Enveloped in darkness, Toni awoke to a persistent beeping sound. Groggy with sleep, he decided to ignore the sound in the hope that it would eventually go away. Instead it was replaced by a compelling whoop suspiciously similar to the alert one would hear inside an armored Suit.

Then he remembered.

Opening his eyes to find yet more darkness, he ordered his unit to activate. Eyelids still sticky with sleep, Toni finally gained audio and visual, and he blinked furiously at the written warning on his virtual foreground.

ALARM MODE ACTIVATED. SIGNAL SOURCE ASC P1 S4

Feeling a chill reach into his bones, Toni inquired over the comm.

"Brother One, here Unit Seven, over."

There was no delay in the answer.

"Shut your ass, Seven, I'll get to you in a mike."

A particularly loud report suddenly made itself heard, jolting him fully awake more quickly than anything else could have. Moving his helm around, he tried to lay eyeballs on the source of the explosion, finding only that the remainder of his platoon, still facing inwards into their circle, were trying to do the exact same thing.

"Here LOGIS Prime. All units about-face and hunker down where you are." It was the lieutenant, and he sounded angry.

Toni hurried to comply, whirling fast around his center of gravity and putting his kneepad to the ground a full half-second before the rest. He gripped his rifle firmly and strained his ears, trying to pick up every sound.

All remained silent, except for the occasional nervous chirp of birds woken by the report. He wondered if perhaps they were hearing something he could not.

He increased audio sensitivity, gradually becoming aware of far-off popping sounds, followed by a second-long roar.

Somewhere far off, a unit of the ASC was firing thirty millimeter cannon.

Toni tried to keep his breathing slow and steady as the seconds passed by, his effort sabotaged by a particularly loud concussion from the south-east. The unit to Toni's left flinched at the sound, the Suit producing a shudder in the act. It was Hirum, and he had probably augmented his audio sensitivity too. Toni dragged his ocular mouse to the communications panel on his virtual display and looked at his options there, finding that the lieutenant had kept his word. He activated a private comm link between Units Seven and Fourteen.

"Yo, Fourteen, you believe this?"

"Toni?" a disbelieving voice sounded over the comm.

"Yours truly. No worries mate, Grimm's with the sec-leader now. You're with me from now on."

"Really?" there was an almost childish note in Hirum's voice.

"You OK with that?"

"Hell yeah, Toni, 'course I am. Are we on an encrypted channel?"

"Yeah. I, uh, took a look at the communications panel and realized your unit is on it. Maybe the pairs can parley privately now."

"Oh, that's great. That's more than great, 'cause I'm freaking out here ..."

"Listen, Fourteen. Don't do that, OK? All we need to do is what we're told. It'll all work out, alright?"

A monotonous voice cut off their conversation.

"LOGIS, here LOGIS Prime, standby to receive operational updates from Wild Rose. This is the only time I'll be saying this. From now on these messages will be keeping you posted on current events."

There was general silence for a few moments.

"Uh, Fourteen, maybe we'd better keep the comms to the minimum, before we miss something like that ..."

"Roger that."

A few moments later the Op-update appeared before Toni's eyes.

» ASC 1ST PLATOON, 4TH SECTION, ON PERIMETER PATROL 5 KM EAST-SOUTH-EAST OF MAIN FORCE ENCOUNTERED UNKNOWN NUMBER OF LAND VEHICLES. FOUR SUCH VEHICLES HAVE BEEN DESTROYED, REMAINDER HAVE RETREATED DUE EAST. MAIN FORCE WILL ASSEMBLE PREDETERMINED BATTLE-LINE WITH VANGUARD 500 METERS DUE EAST FOR IMINENT CONTACT PROGRESSION.

He read the message twice over before banishing it to his mission log. Then it finally began to sink in that an ASC section had contacted and wasted four enemy vehicles, and the blood in his veins began to flow faster and hotter. The silence over the comm was broken once again.

"LOGIS, here LOGIS Prime. Form up at the tree-line facing east. Sec One in the center, Secs Two and Three on left and right flank respectively, over."

All units immediately obeyed, their drivers somewhat less hesitant than they had been previously. Toni's augmented hearing began to pick up a multitude of APUs coming to life all around the forest. The entire ASC was prepping for locomotion, their turbines working furiously to increase the gas pressure in their pressure vessels, their drivers anxious to join the comrades who had just blooded themselves.

The Mocas moved towards their starting points, their motions those of an undersea diver walking on the seabed. The Hammerheads, however, were fast and fluid as they occupied their positions, the members of LOGIS reaching their line about twenty seconds afterwards.

That was one of the very few things Toni knew about the Hammerhead; its closed system forewent air in favor of germane, mostly because the gas was far more fluid than ordinary air, thus making PAM inflation and deflation much quicker, thus improving pseudo-muscular performance, and thus increasing Suit agility and reflexes. He put the thought out of his mind since it depressed him, thinking instead on the opposite side of that particular coin. If the Hammerhead's exterior pressure vessel were to be breached, it would only be a matter of time before complete locomotive failure took place, since the system wasn't designed to work with ordinary air.

The wait persisted and Toni was once again forced to consider Dunn's advice at the shuttle platform. Trying to relax, he found himself unable to do so, and began to compulsively check his operational status instead.

Discreetly he confirmed that his main weapon was safed and checked its serviceability. The sleek rifle's slender, fluted barrel was mostly hidden inside its ample hand-guard. The hand-guard also concealed an automatic anti-personnel shotgun, the fifteen millimeter cartridges it used having been designed to release twenty-four flechettes upon firing. The shotgun's two hundred round helical magazine was presently empty, that particular caliber no longer in production.

As ordered by Main Force Ops, his sentry guns were at the moment deactivated, their employment dependant on his voicing a key-word while eyeing the appropriate icon on his display. Knowing his own tendency for forgetfulness, Toni recorded the key-word on a semi-transparent sticky note and dragged it below the icon. When activated, those guns would fire upon any nearby hostile forces and even upon incoming projectiles with twenty millimeter fragmentation grenades, supposedly creating a safe-zone around his unit.

The only problem was that sometimes the Moca's CPU got a little confused about exactly who the enemy was, hence the Main Force order.

The SABERO rocket pods were preset in the same fashion, but he set them instead to launch by rifle trigger for faster engagement. There were two rockets per pod, allowing him to engage only four targets at best. He had been surprised to discover, however, that both pods together were worth about as much as his Suit's production cost, quite the thing to boost his confidence in their effectiveness.

"LOGIS, here LOGIS Prime, increase unit spacing to forty paces and standby for lomo," the lieutenant sounded over the comm.

Toni didn't budge an inch. Belatedly he realized he was at the square center of the progression line. The more rational part of his mind remembered that enemy contact could take place along any part of its extension, but still he would have much preferred to be in the flanks. Everything he had ever learned regarding conventional combat tactics made clear that it was the center that usually took the most punishment, their traditional role being to fix the enemy while the flanks became mobile to do the greater part of the actual killing.

He consoled himself with the fact that there was an armored company half a kilometer ahead shielding their movement.

He had barely begun to calm down when the the electrifying order finally came through.

"Attention to all LOGIS units. Locomotion. I repeat, locomotion."

Toni's footpads began to move without being having told to, his ears catching the sound of gigantic footfalls as nineteen armored Suits crossed the tree line into the forest beyond.

*****

"All units pause and observe ..." Toni heard over the comm.

He halted his progression again, the remainder of LOGIS doing the same. Toni suspected the ASC units ahead were also pausing to listen, and to release micro-UAVs into their surroundings for a quick look-see. He had already lost count of the number of times the order had been given, although by now the procedure was gaining a familiar feel, like pausing beside the living room door to judge whether his father was inside before crossing its threshold.

Every once in a while he'd receive an update on his display or a verbal order from Dunn; he no longer had access to Lieutenant Templeton's communications. The only other sources of input he still possessed were his own sensors and the annoying comrade who was presently whispering into his ear.

"Do you think they saw something? Toni?" Hirum breathed fearfully over the comm, causing Toni's tense jaw to tighten a little more.

"Lay off the comm, Fourteen ..." he replied, trying hard to keep the irritation from his voice.

Hirum had been getting on his nerves since the imminent contact progression had begun more than an hour ago, his comrade having taken to speculating on everything that might be happening up ahead. At first the noise over the comm had been merely annoying, but Hirum's constant thought verbalization was beginning to cross the boundary from annoying into deadly distraction.

As he willed his jaw to unclench again, Toni noticed diffuse smoke at a spot forty paces ahead. He switched his spectrum sensitivity to infrared and picking up a small, flickering heat source in the distance, partially obscured by the plantation trees. He kept his eyes on the light and wondered at what it was.

"Hey. Hey! There's something out there, man!" Hirum suddenly cried, causing Toni's body to tense up instinctively.

He scanned his surroundings, seeing nothing outside or on his display worthy of attention. Gritting his teeth, he willed himself to calm down again, reminding himself that it was Hirum who'd given the alarm.

"You talking about the smoke up ahead or what?" Toni asked, keeping communications strictly to their private line.

"Huh? Yeah, that's it – Wait, you think it's where they wasted the Unmils?"

"Uh. Yeah, that's probably it. I guess we've advanced five clicks, so that'll put us right where the shit happened. Listen mate, check your panic over the comm, alright? I nearly went into labor here ..."

He mentally kicked himself for not having thought of it first. Of course that was where the smoke was coming from. He searched the ground ahead and noticed how badly it had been disturbed by the maneuvering Hammerheads, and how a tree seemed to have been violently shouldered into; it's trunk was bent at an angle, a splintered limb resting on the ground beside it.

"You think something's gonna happen soon, Toni?"

"You do realize it's the third time you've asked me that, don't you?!" Toni finally burst out. There was merciful silence for a moment before an apologetic Hirum answered.

"Sorry, mate ... It's just that – how long do we have to keep on doing this? We can't keep up the pace. This doesn't make any sense ..."

"We'll keep going like this for as long as we want to do the job and get home safe ... or maybe you'd prefer for us to walk into an am–"

"Here LOGIS Prime, from now on there will be no chatter over the comms. All orders will be given and received over your displays."

As the lieutenant cut off, Toni quickly checked his communications panel to find that his ability to verbalize over the comm had been deactivated. A sudden thought stabbed at him, one that suggested that the lieutenant had been monitoring their conversation. A moment later he received a flash memo from the lieutenant.

» SORRY ABOUT THAT, ANY MORE FRICTION AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN TEMPTED TO FRAG THE KID. NOT CONVENIENT.

The memo confirmed his suspicion. He tried to send one in return but found he was blocked from doing so, resigning himself instead to trying to remember whether he'd said anything potentially compromising over the last hour. Eventually deciding he was safe from court-martial, he basked instead in the joy of having been unplugged from his partner, although at the expense of not being able to communicate with Dunn without activating the emergency mode.

He barely had time to think about what would justify Em-mode activation before another memo appeared on his display.

» RAISE CAT PRESSURE TO FULL AND PREP FOR LOCOMOTION.

Toni activated his APU, feeling his body shake in its HINT as the turbine resting below his Interface Cavity roared noisily into life. That was the other reason why they were halting their advance every few minutes.

Progressing with activated APUs was a little like hiding in a forest with a solar flare siren strapped to one's back. It was worse for the Hammerheads than for the Mocas; the combat units had more efficient PAMs and greater interior tank capacity, but their armor and chassis was on the bulky side, and the gas it took to make them move forced the drivers to top up more frequently. Putting it simply, his Moca could move on air pressure alone for a full ten minutes at maximum consumption, while a Hammerhead could hardly manage more than six.

The combat unit's upside was an attractive one though: they carried more than five times the armor and three times the operational payload of the Moca.

The APU ceased to operate after only a couple of minutes, leaving him to wait patiently while their big brothers half a kilometer ahead continued to pressurize. He soon received another memo ordering renewed progression.

Toni was fortunate; his trajectory took him towards the source of the smoke. What he saw there, however, disappointed him greatly.

What was left of an open-box mining vehicle, not so different from something he'd expect to see on a farm, smoldered inside a deep crater, its front so heavily damaged any possible seat would have been crushed beyond recognition. It still carried part of its load of plantation seeds, the remainder of its cargo having been wastefully strewn over the ground. Pushing on, he came upon a second object thirty meters down, apparently the remains of a robotic arm, gouges on the ground nearby suggesting that it had been flung there from the wreck. Moments later he came upon another mining vehicle even more badly damaged than the first, its chassis having been mercilessly riddled by cannon fire.

There wasn't the slightest suggestion of armament on or around the wrecks. Had they even belonged to the Unmils, or had the ASC patrol simply obliterated the first vehicles they came upon that didn't wave a white flag on it? He heard a metallic sound behind him, turning quickly to find the lieutenant's Suit holding the robotic arm in its gauntlet, inspecting it carefully. A text appeared on his display.

» HAVE YOU COME ACROSS ANY CORPSES OR BODY PARTS?

It was from the lieutenant.

» NEGATIVE.

» ANY WEAPONS?

» NEGATIVE.

» KEEP YOU EYES PEELED. COOLED DOWN YET?

» SORRY SIR. I LET HIM GET TO ME.

» NO SHIT. I COULD HEAR YOUR TEETH GRINDING OVER THE COMMS. KEEP YOUR COOL AND CARRY ON.

They pressed onwards, their progress occasionally punctuated by pauses for pressurization and observation. Toni's eventually found himself moving through flat plantation land, finding only green, unripe seeds still hanging from their trees. Every couple of kilometers they came upon uncultivated islands of forest where floral species unknown to him abounded, dark and dense and sinister, and packed with troops of tail-less macaques, their red rumps contrasting starkly with their storm-grey coats. The islands exploded with avian confetti every time they set their turbines running, dismaying him as the flocks rose high enough to be visible for kilometers around.

It was morning, chronologically speaking, when LOGIS finally hit hilly terrain, the islands and plantations fast asleep except for the three kilometer wide swath of alarmed fauna in Main Force's wake. Soon they would be sound asleep as the giants that had woken them disappeared into the forest.

He envied them for that.

"Execute order: Upper Limbs Autostride. Execute order: Deactivate Right Ocular," Toni ordered his OS.

His right eye plunged into darkness and he lifted the flip-up display that covered it, stretching his arm out to feel his way along the interface cavity's wall for the light switch. Finding an inset switch, he turned it, remembering too late that it opened the hatch. The cavity's interior was suddenly flooded with light as the hatch popped open, paralyzing the Suit's right appendage as musky air poured in from the gaping hole. Cursing to himself, Toni used the daylight to find the light switch to his left, turning it on before he tried to shut the hatch again.

It failed to close.

Cursing again, he turned the hatch switch repeatedly, finding to his frustration that it wouldn't budge more than an inch before returning to its open position. Too late his left eye saw a low-lying branch and the Suit collided against it, the deafening clang making him bite his own tongue as he struggled for balance. Still Looking through his left eye, he realized he'd fallen behind and picked up his pace, finding it much harder to maneuver without binocular vision. With his right eye he searched the interface cavity's interior, finding to his surprise and satisfaction that the collision had sealed the troublesome hatch. Hastily he removed a small pill from the pouch on his HINT and slipped it into his mouth, swallowing it dry. He regained stereoscopic vision to find a memo floating before his eyes.

» HOW MANY PILLS HAVE YOU TAKEN TODAY?

» FIRST ONE NOW, SIR. DID YOU NOTICE?

» EVERYONE DID. NEXT TIME KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE TREES. STILL GRINDING YOUR TEETH?

» NO SIR, NO TEETH GRINDING.

» GOOD. DONT FORGET TO KEEP AN EYE ON FOURTEEN TOO. DOESNT MATTER IF YOU HAVE TO GRIND YOUR TEETH TO DUST, ONCE WE RETURN ILL GET YOU NEW ONES. GET THE JOB DONE.

» YESSIR.

» YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT THE ASC LEFT FLANK HAS FOUND THE MISSING MINERS. THEYRE JUST BONES ON A FIELD NOW AND THEIR EQUIPMENTS MOSTLY ABSENT. DONT TELL HIRUM IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR JOB EASIER. DID YOU KNOW ROSA WAS ACQUAINTED WITH SOME OF THE MINERS?

» NO SIR.

» HES NOT REACTING TOO WELL TO THE NEWS. IF NECESSARY I WILL PULL YOU FROM HIRUM AND HOOK YOU UP WITH HIM. ARE YOU GAME?

» MOST DEFINITELY, SIR.

Toni had to wonder about the lieutenant. Was he texting the other units as well, or only his? Not that he disliked the attention, but somehow it made him feel pressured. The thought was interrupted by a flash update on his display.