●　● Dhaka, Bangladesh

“Director Norris! Andre! Are y’all still with me?!” a younger woman’s voice screamed over the sounds of nearby explosions and crumbling concrete. Her Hexa Infinity pilot suit was drenched in sweat; her body tensed, sore, and numb all at once. Her name patch on her chest read “K. Melancon”. She felt gravity pulling her down at an awkward angle from how she had her Ap-50 unit hunched over, hiding underneath an overpass that went over a large drainage ditch. Smoke and dust poured all around her as a building behind her completely collapsed. She waited until the tremors stopped before catching her breath. “Director?” Rolling thunder that followed only added to the chaos.

A cloaked LTAC approached the scene, now wielding a large reflective-coated shield bearing system mounted to its left shoulder and forearm. It gripped the handle to the shield with its hand while keeping the upper end of the shield attached to the pivoting mount on the same upper arm. Behind it walked three Bernaud model LTAC frames, keeping about a hundred meters distance from it. They walked between a corridor of abandoned buildings; a precinct that had been left to rot after moving its tenants and residents to the nearby precinct where walls that had been built sealed off the area.

The young pilot, still feeling the low frequency rumbles from sliding concrete debris, quickly turned off her targeting and detection equipment and powered down her mobilizing systems. Before the L-Tracker screen went blank, the only readings were three NOx patterns about two hundred meters out. She knew that there was the fourth still there, likely much closer than she’d want.

From behind the spectacle, off by an additional two hundred meters, a crippled Ap-50 unit dragged itself forward on its arms and elbows, staying low underneath the covering of an old market complex that had just enough ceiling clearance for it to crawl through. The Infinity pilot was not dressed in a pilot’s suit but rather an officer’s jacket with a chest label reading “Site Operations Director” followed with a name patch underneath reading “D. Norris”. The inside of her cockpit was dark as she kept up only the basic processes running. She was also struggling to keep her composure with the prone-positioned LTAC having her suspended in a way that her entirety was facing the ground below, feeling the restraints tugging away at her whole body, making it hard to breathe normally. She finally got to a position where she could see the three Bernaud units in her sights. Without any tracking or laser targeting, she manually positioned her rifle crosshairs over the nearest unit.

In the building next to Director Norris’s location, a younger man finished easing himself out from his downed Ap-50 unit, trying to land without causing a stir. Rain began to pour down as he quickly ran under the nearest awning and hid behind a large pillar. His Infinity pilot jacket’s name read “A. Nguyen.” As he caught his breath, he unslung his bag he had carried from the LTAC he abandoned as he pulled out a viewfinder and turned to look for the three units in question. As the rain that soaked his short, spiked black hair ran down his face and the viewfinder unit, he zoomed in to see the cloaked LTAC not too far away, barely visible through the now intense downpour. He brought a finger to his earpiece, clicking it as he softly spoke “He’s about a hundred meters in front. Hold steady, director.”

“Do your thing, Andre,” he heard her reply.

He then clicked another button as he continued in the same, calm voice: “If you hear me, Kerry, hold in place. Stay quiet. Don’t move don’t respond don’t do anything.”

One of the Bernaud unit pilot’s brought himself to a halt, surveying the drainage ditch scene ahead. Through the blinding rain he could only visually make out several crumbled and collapsed buildings that surrounded both sides of the only bridge that would run to the other side. It, too, had collapsed during the bout. “Scanners have been dead quiet, Reaper. Where do you think they ran off to?”

“Either the kid was buried alive, or she ran on foot,” Isaiah’s voice returned.

Andre saw the four had been stationary for quite some time. He pulled out a remote switch from his bag and clicked it, hearing a thud in the far distance, barely audible over the sounds of the storm.

“They’re making a run for it at the Kashipur bridge!” the Bernaud unit pilot heard over his radio as he saw Isaiah turn the other direction.

“On my way,” Isaiah spoke in response to the request. “You three, stay here and keep looking for that last A-P.” He then blasted off to their immediate south as his jump-boosters lit up the area, leaving the others still standing in place.

“Alright, scanners to motion sensing, unless you got any better ways around this damn rain?”

Andre clicked a button on his viewfinder, placing a digital tracing on each unit’s back as quickly as he could. “Now.”

Another pilot from a different Bernaud unit reached to his helmet as if to take it off to wipe the sweat from his brow before a locking alarm rang out, causing him to jump just before metal shrapnel sliced through his torso.

“TAH… TAH… TAH” rang out the familiar hybrid rounds from the Ap-50’s rifle. Three quickly placed shots tore through the backside core of each unit. Director Norris waited for the three to move, but each remained silent in their places. She let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Kerry, you can make your way for us once we confirm the Cloak’s reaction to this. Until then, hang tight.” She then got out from under the market building’s ceiling before allowing her unit to roll onto its side. As her doors opened, she removed her restraints and her helmet, revealing her tightly curled hair and her face that showed her African descent and that she was perhaps in her late thirties or early forties. She rolled out from her restrictive cockpit and eased herself to an upright sitting position with her feet hanging out, looking at the drop to the ground below before seeing Andre show up, hands extended.

He helped ease her down before making a run for the awning across the street, dashing down the empty pedestrian walkway before ducking into another alley. There they sat in wait, only the continued drumming sounds of rain and the occasional mew of a cat to be heard. By the time a few minutes passed, Andre looked back to the Ap-50 unit Director Norris had just abandoned to see that not only was it undisturbed but there was not a hint of impending retaliation. “That’s the time marker. If the Cloak was coming, he’d be here.”

“Right,” Director Norris agreed as they braced for another sprint. “Let’s go get Kerry.”

The two approached the destroyed bridge area, seeing nothing around them but the remains of the previously abandoned buildings and a lot of impassable terrain. “Alright, Kerry, coast is clear,” Director Norris spoke over her headset.

“About damn time,” Kerry responded over her headset, taking the cue to power up all of her systems once more. “That did not go like I would have expected… at all…”

Moments later the two standing not too far away heard concrete being moved before seeing the last functioning Ap-50 standing up from just beyond the bridge’s overpass. “Rescue team,” the Director continued over a separate channel, “area cleared and all members accounted for. You might only have a few minutes interval- make it quick!”

“Roger, director, ETA sixty seconds,” she heard back from the operator.

Andre reached in his bag for the same switch he clicked earlier, looking back behind them. “Going to miss the guy,” he spoke, clicking a separate button as he saw the self-destruction sequence rip through the rubble that buried his LTAC unit. He then looked to Director Norris. “Last parting words?”

“Shut it and get it over with,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

▽　▽　▽

The ride they were given was on a cramped but well-equipped med-e vac aircraft. The director, Kerry, and Andre were away from the medical staff as they got out free of injury, but the defeat and exhaustion they felt that night was plain as day. While Kerry and Andre gave up their fight with staying awake, Director Norris couldn’t help but think back on their escape. I feel like I never should have declined the route of naval pilot instructor. Last war, this little episode, all the same. These poor kids. I don’t know what I am going to do now. She then turned behind her to see the injured being tended to. Six of theirs made it out in total plus my two. To think we had eighteen pilots checked off for duty this morning. As she continued in thought, more memories from her past war’s battlefield horrors vividly rushed back.

●　● Kolkata, India

A spacecraft built for taxiing passengers from Space to Earth had just landed on its pad as a connecting tunnel from the terminal extended and allowed those aboard to disembark. Al thought to himself as he took his first steps off of the landing craft and into the tunnel: Haven’t been here since… before the last war… Definitely don’t remember the air being this thick. The humid night air remained inside the connection as the line of passengers quickly made their way to the terminal. The terminal was one of many attached to the spaceport, belonging to India but with one small portion dedicated rental space to Hexa for the remainder of their contract.

Al was led to a closed office room inside one of the rented buildings as he was led by other Hexa officials mixed in with Indian military officers. He nodded gratefully as one opened the door for him, allowing him to pass through and see three seated at one end of the smaller conference table at the center of the somewhat cramped room. He immediately noted Director Norris who seemed to trigger a number of memories from his past. He didn’t know of the two next to her, one being Andre, and the other being Kerry, who was like Director Norris in having African descent. Her hair was in short locks, swept to one side, and her facial features were much softer in comparison. He also noted how short she was. All three were cleanly dressed, having had showers and a chance to change after their earlier ventures.

“Well, of course they’d send you,” Director Norris spoke as she stood up to greet him.

“I know, always late like the old days,” Al smirked as he took his seat across from them. “Well, well, Danielle, I’ve got to say, nothing would bring me down here unless it was something incredibly urgent to the level of shit tossed right into the fan.”

“Yes, and an epic proportion, at that. Last time you walked into a conference room with me all those years back, it was definitely that kind of shit all over the fan,” she said with a returned smirk and a subdued giggle at her own gag. “Glad to see you are doing well for yourself, Knight.”

“Likewise. I knew it’d only be a matter of time before we crossed paths,” he continued as he pulled out a number of items from his briefcase including his mobile he put into holographic projection mode. He then noted the patch on her uniform read “Norris.” Assuming that must be her maiden name, he thought to himself as he continued preparing.

Danielle wasn’t surprised by the lack of formalities as she may have been long accustomed to this type of response. She soon, however, noticed her pilots were beginning to look impatient. “Sorry, these are the two you requested me to keep with me.”

“Ah, yes,” Al said as he projected the roster Danielle was in charge of was brought up. “Kerry… Melon-kahn-”

“Meh-law-sawn,” Kerry corrected, holding back frustration as if she had heard the wrong pronunciation a thousand times too many. “Sorry, sir.”

“Ah, no no, my apologies,” Al waved as he continued. “Hailing from the Louisiana province of the NAU. And Andre…”

“Just pronounce it as ‘win’, sir, keep life easier for you,” Andre said with an equally casual smile. He saw Danielle and Kerry looking at him judgmentally before shrugging his shoulders. “What, he’s the one who’s setting the atmosphere, not me.”

“Alright, so,” Al jumped in before more time was wasted. “Nguyen, I see you are from the Casares Territories… Hargrove A at that.” He then looked at the three once more before continuing with a straight face. “I need to know three things, so let’s cut to the chase. Danielle, you realize that not only are you the last remaining Harbinger serving for Hexa outside of myself, but also that you willingly piloted a Hexa LTAC at that, am I right?”

Kerry’s attention was jerked in fully by the remark. She’s a Harbinger!? And this guy, too?!

“Just in case you decide to go bitch-out mode, just know that the regional coordinator already gave me the earful just earlier. Directors have no place piloting, stipulations and red tape blah blah, but our entire holding facility was wiped out this morning,” Danielle finished with a sudden jump in tension.

“As I heard,” Al replied, pulling up other screens on display. “I see you took action quickly as well, chasing… something to this direction where a lot of the damage was taken. Tried to go straight at them?”

“We called the thing the Cloak after he put us on the run. That’s the one who initiated the fight. We’d heard of things happening in Manila and Bogota, but nothing of this degree. Their group came down from all angles. I gathered who I could for a counterattack, leaving me with these two here for all I had left once the retreat protocol was put in place. Everyone else I had was scattered or killed… and the only choice I had for keeping up with these two was to grab the empty A-P I saw. Kid it was assigned to was KIA before he had a chance to load up.”

“And how did you survive? Everyone else this… Cloak… faces, has left nothing but death in his wake for the most part. I’m thinking of having just talked to people in Colombia with similar experiences.”

“Well, Knight, that’s just it. It took a few rough, and I mean rough, encounters throughout the day, but me and my two new best friends here think we have the formula for reducing the Cloak’s strengths. We can’t even think to take him on head-on, but we can talk about what we can do to beat him. That’s why I’m glad they sent you to allow me to make some special requests.”

“Right, I saw the requests and that’s not the issue. You actually are providing me with some ammo for talks I need to bring to the board about this whole keeping Harbingers and ex-pilots out of the business. Times have rapidly changed, and we need to change our vision as well.”

“You saw, then. Not everything went to plan, but Cloak is many levels above the teams he pulls. It’s gotta be old war experience serving him- hell I’m convinced he used to be one of us. He’s coming right… straight… at us. He knows Infinity is not ready for all out anti-LTAC warfare. So, to counter that, I figured instinctively that, OK, I gotcha, this is just a war of attrition. You take our’s, we take yours. We have a national resource pool, apparently you do, too. But, hey, we have shots you can’t make. We started finding ways to pick off his supporting cast every turn he takes.”

“You mean with the tech we have access to.”

“See? The ROE for the hybrid rifles are bullshit. Only equip when we file for permission a day in advance?! Yeah, so I never had legal rights to do what I did, but I never had our A-P’s without them at the ready. I know what fire I am to face, but I expect you can help. That’s what we did all day today, set up, wait, pick off. Single shots to the core. Run.”

“How well did that work? How many did you manage to get vs how many you lost?”

“At the split up, I only had three originally with me. Melancon was already her squad leader as you know, Nguyen here, and Barakat. He’s out, we medevac’d him earlier during the day after he got taken down. But by our exit, these two here and I had taken down sixteen of their pawns. All at the expense of every A-P left except Kerry’s, which is getting repairs as we speak.”

Al cleared his throat as he swiped over to a different screen, showing various weapons they had collected information on over the past few weeks. “Did you see any of these along the way?”

“Yeah, we saw those grenade launchers to a heavy extent. But those swords you point out, no. The Cloak had something similar, but not those.”

“The Cloak was in Colombia, I’m afraid. Three of them in total. Those weapons you point to are who we believe are his accomplices. Same grenade rounds used as well. This is a worldwide effort.”

“And that worldwide effort got smart. They are about to smash us out of the park before dawn at this rate. I need you to speak to the uppers for me. This by-the-book bullshit is going to get these kids killed. We need complete make-overs or something for our ROE. Squad combat. Anti-LTAC strategies. Something.”

Perfect, just as I was hoping. Right on the same page- will make things easier for me. “Do you remember the flex four formations?”

“Do I? You think I haven’t been pondering their adaptations for the urban setting?”

“Even better.” Al seemed all too comfortable with the conversation he had been having with whom by now was well established as more than a simple acquaintance. Kerry and Andre were growing impatient by this point, unsure of their involvement. Al read their eyes and shifted his tone. “Well, look, Danielle I would have to find more time tomorrow morning to get things ready to write down our official ‘suggestions’, but the next two things I need are from your pilots here. May I speak with them in private?”

“Oh, sure, I figure they’re getting testy by now anyway” she said with a smile to the two of them. “I will gather my notes on the formation adaptations I have thought about for the morning. Let me know when to stop by,” she said on her way out.

Kerry didn’t watch her leave as she continued staring down Al. “How are you two- sorry, sir,” she said as she caught herself speaking out of place. “Permission to speak freely.”

“This isn’t the military, Melancon- if I said that right. Any time, go ahead.”

“How are you two this comfortable?!” she said with disbelief. “People are dead and some are on the verge of dying, pilots and support staff alike. I don’t get how you two can be smiling and visiting! This isn’t OK!”

Al dialed his casual tone back with another clearing of his throat. “Well, to be frank, this is something myself and Mrs. Sal-, sorry, Ms. Norris have been long, long accustomed to. I am here to ask two more things. First is to ask you two whether or not you are ready to take on the burden of continuing forward with Director Norris here… and the other is to ask how much I can get from you as statements on behalf of all the Infinity holding area victims. I’d like to do as much as I can before regional management steps in and stirs the pot the wrong way.”

“I… I don’t understand, but I don’t know if I am capable, sir.”

He started losing his softness by the second. “Ms. Melancon, you might need to see these, then,” she said as he swiped over to black box records from her’s and Danielle’s Ap-50, showing each of the shots recorded from their rifles. “Eight, nine, ten” he counted through each snapshot until he got to sixteen. “That’s sixteen units, sixteen casualties you two have inflicted. It doesn’t matter what is or isn’t OK, this is what it is. You were trained by a Harbinger, clearly, and you don’t realize the skills you have, I believe.” He then looked to Andre. “And I saw the coordinating you utilized between the three of you after comms went down. Most would’ve panicked or fell back completely, not run out in the middle of the storm. Nothing you pulled off was ever in the books from my knowledge. This is why I asked those two questions. Please take a minute to think if needed, but I need an answer.”

Andre looked to Kerry with a look of disbelief as he whispered “I could’ve sworn everything we went through in training was the book.” He then looked to Al as he spoke up: “Look, Mr. Knight, we don’t really follow much of what you are trying to explain as this is all hitting us like a ton of bricks. Director Norris was the first piloting instructor we were placed with at Jazira Station post-recruitment way back in January this year. This was before she was upgraded to site operations director where we just so happened to be reunited with her only a week ago. This is a lot to take in, sir, if you can understand what we mean.”

Kerry meanwhile looked as if she felt betrayed by something or misled. “I only do what I am expected to, and do the best job I can. That’s just how I was raised,” she said as she started to frown. “But I don’t like to think that I am about to be scrutinized for doing just that, and following orders.”

“You aren’t being scrutinized, you are being commended,” Al reassured her as he attempted to lighten the mood somewhat. “I need you two to think about whether or not you are OK moving forward, and if you are willing to spell out in detail more of what happened with me before I hit the shuttle back to Akkadia first thing in the morning. I know it’s late, but business is business. Please let me know.”

After a moment of difficult deliberation raced through their minds, Kerry responded: “I think we are better off speaking to Director Norris before giving any real response. Is that OK?”