said RTIFIS, and the other shoe finally dropped.

"Warm up those Gryphons, platoon!" said Lieutenant Reeve. "We'll likely be in the air in 10. Prepare for immediate departure." His tone changed slightly after that; it lost its initial pep and volume, descending to something businesslike. "Lieutenant Welch, status report?"

"Perimeter secure," Welch answered through the open comms. Welch commanded the other 23 Red Battalion squads stationed at Red Base and Telum's Proxima Manufacturing weapons factory. "Let those six-fingers try to come close! They'll be mincemeat in seconds!"

"I don't know if you'll have any left when we're done out here," Reeve joked back. "Awaiting RTIFIS confirmation of inbound Eggs. Stand by for updates."

"How's everybody doing back there?" Perri asked from the Gryphon's cockpit.

"Good," Nic answered on everyone else's behalf. He sat on the left side of the Gryphon's cabin, Perri's side, along with Everett and Danny of Team Brick. Jarek, Maqsud, and the other two members of Team Brick sat across from them. Kincaid had insisted on riding shotgun as the copilot since Perri was dead-set on flying the bird herself.

"So, this is really happening," Everett whispered giddily. "I feel like I can barely breathe! What about you, sir?"

It took Nic a moment to realize that Everett was addressing him. "Oh... Yeah, my heart's pumping for sure. Don't be nervous, though. I'll keep an eye out for you guys."

"'I'm not nervous at all, sir. I'm excited!"

Hearing that worried Nic slightly, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel the same way. The difference was that Nic had a history and a reason for his bloodthirstiness. "Well, it's good to have a positive outlook. But you don't have to call me sir."

"Sorry, sir. I mean... Sorry. It's just, you're kind of a minor legend! Ever since Nereus—"

RTIFIS interjected.

"Our wait's over, platoon!" said Lieutenant Reeve. "Pilots, move out! Scarlet 3, take point!" The Scarlet/Brick Gryphon's engine grumbled into activity, taxiing down the hangar runway and out into the open. The other two Gryphons followed close behind. "Weapons hot, pilots. Engage enemy aircraft when in range. RTIFIS will assist with targeting."

"Not that that has historically been successful," Maqsud muttered in a private Team Scarlet comms channel.

"Don't hurt to try," Jarek countered. "If anyone can crack those Eggs, it's Perri. Right?"

"You got that right," Perri said from the cockpit.

They simmered down after that exchange, and Nic was privately grateful. Reeve was nowhere near the strict chop-buster that Welch was, but he still didn't want to test the limits of the man's patience and leniency—especially during a live combat op. It was better to keep banter to a minimum.

Let's hope Reeve isn't a nosy listener like Welch is, Nic thought. The last thing he wanted was for his squad to incur the wrath of an officer in the form of a disciplinary reprimand.

By this point, the Gryphons were high in the sky and had reached their cruising altitude. The aerial vehicles crested a cluster of wispy clouds and spun them into nothingness with their passage. Otherwise, the sky of Telum was fairly dark, the atmosphere still barely there, thin like weak coffee. The local sun dominated the rest of the stars that were still visible in the daylight.

RTIFIS updated the strike team.

"Flanking?" Perri whispered.

"I don't remember this from FTX or the sims," said Kincaid. "Are you saying this is atypical?"

"For an invasion of this size, yeah."

"Welch, you're going to have visitors after all," Lieutenant Reeve announced through the cross-planet comms.

"So RTIFIS tells me," the other officer replied. "But Two Eggs? That's nothing. They'll be lucky if they scratch us! Keep the comms open—Reeve, what the hell is that sound? Are you leaning on a button somewhere?"

"Say again, Welch?"

There was a pause. "I was getting some kinda... There was some kinda feedback in the channel. I don't know what that was. At any rate, keep the comms open and keep us posted on the strike team's progress. On your success, I should say! We'll let you know when we wrap up with ours."

"Roger that." Reeve switched back to the strike team comms channel. Nic looked out the tiny window at the neighboring Gryphon, Reeve's Gryphon, the nose of which he could just barely see poking up behind them. "Strike team, I know the mission might not be easy, but it's simple. Pilots, engage enemy aircraft on sight. RTIFIS is primed to paint targets automatically from a distance of up to 100 kilometers. Passengers, you'll make the jump at 50 klicks out. Pilot and copilot, bail at 20. You've both gotta time it just right. The automated landing sequence doesn't usually set them off, so both you and your vehicles should be safe from their more aggressive assaults, and the birds can autopilot back to the hangar when this is all over. It's just standard warfare once you hit the ground, nothing we haven't drilled a hundred times. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the strike team answered all at once.

"Stick together. Remember your training. And, as always, stay frosty, platoon! God willing, you'll all be hitting the barracks tonight with commission credits and a belly full of the good stuff, trading stories."

Nic remembered the special feasts they enjoyed at the close of a successful mission. It was nothing gourmet, but compared to the slop they were regularly served in the mess hall, it was a treat he could look forward to in the short term. Just a few hours of this, he thought. Follow the protocol. Show the rookies how it's done. Point and shoot. It's not that complicated.

But as Reeve had said, the fact that it was simple didn't always make it easy.

Nic worried about his squad. He worried about himself, too, of course, but there was a greater dread of what might happen to his surviving squadmates that weighed most heavily on his soul. Despite his best efforts not to play favorites, his night terrors frequently centered on something awful happening to Perri.

He didn't let himself dwell on these thoughts for more than a moment in waking hours. It was too terrifying. Scarier even than death. The whole while, it felt like Shanti's specter was judging him from the dark corner of these morbid thoughts.

A monument to his past failure.

A warning.

***

said RTIFIS, snapping Nic out of a daydream.

"This is it, platoon," said Lieutenant Reeve. "Squad leaders, you now have operational command."

"Okay, listen up!" said Nic. The other squad leader, Kincaid, had already deferred to his experienced leadership. "Get ready to bail. Perri will engage shortly. It's a quick drop down to the surface, so make the most of it. Take out parachuters on your way down. Keep your eyes peeled for targets and RTIFIS will tag them on your HUD. When you hit the ground, organize. Plan Niner. Ping to confirm."

Nic received seven pings almost instantaneously. Danny lingered before pinging at the last second.

"Here we go again," Jarek sighed.

"Let's get another victory under our belts, shall we?" said Perri.

"Everyone, set your insular cortexes to standby until mission conclusion," Maqsud quipped half-under his breath.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Danny mumbled queasily.

"Dude," Everett scoffed, "you better get over it. We're about to drop."

"Everett, please... don't make me talk..."

"As gross as this sounds," said Nic, "your Gen-3 Achilles armorsuit has a bi-directional waste disposal system. Your helmet will be empty and clean within a minute. But try to hold it if you can."

Everett scolded Danny again. "Nic is right. You'll be fine. Just don't embarrass us in front of the heroes, will you?"

"I can't help being sick... I..." Danny sighed, sounding overwhelmed.

"Danny, I've been patient with you ever since we deployed for Telum. Don't push it."

Danny belched nauseously. "Everett, seriously, just leave me alone, okay?"

"Trust me, I can give you something to cry about. When we—"

"Enough!" Nic shouted. It was short, loud but not too loud. Authoritative. He'd settled in to an aura of confident authority over the past year. "Focus up. We're dropping in no time."

"Engaging Eggs!" Perri called back to the cabin. With those words, Nic's stomach dropped.

He could hear a metallic clunk, then a muted, distant hiss. Clunk, hiss. Clunk, hiss. The Gryphon let loose missile after missile at the distant but oncoming Hexadian airships. RTIFIS opened a small window in the bottom left of Nic's HUD, along with the others', showing a telescopic view of the Eggs in the distance. There was also a window-in-window POV shot of one of the missiles from its mounted camera.

The tubular explosives detonated on impact in plumes of red-orange fire and black smoke. The fires died quickly against fireproof surfaces and with little atmospheric oxygen to let them burn. Once the last explosion had finished, Nic saw the predictable futility of this attack. The hulls of the targeted Eggs only wrinkled slightly in response to the explosions; moments later, the wrinkles smoothed out, not unlike pruned fingertips drying suddenly. There was no evidence of any damage at all.

"Missiles hit with 100% accuracy," Perri annouunced. "No damage."

"Let's shake it off," Nic replied, both to encourage the two squads and to reassure his girlfriend. "Get ready to drop! At 50 klicks we—"

His words died in a sudden explosion that rocked the Gryphon.

"Sir, what happened?" Everett asked.

said RTIFIS.

"Names!" Nic shouted. What happened didn't register at first. He'd seen a flash of off-white movement, and an instant later, the inside of the cabin was transformed.

Then it finally clicked. He was looking at a giant Hexadian spike that had penetrated the hull of the Gryphon—through the nose. He couldn't see Jarek or Max, nor the two Team Brick members sitting next to them.

RTIFIS began, but the AI's voice sank into the background of all the chaos.

"Perri!" Nic yelled. "Jarek, Max! Uh... Team B—"

The Gryphon listed to the left. The cabin rotated as the craft rolled.

The pilot-side door of the cabin shot open. A combination of rotational momentum and gravity shook Nic loose from the aircraft. He fell first, followed by two others. He saw another armorsuit lodged near the edge of the open doorway. He couldn't tell if its occupant was dead or alive.

His two fellow jumpers were both screaming.

He was too afraid to do the same.