got it?” One told them, as she pointed to her left to show where she wanted Freya while keeping her weapon pointed forward at the intersection.

One got nods in agreement. “On my count.” She told them.

Freya moved to the other wall and leaned on it. She eased out so that she could see down the hallway then boosted her suit once more with her AI. Once she saw the barrier she focused on the auto turret behind it.

“I have the turret.” Freya said, as the world narrowed down in her scope so that all she could see was the barrel of the turret.

She waited as One counted down. She saw a flash of grey color as Dusty walked in front of her rifle and stepped into the hallway. She immediately moved her rifle barrel up to avoid pointing it at him. She saw the turret move to follow Dusty then her vision was obscured once more as both One and Mon stepped in front of her again to toss their grenades. Then they stepped back. Freya had a clear view of the side of the turret for less than a second. She dropped the barrel to her rifle and pulled the trigger. Almost as soon as she felt her weapon fire she threw herself into a roll to get out of line of sight of the auto turret as it swung towards her. She didn’t have time to see if she hit it or not as she rolled away.

She rolled to a stop with her weapon pointed at the corner of the intersection. One and Mon were by the hall with their weapons at the ready. At first she didn’t see Dusty but then she looked into the hallway and spotted his still body. He was lying on his back with multiple entry wounds in his chest. His rifle was lying on the floor just a few inches from his hand.

“Magic, tell me what you see.” One ordered, ignoring Dusty’s dead body.

Freya blinked and leaned into the hallway. The active camo was down and she saw the barrier was still up. The auto turret was leaning sideways obviously knocked out. She was not sure if the grenades took it out or her shot did. She saw some motion and spotted two armored soldiers running away down the hallway. She stood up to get a better shot and took them both out.

“Clear.” She called out.

Mon raced across the hallway to the opposite wall, with his weapon pointed at the barrier. One moved into the hallway near the closest wall, her weapon also at the ready. “Magic, cover us.” One ordered, as she and Mon marched down the hallway towards the barrier.

Freya watched them move to the barrier. When they got there, Mon ran the last few feet, pointed his rifle over the barrier and looked around. “Clear.” He said, relaxing a little bit, but he kept his weapon trained on the hallway behind the barrier.

“Magic, loot Dusty’s body then move up. Make it fast.” One said as she peeked over the barrier.

Freya did as she asked and took her friend’s grenades. She also took his extra ammo rod as it was the same one she used with her pistol. She then hurried down the hallway. One motioned for Mon to jump over the barrier then she motioned for Freya to cover him from their side of the barrier. One took position on the other side from Mon. Freya moved into position and aimed her rifle over the barrier. She didn’t see anyone so she nodded. Mon immediately slung his rifle over his shoulder and climbed over the barrier. He unslung his rifle as soon as he was over and Freya saw him take up position by the wall opposite from where she was.

One waited until Freya nodded before she slung her rifle and followed Mon. She took up her position near the opposite side of the barrier from Mon. When One was in position, she nodded for Freya to go. Freya did as she was ordered, slinging her short barrel rifle over her shoulder and climbing over the barrier.

As soon as her feet hit the floor she pulled her rifle back into position and aimed it down the hallway. She was distracted a few seconds later as her armor beeped at her telling her that she had used fifty percent of her battery. Freya cursed as she realized that she was still using her AI to boost her suit’s sensors. She dialled it back down. She was still fine but she would need to be careful about her battery usage from here on out.

“Magic, you got point. Mon, you got the rear.” One ordered, motioning for Freya to move forward.

Freya did as One ordered and walked forward. As she did she spotted the two enemy armored soldiers. She realized that they were both scouts and in light armor. That made her wonder if they were under active camo while inside the active camo zone of the barrier. It would explain why she only saw blurs when she spotted them. She took a deep breath, feeling a chill in her bones, as she moved deeper into the space station.